Em.'s In & Outs

After crossing over the North Pole in this Boing 777, I greatly fulfilled my never-ending thurst for big contrasts by going from a cosmopolitan and definitely urban experience into a week at the small organic vegetable farm where my sister Alex works.

It was a chance for me to be there, for I've been interested in gardening for a long time and now finally had the opportunity to ask all kinds of questions about food-growing and fertilizers and greenhouse and everything. It was also very nice to be again around people who value the environment and act upon their principles, as it feels like since I left CÉGEP I meet fewer and fewer of these people. I guess environmentalism is more preponderant theme in Québec than anywhere else I've been so far, probably because of the many people living in the countryside and wanting to preserve their quality of life. I think it was also very timely, as it feels like, how important the issues of food safety, GMOs and vegetarianism are, I am sometimes neglecting them in my mental wanderings around other things. So that was nice! But after taking a day to go to Montréal, visit CECI's headquarters to meet with a Burkinabè delegation and with future co-workers and supervisors, I realized that that was where I belonged, however frustrating the paperwork can sometimes be...

Alex and I were sleeping in our sleeping bags in a large tippies, which was not without reminding me of good memories the summer 2004, spent in my tent in the Rockies. We took some time off from working at the farm to go hand-picking berries, canoeing with the dog and hicking the region's biggest peak, Mont Pinnacle, and barefeet that is, as in my recent quality of ''city girl'' (as put by Alex), I was only carrying heels and flip flops in my suitcase... But good times, overall!

I spent a lot of the time readjusting to the time difference at first, and a bit of time socializing with the family owning the farm and especially with their 2 year old son, Forest. I realized it was not only time I needed to adjust to... The more it went, the more I can say I realized the impact of certain Hong Kong values upon my behavior and my way of seeing things and that, in a varieties of situations. It is always special to realize how one is changed by one's trips, for the better and for the worst! On the bad end, I must admit I'll have to redo some work on my patience and make conscious efforts to stop acting snobbily or in a superficial manner. I am told one is always the worst judge upon oneself though, hey...

On another note, I must say that the more it goes the more I buy into these psychological models of the ''steps'' of a cultural adaptation; after realizing that I really didn't do too well at the ''Leaving'' component of my journey in Asia (with not doing proper goodbyes to important people), I unfortunately saw myself in a situation of ''Debriefing'' which was not optimal either; in fact, it didn't happen yet. I sometimes feel like few people in my family or my town can relate to what I'm living in a way that is emphatetic enough to permit me to say all I have to say about the summer. It seems like my CÉGEP and IDS support networks are so far away now. But oh well, it will be allright... Courage Éma...

I feel like I am a tourist in my own province. For example, I was totally taken by surprise by the granola friend of the farm's owner when she was talking about eating her placenta after giving birth to get herself some nutrients! Oh la la... But I guess the period of feeling horrible or inadequate will soon be over so I can move onto the next challenge (Burkina that is), which is very exciting as well.