Reflections on traveling

I've made my way to Aylmer, Ontario, which is near London. This is in the heart of Canada's Ahmish country, so for the second time this year (the first time being when I went to Pennsylvania in February) I've seen horses pulling buggies on the highway.

Traveling alone like this does sometimes get lonely. It's been great to get together with a few friends in various cities, but then later in the evenings (except here in Aylmer and my one night of a very brief stay in Hamilton) I'm back at a hostel or university residence. It's times like this that I'm glad I'm not staying at a hotel. At least at the hostel in Montreal, there were people to talk to, and I even knew two of the other guests. (But those two guests were spending most of their time with each other, not me, not that I can blame them. They are boyfriend and girlfriend, and they won't see each other for a year.) Also, I'm sometimes alone during the day because my friends have jobs.

But on the brighter side, this has been a good chance to rediscover east-central Canada. I lived in Ottawa when I was almost too young to remember, and I traveled throughout eastern Canada with my family in 1997, but this experience has been different. In 1997 I was 15. I wasn't all that rebellious, but I wasn't super enthusiastic about spending 3 weeks with my family and seeing lots of historical and educational stuff. Yeah, the 1997 vacation was generally a good vacation, but I think I'm more enthusiastic this time around. I also have more freedom to do what I want (which includes seeing some historical and educational stuff) and through finding my own way around and making my own decisions, I think I get to know the cities better and my appreciation for these cities grows. In 1997, we only spent a day or two in Montreal and I barely remember it. This time, despite seeing the same street performers every night a block from the hostel, and finding very little that interested me in the Rue St. Catherines shopping district, there were many other things I enjoyed about Montreal. (And I enjoyed the street performers too, the first time anyway.)

Here in Aylmer I'm getting a little more acquainted with another branch of Christianity--the
German Church of God. It's affilliated with my church and my grandma goes to one of those churches, but until I went to Uganda I never really had a chance to learn much about those churches from people who actually go to them. Now that I'm visiting friends that I met in Uganda and visiting their church, I'm learning even more. They are more conservative than my church and I've heard a few things that I disagree with, but I'm grateful for the chance to meet more people there and get an inside look.