Journeying On

I feel like an update here is really overdue and I'm sorry for that.

Several times I have begun a blog post and then not published it. I ask myself what my readers out there want to know. Now that I am back in Canada, do people even think I have anything to say?

I don't know the answers to those questions, really. Instead of trying too hard to guess, I will just share some of what I've been up to and what I am thinking about these days.

I live in a beautiful house in my favourite part of Winnipeg, with a bunch of new roommates who are pretty fun. The house looks more and more lived-in all the time as these students gradually bring their stuff over from on-campus apartments. Recently a bunch of fish tanks arrived, and we are considering getting a cat. For the first time in my life, I pay attention to the recycling pick-up day and carry the box out to the curb in the morning myself.

I work at a bakery called Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company, and it's delightful. The people are fun, I get to bake (and clean a whole lot) and be paid for it, and I get to take food home at the end of the day. I like the philosophy of the bakery, which focuses on sustainability, particularly through using local and organic ingredients.

One of my favourite things about this job is that my work schedule is not the same every day. On one hand this can be annoying, since I have no steady sleep pattern, but it is also nice because I get to focus on different tasks depending on the day. When I go in at 5:00 a.m., I bake tons of stuff, prepare sandwiches, and mix recipes. If I go in at 10:30 a.m., I clean, clean, clean... and mix recipes. There is always someone fun to chat with, and I am learning how to more and more things on my own in the bakery.

The point of my returning to Winnipeg, most simply put, was to be with my loved ones. I cannot describe how good this has been for me. I am deeply thankful to be surrounded by my families, both the biological and the families I have chosen for myself. Most of all, I am happy to be home. I have come to realize that, for me, "home" is where Jonathan is.

Surely some of you wonder how the readjustment to life in Canada went. Some parts were easy, and some were less so. It was annoying to have five dollars in my pocket and still be unable to get on a bus, since drivers here can't give you change. The February winter weather, though, was astonishingly easy to get used to. It took me a month before I felt ready to look for a job, but walking into my churches immediately felt like home again.

It was tiring to have to keep answering the questions, "Why did you come back early?" and "How was your trip?" (You Radical Journeyers can all expect enough of the latter question after you return home to make you want to be sick.)

I am finally at a place where being at home in Winnipeg seems normal, and I have a daily routine that I not only like but which also makes me feel useful. I am very happy about that! Nonetheless, the echoes of my trip to Paraguay remain pervasive in my weeks. Even today, a song from the initial road trip to Chicago surprised me on the radio and brought tears to my eyes. That was such an emotional time. But then, so is this.

I am coming to realize that the radical journey I'm on is just going to continue. And that's okay.

Home, Sweet Home

Hello from snowy Winnipeg, Canada!

What? Winnipeg? Canada?

Yes, it's true. I have returned home early. It's not just a visit; I have opted, in consultation with a lot of trusted people, to end my time of service in Paraguay in February.

Why?

There is a lot I could say about that. Instead, I will say simply that it was time for me to go home.

My time in Paraguay was full of blessings. I have made many connections with wonderful people, learned to appreciate and live as part of a culture different from my own, and learned Spanish. I have grown in a lot of ways, I think, learning probably far more than I taught. In being so far from Winnipeg, I have gained a new perspective on my relationships back home. I have realized what to cherish and some things to change.

I am back in Winnipeg, in some ways a different person than I left. Re-adjusting to life here will surely have some ups and downs. I am thrilled, for instance, to be spending time with the people I love most in the world, and not at all thrilled about how hard it is for me to handle the cold weather.

So. This blog will be a place now for stories of re-adjustment, reflections on the experiences I had in Paraguay, and encouraging my teammates who carry on in the program. Thanks to all of you who have followed my adventures thus far, and who have supported me with your prayers. Many laughs and tears and six flights later, I can say:

"God, in her great love, has brought me safely home. Thanks be to God!"

It´s 2009!

That means I have had a birthday and have celebrated Christmas and New Year´s in Paraguay. I want to share all of this with you visually, but for the sake of efficiency, I am opting to send you to my Facebook album. Copy this address into your web bar and hit "enter": http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=560&l=cc9aa&id=162400025

(You do not have to ever visit Facebook again, nor "sign up." Just look at the pictures!)

Christmas was different but great! It was a big family affair, with a huge barbecue late in the evening leading up to fireworks. The idea is that the fireworks happen at midnight, but really they happen more or less perpetually after dark. :) The food was delicious, the wine and cider and pop flowed, and love abounded. What more could one ask for in a celebration?

I should mention that some parts of Christmas felt familiar and traditional. Those moments were really special because they were hard to come by. Many thanks to my friends Santiago, Scott, and especially Alcides, for helping me find glimpses of Christmas as I know it. Some of these included seeing decked-out Christmas trees, attending a candlelight service, and opening gifts from Canada.

My birthday was a big deal! In Canada, my birthday is totally overshadowed by Christmas -- and fair enough, Jesus should win that popularity contest -- but here having my birthday rocks. I got SO many calls and text messages! Plus e-mails from Canada. I felt pretty special. Thanks, guys. And thank you, Paraguayan culture, I guess, for being so relationally oriented!

I spent New Year´s in the Chaco with my host sister and paternal grandparents. It was pretty quiet, but that was good for me! I recuperated both my energy and my faith in the ethnic-and-faith group from which I come.

Now I am in Formosa, Argentina. Technically that´s because I need to renew my Paraguayan visa... but while I am here, I plan to have some fun. That should be easy! Lots of young people, beach, music, making our own food... Wooooooot!

If you´re worrying that I have forgotten about Ciudad del Este, don´t worry. I know that there is still English to be taught. That should get easier with a more specific curriculum being put in place, and with my group of students remaining stable now. Not only that, but I think that the countdowns that keep me stable on lonely days will accelerate. First my dad will visit, then there is a team vacation, then Jon visits, then Mennonite World Conference happens, then re-entry retreat, and then return to Winnipeg!

So many things to look forward to! May the days fly until August 1st... but may I nonetheless go slowly enough to savour the blessings coming my way.