I was only in North America for three weeks, but it felt like a lot longer. I left Glasgow at around 3pm on Saturday 20th May, flying in a 767, for Ottawa, Canada's capital. The plane stopped in Halifax on the way there (the Halifax in Canada, not England), so I just sat tight and soon enough I was in Ottawa. In an Italian restaurant, no less, with Tamara and her mother. (For those unfamiliar, Tamara is a very close friend of mine who I met on my gap year in Canada. We have a lot of history together.)
This was the first time that I've flown alone, I realised. I've sat alone on a plane before (like my flight from Miami to Toronto), but never done the whole flying thing alone. It made me realise how useful it is to have someone with you - you can go to the bathroom without lugging all of your stuff in with you, you can fall asleep and rely on your friend to wake you up at the appropriate time (and watch your stuff), you can have someone to talk to when you are bored, and loads of other neat stuff.
The next day, Tamara was at work (actually just training, but she still got paid for it), so I went out for waffles with her mum and her cousin, Clinton.
Now let's some stuff up. I'm not going to document every single detail of this trip, nor give a day-by-day account. This is not a diary. This is a record of what I did and, more importantly, what I thought. So forgive me if I leave out swimming with Darragh and Sean, or walking in downtown Toronto with Albert and Diane, and so on. I doubt a super-detailed account of everything I did would be of great interest to read.
So that evening (no, wait, afternoon) Tamara and I left for Toronto, on a bus. Only a 5 hour journey. During the trip I noticed how fast I was adjusting back to Canadian ways. Nothing seemed new or strange, everything felt natural. I suppose 5 hours on a bus is nothing compared to 42 (Saskatoon to Toronto, a great ride last summer).
Tamara's dad (Albert) and sister (Alyssa) picked us up from the bus station we went straight to Tamara's grandparents' place, where a whole bunch of her family were congregated. I should probably explain that we were in Toronto (well, actually we were in Mississauga, about 45 minutes from Toronto proper) to celebrate Tamara's grandparents' 50th Wedding Anniversary. They're really great people, they moved their whole family from Malaysia to Canada. (Despite living in Malaysia, they're ethnically Chinese. Which is why I'll be talking about Chinese food soon.)
Albert's a Lieutenant Commander in the Canadian military, and he's currently on a mission in Afghanistan. Basically, he's helping rebuild the entire country from the bottom up. He's really enthusiastic about his work, simply because he gets to help so many people. And, he tells me, he can see change happening, every day. He can see things from the perspective of the military, but he also has the perspective of the locals, due to him meeting them at Baha'i meetings. Multiple angles on anything is always great, especially when it's a volatile situation. (In case you didn't know, the Baha'i Faith is the religion that I, Tamara, her dad, and many other people featuring in this text are adherents of. It teaches the essential unity of mankind, the equality of men and women, and the abolition of poverty. Email me if you wanna know more.)
The next evening was the anniversary dinner istelf. About 60 people were present, a whole mix of people from all walks of life who knew Tamara's grandparents one way or another. It was a true chinese banquet, 10 courses, plus dessert and pastries. Craziness. And lots of tea too, which is good, I really like Chinese tea, and the little cups they come in. Luckily the courses were quite small, otherwise I wouldn't be able to manage them all. I had a lot of stuff that I've never had before. I didn't like the jellyfish, nor the mushrooms (I've never been a fan of mushrooms I guess), but everything else I really liked, especially the shark fin soup. It's probably the biggest meal I've ever had. And it was really good.
It made me think of the extravagent dinners and get-togethers my own family have. Albert (and his wife and children) are the only Baha'is in the family. I am the only Baha'i in mine. Sometimes I would be almost disgusted at the - as I saw it - opulence and decadence of my extended family; flashing their cash, drinking expensive wines, and talking about things I consider to be pointless and transitory. But the way Albert acted around his family really taught me how to behave. Upon reflection, I realised (how obvious it seems now) that I was being childish. I should not, and indeed cannot, judge them. After all, they are my family and I love them; they've never shown me anything but kindness. I need to teach by example, become a shining lamp through my actions. Anyway, that's enough digression. The meal and dinner and conversations were kickass.
