Acclimatizing

The first couple weeks have been about adjusting to the city. The life I'm living here isn't all that different from the life I'd live if I was in Edmonton. It's only missing a few things and added a couple to my responsibilities list. Even though I enjoy living in Edmonton or Calgary, even Vancouver, I've quickly realized that my lifestyle is a pretty small community type of a lifestyle. That doesn't mean I want to stay in a small town, it just means my personality fits the culture quite well.

Getting used to the lack of traffic is one thing, getting used to the lack of chain restaurants and shopping outlets is on a whole different level. I don't mind lack of traffic; I just hope it doesn't affect how I drive when I get back to the city - meaning, I don't want to be scared of the pace.

A pastor's everyday life is also pretty different from several occupations. I will admit that for many days where I've sat in my office so far, I'm not really doing anything "pastor" related. I think part of that is because I don't have a whole lot of responsibilities yet, but I often find myself doing the same things as if I were at home sitting in front of my computer or with my guitar. So that's kind of neat. Along with that, there isn't really a set schedule, like a 9 to 5 type of thing, that I am supposed to be in the office. I've just kind of showed up to church, meet to pray briefly, then have coffee with people, and then go home for lunch. If there's people that I'm to visit in the afternoon, I'll do that. Other than that, I just kind of derp around reading or doing something less productive. So I definitely think that while I like what I'm doing now, I need to make an intentional effort to try to get ahead if I have nothing to do. Once I fall behind, it's good game.

Early tomorrow morning, and I mean early, at 7:30am actually, I will be heading out to really get acclimatized to this farming culture. I'm being taken out to do some branding on some calves. There is not even the slightest part in me that wants to go, but I feel it's something I really should do. It's terrorizing to think that I'd be out on a farm with a bunch of animals and we have to "brand" them. I hate getting dirty, but I also think that if I spend eight months here and don't even do some of the things people do here, it'd be a waste of an internship no matter how much I do in the church.

I'll probably already be grouchy for having to wake up so early, but I know it'll be quite horrifying when I get to the farm and see what they do to the animals. It's going to be a heck of an experience, so hopefully I come back without breaking anything or be bruised by one of the cattle. Let's hope I actually enjoy this, somewhat. Regardless of whether I do or don't, though, I'll get to experience first hand what some of the people do here.

For a brief update: I'll be out of town all week next week. From Monday to Wednesday, I'll be in Saskatoon for district conference. From there, I'll make my way home to Edmonton (yay!) for the wedding that takes place on Saturday! Finally, I'll make the long trip back down on the following Monday.

Happy June!