"Home" and home
Hey everyone, I know I haven't blogged for a couple of days, so I just want to let you know that I have safely arrived to Calgary, my 2nd "home". I left Quebec City on the 29th @ 610AM and I arrived here in Calgary at around 1110AM. The flight was pretty uneventful, it was actually surprising a smooth ride from Quebec to Calgary. I got all my luggage and everything went alright. The only thing that was a little odd was that the Calgary airport had put my plane on a dual citizenship gate that lets in both Canada and the US, and usually it would not have been a big deal. However, somehow there was a lack of communication and we ended up being stuck in the bridge that was between the airplane and the actual airport. I took a taxi to the rez, and that is where I am currently staying.
Calgary has been great so far because I got a chance to meet with all of my friends and just to hang out and talk about what has happened in my life and theirs for the past 7ish months. I was reminded of what I had learnt at a intercultural class because I know that it would be a little different reintegrating back into Western Canadian culture. Well, so far I am getting used to speaking in English again. Another thing that I have noticed was the taste of the water. I have been living in Quebec City for 7 months, and I have realized that Calgary water does not taste very pleasant. Boiled or not, so I am adjusting back to that. I am getting used to the fact that I don't have to push a button at every intersection to be able to cross the streets because in Quebec, if we don't push the button on the intersection, we won't have the right of way to cross the intersection.
Finally, I am going back home tomorrow. I am excited to go home and to enjoying back in Edmonton. Yay!
This is not the end of my blog, because I will do a recap of some of the things that I have learned. I will start posting a retrospect series next week when I come back to Calgary.
Yesterday
A couple of weeks ago I took these pictures:
I had no idea what was going on. I thought it was just something that is part of the winter carnival here. But I got my answer yesterday. It was called Crashed Ice.
This is an annual event where skaters from all over the world compete for the grand prize. It was a long race, and there were tons of people everywhere.
I don't know if you can see this, but on the top right of this picture, the skaters had to jump on steps. It was pretty crazy race.
I wanted to warm my hands yesterday during this race because it was cold, but I have realized that putting my glove onto one of those lights is not a good idea.
The picture actually makes it look worse, but only the rubber was deformed. When I looked back at the lamp where I put my hand, there was rubber stuck to the light frame.
So that was the event, and I got to spend it with some missionaries who are studying French at Laval. It was great to hang out with them one last time before I leave Quebec.
Today, I am just busy starting to pack and finish buying some gifts for home.
(Finally, to anyone who is reading this from Facebook, Windows Live Writer has an issue with the pictures, this is a known issue and they are fixing it. For the time being, if you want to see any of these pictures, please go directly to my blog)
Mon Témoignage (My testimony)
Alright, let me tell you what happened tonight. Every month, one friday is devoted to an outreach event sponsored by the people who do the Café Recontre (soup kitchen). And this is what happened tonight: Praise & Worship (P&W), offering, speaker and some sort of an altar call with P&W. We sang a couple of Quebecois songs and a few that were translated. My testimony was especially tailored for tonight. You can't see this in the pictures, but when I was reading some Bible verses, they were also up on the screen so people could follow alone. I talked about how God gives me strength to deal with loneliness--more on that when I get my recording. Finally, for the altar call, there were people who came up asking us to pray for them. I learned a lot about just being in a situtation because I couldn't really do deep prayers like I can with English speakers, but to be there and listen to them...I found that was an important lesson. I was also quite encouraged when some people came up to me afterwards saying that they could understand most of what I said. I felt really encouraged tonight being able to convey what God has done in my life in French.
Vendredi (Friday)
Alright, tomorrow is the big day. For those of you who are just starting to read this blog, I have spent almost a complete month preparing for my testimony in French. My mentors were totally right in that I would have to revise my testimony, practice it and just pray that other people would understand through the horrible English accent i have with French. It will be recorded and posted on this blog ASAP, I will post it twice, once completely unedited and translation free, and a second time with subtitles. So once again please pray that I will not be nervous and that God will give me the ability to articulate my testimony tomorrow. The service will commence at 730pm EST.
More brief updates
Hey everyone,
Things are going well for me at the soup kitchen and my testimony for Café Recontre is this Friday. Please pray that I'll pronounce the words correctly and people would understand what I am trying to say.
On Friday, I said my goodbyes to the French Youth Group (Brillez). Goodbyes are always the hardest and I feel kind of sad leaving that group. (The reason why I won't be attending the last youth event is because I am giving my testimony to the soup kitchen outreach event this Friday night). It was fun spending time with them and practicing my french with them.
Finally, I am officially leaving on Jan 29th @ 610AM to...Calgary. Please pray that I will return safely.
A Quick update
Alright, there is a bit of a mini snow storm going on right now. This is coming after a few days above zero. It rained a couple of days here too! Anyhow, because of the weather, my youth group tonight is cancelled tonight. This unexpectedly gives me more time work on my testimony. As I was practicing yesterday with my conversation partner I decided to have 2 separate versions of my testimony. One will be specifically tailored for Brillez (my youth group) and one for Café Recontre (the soup kitchen that I work in).