The rest of my time in Mississauga was filled with discussions, more Chinese food, and the Playdium (a massive arcade). Then was time for the bus, again. Tamara's bus to Ottawa, my bus to Detroit. Another 5 hour journey, stopping in a few places (like London, Windsor, and a couple other places (yeah, everywhere in Southern Ontario has English town names; the river running through London is even called the Thames)). On the way from Windsor (the second last stop, it's right on the US border (but still Canadian)) to Detroit I was the only person on the bus (gee, Detroit's popular) except the driver. They searched my bag and stuff at customs, which was annoying. The US government probably has more faceshots of me than the UK government, which is somewhat unnerving.
It was good to see Jessica again, and her couch is comfy. (Jessica is another fine lady I met on my gap year, and I was to spend this Detroit trip sleeping on her couch.) Now I thought Tamara's family was weird, but I tell ya, staying with Jessica's family made me realise that... Nah, just joking around. Jessica's family is great, especially her dad. He was working nights so I never got to speak to him much though. He's a paramedic. Like Albert, he gets to help people and serve humanity directly through his work, which is what makes it all worthwhile for him. And he even gets paid to do it, how cool is that?
Jessica and I just kicked back, relaxed, went to an art gallery, bookshops, downtown, and other cool stuff. We got to see X3 when it just came out, along with a trailer for Nacho Libre and Snakes on a Plane, which made my day. My last day there I helped her clean her grandma's backyard. Hard work, but enjoyable. I got to meet her fiancé, which was good (especially as I can't make it to their wedding).
Then onto more travel. Flying from Detroit to Denver in an Airbus 319, then I had an hour wait in Denver (more like half an hour, factoring in taxiing, walking across the huge airport, and boarding) before flying to Fresno (California baby!) in a CRJ700.
The flights were pretty good. The flight attendants were pretty funny on both flights. "We are now taxiing to gate 56, the longest gate in the world. We'll be handing out maps as you leave the plane. At the end of the gate you will find an uninformed - er, uniformed official ready to answer any queries you may have, and direct you to the baggage carousel where your luggage will be with you in ten to fifteen days. Erm, minutes. Please make sure you take all your carry-on luggage with you. Any luggage left on the plane will be available on eBay tomorrow." And from Denver to Fresno, a nighttime flight, "I'm now dimming the lights in order to make Richard and myself appear more attractive to you. If this doesn't help, we are also serving alcoholic beverages." The flight attendants on that flight were both male, and they defied the stereotypes by not acting very gay at all.
Fresno airport was crazy. Amanda, Star, and Darragh (all people I met on my gap year - the first two are residents of Fresno, and Darragh's actually from Northern Ireland) were all there to greet me with like 20 other people. Crazy fun. I met loads loads of people and felt really bad that I forgot their names instantly. I'm really bad for that.
The first thing I did was go for a walk with Darragh (and Yeyo; Amanda's cousin/roomate's dog) and catch up with him, see how things are going. I come all the way to California to talk with an Irishman. He had big plans. He still does. I sorta miss him. Only sorta, as he broke my laptop's screen... (Accidentally, but still, that doesn't fix it...)
In Fresno I stayed with Amanda. She lives in a trailer park. But her place is so nice, it's a triple-wide static trailer with 8 couches and everything. It's really a house, way nicer than my place in Edinburgh too. It's a good trailer park too, the residents are all either old people or old people's grandkids (Amanda falls into the latter category, of course). Really nice place, and again a really comfy couch. The cat, which apparantly hates people, jumped into bed with me at like 6am. It's weird, sometimes I'm really good with animals, and othertimes they seem to avoid me like the plague.
