Authenticity

I met an authentic dutchie today. There was a guy on my soccer team who has been in Canada for about 8 weeks. He has an awesome accent and was really excited to find out that I have dutch background (I think he's the first one ever to be excited when I've mentioned my dutch background)
By the way...we tied tonight. Apparently in the past, the "individuals" team has been a joke but this year, watch out.

Toronto....some dreams come true

I have two things in Toronto that I have always dreamed off:

1) to play in a competitive co-ed indoor soccer team. I played my first game last night. And my team, full of individuals who have never met each other before, won. We also were one player short and therefore, never got a sub either. My legs are sore but my body is happy (except for the accidental body check I laid on someone and going down, twisted my ankle).

2) a library card to a big library. I went there today and took out piles of books on reptiles, fish, birds, mammals, and amphibians (can you tell I'm a teacher...)

I've been missioned

Today I was on the other side of missions. I showed up at a church outreach program (BBQ, blown up playgrounds, dance presentation) in a van labelled "Toronto City Mission." I attended the event with a teen mom and son, her friend, and a friend of mine.

It was interesting to see how the people hosting the event interacted with me. It was weird to be at an event watching (and trying not to analyze) how they missioned to the community, including myself. The outreach was great; the young mom and friend made a commitment to Christ where the church took down their name and address. I'm really hoping they will do a follow-up.

But it made me think about how non-churched people might react to the situation. I definently felt slightly overwhelmed at times when people kept pushing programs and "this is a place for you, you should come" on me. Maybe that's because I'm independent and usually find out answers for myself and don't do well with being told what to do. I'm sure other people may need the push and encouragement.

However, in the end I definently felt like the church was very friendly, and I am considering attending there (plus if I wear the same sweater maybe some will recognize me and come chat...??)

You know you're a hick when...

I tried to sing the "TSC" song to my roommate and a school teacher today and neither of them had a clue what I was singing. They looked at me strangely and wondered what I was doing (it was relevant to both conversations). Apparently TSC is only something small-town folk in the SouthWestern area know of....aren't we lucky.

Miss Teacher

So, I've had my first two days of school...and I have another great bunch of students. They are energetic, talented, quirky, and unique. Higlight so far:

• Devotional discussion this morning. We talked about our value - discussion went into body, mind, and soul. How do we define ourselves? What happens if one of them changes...does that chance our worth? What is soul? We also talked about conscience and the Holy Spirit. I absolutely LOVE the discussions you can get into in Grade 6.

Positives to Toronto

So, I've discovered some things about Toronto that I have come to appreciate...
-recycling AND composting program
-when it's raining you do not get mud all splashed up your back when biking
-great library just down the road (teacher's dream come true)
-some people connections that I haven't talked to in ages

...and hopefully more to be discovered