Scared about nothing
Alright, a couple of days ago I received a letter from Laval. It was about my transcript, but couldn't understand the second sentence. The first part of the second sentence said "We accuse likewise reception..." I got a little worried, because why would they accuse me of something? Well, it turns out that the reason why they had those words in the sentence is because it is the formal way of the school saying they got everything they need to send out my transcript. I was worried but now I am glad that everything is alright.
Reversed.
I have always knew that French reverse their grammar syntax, but their numbers too?!
Actually I think the real reason is because when trucks backup , they can understand the height measurement just by look at the rear view mirror.
News, People and Events
Alright, I am done translating my testimony. The important issue is that I will practice the pronunciation so that when I speak, people will hopefully understand me. My mentor wants about a 10 minute range, so with more practice, I will see roughly how much time I take. In addition, I have been asked by Simon (see the previous entry if you don't know who he is) to share my testimony. Friday night on the 25th is the date for my sharing with Café Recontre, I don't know when I'll be sharing my testimony with my youth group (Brillez), but I do know it will be sometime before the 25. Please pray that people will understand what I say and that God will use this message to move their hearts.
Last week as I was working at Café Recontre, a missions team from Oklahoma came to help at Café Recontre. I was very excited to see some other people my age do a missions trip here. This group of people were involved with many of the things that we do at Café Recontre including, but not limited to: preparing the food, handing out food, making conversations and cleaning up. At the end of their 1 week stay, I managed to get a picture of them:
Café Recontre is located on the first floor of this building. On second floor is where we took this picture, it is also the sanctuary for Mosaïque Church.
Since this is Quebec City's 400th year of existence, there has been and will be numerous celebrations throughout the year. One such event took place last Saturday and Sunday. I went yesterday and this was an event that attracted a huge crowd. 
From where this picture was taken, it was a 3 and half hour wait to go inside Old Quebec. To the right of this picture is the parliament building.
Don't know if you can make it out, but this is the entrance, or at least so I thought, it took another 15mins before I got into Old Quebec.
Inside, there were various dance parties and light shows.
And various reenactments of what it must have been like to live during that time. (Above, a fire to keep people warm, when there were no heaters) (Below, I don't think you can see it, but this was a enactment of WW1 trenches.) 
This picture just has some people jugging fire things, but I liked how this picture turned out.
There were tons of other things at the festival, but unfortunately most of the pictures were very blurry. Nevertheless, this just to say that there so many celebrations going on here right now, I think there is something next week.
Finally, the weather has been a bit warmer. IT RAINED TODAY! that is how warm it is right now! Apparently this trend of warm weather is going to keep going on for this week, and for the next 14 days, the low is -8c!
Reminds me of Calgary right now...
News and more pictures!!!!
I went out to volunteer at Café Recontre (A Soup kitchen here), then I had a chat with Simon, one of my "bosses" at the kitchen. After that, I met up with Pierre, my conversation partner to correct my testimony again. Sufficient to say I had a pretty busy day. When I was talking with Simon, he said that I should share my testimony at the outreach event that the kitchen does every Friday night. So I will talk with Troy and see where we can fit it in.
Alright, here are some more pictures of my time here in Quebec City.
While I might not be able to get some pictures of the actual soup kitchen work, here are my "bosses". This picture was taken during the huge Christmas dinner that Café Recontre had for the homeless people.
(On the left is Simon and Michael is on the right)
Alright, for youth group there is always some game involved before discussion of a topic. So, here we are playing a game similar to swoosh.
We had a big group, but the group shrunk... 
Alright, there is this other game that we have played. I don't know remember what it was called, but essentially the objective of the game is to get the prize that is wrapped inside lots of layers of newspaper and various boxes. You can only open the box while you wear this costume (scarf, hat and oven mittens). There is a dice and whoever rolls a 6 can go into the middle and try to get the prize. This is a very fast pace game and there are no teams which means that everyone is against each other.
After some of the layers of the box has been ripped off.
Competition!
Don't know if you can see the prize, but this girl is holding a box of chocolates.
I should note that after some time had past, the leaders of the game decided to ditch the costume (with the exception of the oven mittens) to speed up the game. That is why you don't see the scarf and the hat on the last 2 pictures.
First post of the New year
hey everyone,
I just want to say Happy New year! or in French it is Bonne Année! Alright, last week, I was hanging out with my mentors. From the 23rd to Christmas Morning, I hung out with Matt and his family, then on the 25 evening I shared a meal with Troy and his family. It was pretty cool to out with my mentors and not be alone for Christmas.
Right now, I finished some corrections to my testimony, but I still to practice much more making sure that I pronounce the words correctly. I am also still working at the soup kitchen as well. (Don't expect any pictures from me at the soup kitchen, people there don't take kindly to pictures.) Finally, this week youth group is starting up again. I am excited because I get to see the youth again and try to speak French to them.