So my first day in Fresno is pretty chilled, nothing really intense. We were gonna go to the cinema, but there was nothing on that we wanted to see. Darragh and I however ended up in a conversation with a couple of people protesting over The Da Vinci Code film. Our consensus was that yes, it was technically blasphemy, but it was also just entertainment. It seemed to be more of a problem with American society (and that people believe everything in the book) that they had issue with.
One guy left and it ended up being this lady and Darragh and me, and she was just talking on and on about her life and how things go and the things she's experienced and so on. Everyone has a story and it's nice to hear it sometimes.
Now that very night was a Baha'i holy day - the Ascension of Baha'u'llah. We were meeting in the Fresno Baha'i Centre at 3am. Before that, there was a devotional at Sam's house (Sam is a local Baha'i, all the youth were meeting at his place), so we all just hung out there until it was time to leave
After the meeting at the Baha'i Centre, a big group of the youth (myself included) were heading out to Bass Lake to hang out and just chill.
And that we did.
Star and Naz then took me and Darragh to North Fork, where we were to be picked up by Roric. Star was leaving for Haifa the next day, so we said our fond farewells. (Haifa is a city in Israel near Mount Carmel, where the Baha'i World Centre is situated, and where Baha'is make pilgrimage to.) Darragh and I were to spend three days with Roric.
Roric is awesome. He's of Scottish and Irish descent, his name is similar to mine, he's 55 years old and still surfs and rocks out, he's a Vietnam veteran, he built his own house, said house is fully solar-powered... So much crazy coolness. He lives up in the mountains, because the air is fresh and the water pure.
Anyway, the next day we helped him pick up a disc harrow (a piece of farming equipment) from a nearby ranch. The dude he bought it from was, like the lady at the cinema, telling us his life story. He also served in the US army, and was a POW in Burma for over a year, if I remember correctly. But we couldn't stay and listen to it all, we had to get going.
To a nearby river/creek/waterfall/swimming area. The water was icy cold, but a great place to relax. I even found some neat stones to give to my family. Later that day we helped Roric with some construction work.
Roric is basically retired, however he worked his ass off to get like this today. He left home at 16, not having graduated from high school nor being able to read well (he's dyslexic). He's built over 20 houses, emphasising the value of solar energy and the dangers of wastefulness. If he sees something for cheap or or free, he'll snap it up. In that respect, he reminded me a lot of Tamara's mum, a hoarder. Except that Roric actually has the space to keep his stuff (he has 20 acres of land), plus he totally uses it. So much good stuff, he told us, just gets thrown away in the garbage, when it still can be used or easily fixed. He's found sleeping bags worth $700 on the side of the freeway. He also emphasised to us the importance of saving, and staying away from debt. I couldn't agree more.
We arose early the next day to go to Yosemite, one of the USA's most famous national parks. It's basically a valley in a mountain range, formed by (most experts think) glaciers. And it's beautiful.
I've been to many beautiful places and I've seen many beautiful things. But very few things compare to Yosemite - it's loads of beautiful things crammed into a small area.
I only have two complaints, really. Too many mosquitos, too many people.
We went swimming twice in the icy cold water, which was really refreshing. The second time however I got bitten to pieces... When we got back to Roric's I counted over 60 bites. Ouch.
Apparantly, being a Wednesday, it was quiet day. I don't want to see a busy day. No real sense of tranquility. When I go to into nature I expect myself and my compadres to be alone, not surrounded by overweight Americans.
Despite that, it was jaw-droppingly amazing. "It'll blow your minds, man!" said Roric. (Yeah, he uses surfer talk like "far out", "sick", "gnarly", and "totally awesome".)
After Yosemite Roric was awesome and took us to a Mexican restaurant. Tasty.
Roric's very outgoing and gets into conversations with everyone. As the table next to us was leaving, the lady there asked us if we were Christians (I still don't know why she asked), and we said no, we're Baha'is, and proceeded to explain to her the principles of the Baha'i Faith (unity of mankind, unity of God, universal education, elimination of racial prejudices, sexual equality, and so on, as she'd never heard of the Baha'i Faith before).
