The thriving metropolis of Sarnia

Last night I hitched a ride in a rental car with the Hunters to attend Ann Marie's fundraiser for her trip to Mozambique. After a long four hour drive to Sarnia we arrived for an event that was not what I had expected. I guess I assumed it would be full of young twenty somethings like most Freedomize outings, but instead it was packed with "old" people. It's rather silly and mean to call them old as they were mostly in their 40s and 50s, which is actually quite young if you think about it.

In light of the crowd, the night was your typical small town church event. They had a spread of food laid out in the church gym with a makeshift stage displaying African printed blankets and pillows. They served coffee and tea in Timmy's cups with various other assortments of potluck type hors d'oeuvres. I find Church suppers usually always provide one with exposure to new combinations of food. There is always some jello mixture with marshmallows, odd variations of tomato aspect, and egg salad sandwiches with some form of homemade pickled vegetable. Fortunately for me, Annie had made most of the food so it was all normal in appearance and taste and very yummy.

Following the fundraiser Ade and I helped Annie clean things up and then the three of us headed over to the local pub to meet up with Ade's friend Ron and his dad. Hanging out at a random hotel bar on a Saturday night with a middle aged man was not my ideal, but the evening turned out to be very enjoyable.

Ron's dad is your typical Brit who comes from the town of Liverpool. He had an accent, which as the evening porgressed, became thicker as he drank more alcohol. At some points it became increasingly difficult to understand him. Despite his inebriated state, we became engrossed in a conversation on British politics and colonialism. This man was probably the most patriotic Englishman I have ever encountered. He was so infuriatingly pro-Commonwealth (England rules the world, we are the best colonizers, and we should still rule the world) that I had to work to contain my utter shock and disbelief at the ridiculousness of his claims and opinions.

After graduating from university a few years back, I often wondered if my education was a waste of time. Would I ever need to discuss long-term effects of imperialism and the rise of neo-liberal policies with the average person? Why would anyone care about the Falkand Islands conflict? Well, to my delight all these topics were breached last night and to my amazement, I defended my points very articulately and with much vigour. Not to be conceited, but I think he was impressed. At one point he turned to Ade and told her that when he was my age he never considered politics an interesting subject and that all he ever wanted to do was get laid. We were uh... taken aback by this comment.

The evening continued as I drove his dad home to avoid the police ride check outside the hotel. I have to admit; it was rather odd to be driving a car that belonged to a man I hardly knew. At first I thought I might be getting into an unsafe situation, but the whole way home he complimented me on my driving and showed me various ways to drive that saves "petrol". I don't know if they actually work but when I get a car (or if someone has the gumption to lend me theirs) I'll have to test out his theories.

After dropping off dad, Ade and I drove over to meet Annie and Ron at his house where we indulged in cigars, listened to awesome music and looked at demotivational posters. I discovered that Ron and I had similar views on music (we both have a mad love for K-OS and Jurassic 5 and hate melancholy emotional crap), subsidized housing, classism, social justice and development.

The night concluded with Ann Marie and me sharing a bed at her place. We giggled and chatted until 3:30am until finally we were so tired, we went to sleep. I miss my friend so much and wished that my departure could have been delayed so we could spend the entire afternoon together. I can’t believe she leaves on Thursday for Africa. The closer she gets to leaving the more excited I become for her. It is absolutely exhilarating to see someone I love experience the realization of a most passionate long-standing dream. Even if I am dismayed with my own present circumstances, I am quite satisfied to watch my friend enjoy God’s blessings. It has not always been easy for me to say this with sincerity, but today I can say that I truly mean it.

I could go on forever about the gloriousness of my weekend. I had a particularly excellent Friday as well but this post is long enough and I have to get going as church is at 5pm.

Happy Sunday :)

Johanna