Home in Grande Prairie
Trip Start
Aug 24, 2004
1
4
35
Trip End
Mar 08, 2005
Grande Prairie,
Alberta,
Canada
Friday, September 3, 2004
Haven't I said that once already?
"We arrived in Grande Prairie around two last Friday, and we were met by a few of the city big wigs and all the families. We also witnessed a traditional First Nations dance, after the first one-- they said that anyone who wanted to join in could. So in the name of trying everything reasonable I grabbed Dima and we joined in. It was fun, but it went on forever!"
Dima is one of the Ukrainian guys on the trip. I don't quite remember why he was so 'lucky,' I presume he was the closest to me at the time.
"After that everyone circled up for the traditional friendship circle dance. It also seemed to go on forever, and the lady beside me kept stepping on my toe-- mand did that hurt-- it busted the nail, so much for a pretty pedicure.
After the welcoming ceremony Yulia and I headed to the car with Jo, our new 'mom.' We hit our first snag- we weren't going to fit. The trunk was full of strollers and toys, and with the car seatr, we were tight for space. After a few different combinations we finally got it all in, it was a tight squeeze. Home was close by. We quickly dropped off our bags and headed to pick up Jean from kindergarten.
So we spent the first weekend with out family. I have to admit it was the hardest to date. In retrospect, I guess I was going through a version of my own culture shock. I expected to encounter differences in Ukraine, but figured Canada was Canada regardless of the province. Boy was I wrong.
I struggle with giving up my car and the ability to drive (trip rule) and the cut to my freedom. The first weekend here we were completely reliant on Jo and were she wanted to go. We went to the mall, I really had to check my level of frustration and try to figure out where it was coming from."
I have had my own car since I've had a license. I didn't realize what a big deal this was, or how closely I tied 'freedom' to driving until it was taken away. I was among the older crowd on the trip, and my 'parents' weren't that much older than me, it made it difficult to have defined boundaries. I have also never experiences culture shock like this before or since, it perpetuated itself almost physically. I was extra stubborn and resistant to doing things differently. I never thought to be prepared for differences, I never thought I would have to work at being open-minded in my own country... I think this is a blessing in Canada, we are diverse, as long as we can celebrate that.
"One of the other toughest differences for me is the food. I guess I got too use to a) mom's cooking b) my own cooking and c) eating out. I know little kids tend to limit the menu, but we have eaten a lot of processed foods. They don't have the same emphasis on fresh green veggies as I do. The choice of fruit is a little better, I am surviving. I am hoping mom will send me some recepies and maybe I can add a little spce to their lives other than pepper. I miss spice.
After a day of 'community orientation,' which was a harmless scavenger hunt around town to help get our bearings, the rest of the week was much harder. We had to decide work placements as a group, and while I think it was done as fairly as possible, Yulia and I were kinda screwed over. It was down to four groups, 2 pairs of girls and 2 pairs of guys, and there was one job that no one wanted. Since it was at a women's shelter, it brought the odds down even more. The other group wouldn't budge. It came down to a votre, and I think instead of skill, people voted not to rock the boat. So we will be working at the shelter."
I laugh re-reading this, I remember being so choked-- in the end, I don't remember what the other job was, but we loved our placement, it was the best one. Funny how things turn out.
"To take a break, we took a tour of the fire house. I volunteered to demo all the gear. It was heavy, but I could be a firewomen, might need to hit the gym, but I could do it.
The next day we had to divy up the seminars, every pair is responsible for four sessions: educational activity day (EAD), community activity day (CAD), a computer skill and a language lesson. There was a little hassel, we won our EAD with rock, paper, scissors-- but then three other groups reached an impass. We finally offered to take our second choice (Environment) to allow everyone else to be happy.
We hit another impass during the CADs, and we were at a standoff with the same people as before. I was not going to budge again. Luckily, they recognized that we had compromised for them earlier, so were put in charge the media tour. It was important to me because I wanted a reason to gain some local media contacts, I'm here for three months, it would be nice to write an article or two!
The final 'issue' came up when it was time to setup computer lessons. There is a wide variety of skills and it was decided that the partnership with the best skills would teach the class. My skills are design, as I did newspaper/magazine layout for four years, and Yulia's skills were pretty basic in general, so you would think it would be simple, but a very stubborn teammember insisted on wanting to teach powerpoint (which I had originally included in design.) The ridiculousness of this temper tantrum is that her teammate has a computer engineer degree. She was so inflexible that we had to divide the topic. I am tired of always compromising, I am willing to be flexible, but it has to be reciprocal."
Perspective changes everything. What seemed so important then is so trivial now, but then our whole focus was this program, and what we would be doing with it, for it, and getting out of it. I made some good contacts, but I never wrote, or offered to write, for the local paper. I taught InDesign, and had more to teach than I had time for, good riddance Power Point. Every day had a tension breaker though...
"In the afternoon, we went bowling, it was a blast. I even bowled a 148 which is the best score I can remember ever getting. We managed to get internet access at the library after, it was the first chance I had to check my email since the abrupt, 'by the way I'm moving to Grande Prairie' spam I sent out.
Whew, I haven't caught up to today yet, but my hand is cramping, I will try tomorrow."