Now I've talked to many people who don't agree with my beliefs before. It's not new. But the thing that was intriguing was that this lady kept trying to draw a line, which she could say "this is my side, that's your side". She kept saying things like "the dividing line between us", "the difference is", and so on. I didn't understand her attitude - we're all brothers and sisters in Christ (to use her terminology), we're all children of God; so why was she trying to divide us? Back at Roric's, Darragh made the profound statement of "all that division brings is sorrow." (Try telling that to a maths teacher!)
It must be a similar tendancy to the way people label and pigeonhole things. Kinda annoying.
Anyway, returning to Fresno, I realised that my time in California was coming to an end. I spoke to Michael (another local Baha'i) on Thursday about his Baha'i Scholarship program. Basically, it's to fund young Baha'is in developing countries, enabling them to go to high school and university and break out of the cycle of poverty. He hopes in the future that it will expand so that it can fund non-Baha'i students too, and that every needy country around the world will have a scholarship fund. I was talking to him about establishing dedicated donations from the Scottish Baha'i Community. It all looks really good.
So after some swimming and getting a bit sunburnt, we went to Negean's 21st birthday party - my last night in California. I said my farewells and handed out some copies of my demo CD.
After meeting with Amanda's mum and stepdad for breakfast, I got on my plane to Denver, then to Detroit. The same types of Aircraft (CRJ700 and Airbus 319 in case you've forgotten). The crews weren't as jocular as the first set of crews, but it was pleasant nonetheless. On the flight to Denver I sat beside a nice old lady, with 17 great-grandchildren. She didn't tell me her whole life story, but she still talked a lot about her family and current situation.
Talking and social interaction would seem to be a basic human need, along with food and sleep. People go a bit crazy without it.
I had a great time waiting in Detroit airport for 3 hours or so for Jessica to come pick me up. She forgot, despite the incoherent message I left on her mum's mobile phone, hehe. During that time I noticed that my bag had been opened. I looked through it to make sure nothing had been taken - but in fact, things had been added. A little slip from the Transportation Security Administration, telling me that my bag was "randomly" searched. Also, there was a part saying, and I quote; "If the TSA screener was unable to open your bag for inspection because it was locked, the screener may have been forced to break the locks on your bag. TSA sincerely regrets having to do this, however TSA is not liable for damage to your locks resulting from this necessary security precaution." Go America!
And I had the best night's sleep I've had in a long time. That is one comfy couch.
The next day was quite relaxing, we did Ruhi then went out for food later. I spent some time bonding with Jessica's dad via Monty Python, before my time came to catch the 1am bus to Toronto. Now oftentimes when I travel alone, I imagine finding myself sat next to a beautiful young girl, which whom I'll have a wonderful conversation and we'll pass the time great and maybe even hook up later.
However, that only happens in the films.
I forgot how close Detroit was to Canada, we were hardly on the road for 10 minutes before we had to get off for border control. Maybe because I was going back to Canada (which sometimes feels like "home"), or because it was 1am, or whatever, but I lapsed into my Scottish accent for a second and confusion ensued. Note to self: say "told" not "telt", say "you" not "youse", say "I" not "Ah". After overcoming the language barrier (i.e. me switching to my accomplished Canadian voice, eh), they let me in without any hassle.
When I got to Toronto, I had some time to kill before my next bus to Ottawa. It was about 6:30am. So I went for a stroll and bought a rather Canadian breakfast, partly to celebrate my return to the Queen's Dominion. I had a cup of coffee and a cinnamon and raisin bagel. Good breakfast, eh? (I didn't get it from Timmy's, however.)
Arriving in Ottawa just under 12 hours after I left Detroit, I returned to Tamara's place. My last time in Ottawa was pitifully, and hopefully this time I'd get to meet more of Tamara's friends and see more sights. Which I did.
We did many things, such as attending Baha'i Feast (Baha'is usually meet up every 19 days for a Feast, which is both physical and spiritual nourishment, it's a good social event), cycling/rollerblading downtown (but Tamara got tired and sat on the back of my bike, which was pretty cute (but tiring)). I met less people than in California, but (and here's the crucial part) I remembered their names! Ahem. On Tuesday night I hung out at Joel's and we watched Lord of War, which is a good film, I'd recommend it. Wednesday night was bowling, which was fun - we were playing with a curious feature of Tamara's camera, a dual-shot thing.
Thursday was a full day. It started out with fun and games at the beach (well, lakeshore, but it was sandy and beach-like), which involved frisbee and burying people in the sand. Then Tamara and I got our hair cut at this expensive fancy place. But the highlight of Thursday was Cirque du Soleil, performing Quidam. For those who don't know, Cirque du Soleil is French for "Circus of the Sun", and is a modern circus act. But it's much more than that - it's a spectacle of theatre and performance, with an evolving storyline throughout. The particular performance we saw, Quidam, is about a young girl struggling to come to terms with the alienation and sadness in her 21st-century life.
From the moment the performance began, I was entranced. The whole thing was hypnotic and mesmerising. Quidam, the eponymous character, is a headless man dressed in a raincoat, carrying an umbrella. It reminded me of animes directed by Miyazaki. It was surreal. Quidam represents everyone and no-one, and takes Zoe on a fantasy tour of his world.
I was amazed at the whole thing. And it got me thinking. The last time I was this amazed was about a week ago - at Yosemite. There I was marvelling at the natural beauty of the world - the harmony, the tranquility, the grandeur. And here at Cirque, I was marvelling at man's natural beauty - the beauty of art, of performance, of spectacle. The amount of work that went into creating the performance must have been formidable. And likewise, it took about 10 million years to make Yosemite what it is.
It took conventional theatre and circus acts, and took them to the next level. Several props were used, including diabolos, hoops, skipping ropes, a German wheel, and silk ropes. Used in ways I'd never have imagined before. I was filled with a great respect for the performers, for their dedication. Unfortunately, photography was forbidden. So no pictures of these incredible stunts. I'm sure there are some online, if you feel inclined.
That same night a group of us went out to Barrymore's, a local club. It was alright - free entry, so no complaints. I hadn't been to a club in a while, so it was good to get down and funky with it, so to speak. Also nice that there was no smoking there either. I like Ontario's smoking laws - actually stricter than Scotland's laws. Which brings up the issue of people's rights as individuals, versus the rights (or even responsibilities) of the state to safeguard its people. Many proponents of pro-smoking legislation claim that people should be allowed to make an informed decision. I agree with them. But it is very very rare for a person to be truly informed. People can understand the facts at a simple level - but not internalise nor appreciate them. They don't understand the implications of "lung cancer" or whatever. And it's not just with smoking - every decision we make is supposedly "informed", but all too often we don't really understand. Life is, truly, a quest for understanding.
The next day we took a trip to Ottawa's Museum of Nature, which was both fun and informative. I like museums. Later, Tamara was working, but Joel and I met her mum at the Imax cinema, to watch documentaries about Kilimanjaro and Greece. Unfortunately, the one about Greece was in French (my French is very limited), but thanks to clever inferences from context, and Joel's bilingualism, I understood most of it. Afterwards, Tamara had finished working, and she and Tyler joined me and Joel for a few games of pool. A pleasant way to end my last evening in Ottawa.
The following morning: Saturday the 10th of June, my last day in North America. It began with a meal at Cora's, a breakfast place that has generous portions of fruit with each serving. Natasha works there, so we got to chat to her/annoy her at work. Afterwards, time to catch a bus (or two) to the airport. Fond farewells were in abundance.
It was hard to leave. One way or another, it's like a second home. Hopefully one day I'll make it my home, even if only for a short while. Then again, home is what you make it
Home Blog Writing Pictures Conlangs Mirror About Contact Links
All content Copyright © 2003-2007 Rory Turnbull, with the exception of some pictures on the pictures pages, and all of the content on the mirror page. They are the property of their respective owners.