The Journey Out

So after a week of procrastinating over my packing, I finally had two rather large bags packed and ready to go. I thought at one point that I was going to have trouble filling them, but when it came to it I ended up having to do a last minute sort and find some things to leave behind. The impressive weight of my bags certainly won’t have been helped by the kilo or so of chocolate that I packed. Well what can I say, Hershey's mings!!!! So I’m taking supplies for both Jonathan and myself (for anyone unsure what I’m on about, Hershey's is one of the North American chocolate manufacturers. It is also disgusting, not a patch on good old Cadbury’s). But despite the last minute packing panic and the mild hysterical out-bust that accompanied it- turns out emotional goodbyes, 5 hours of sleep and early morning crises don’t mix well with me!
Once we had crawled through the morning rush hour, and finally made it to the airport. In typical Clarke style I was hours early, but I had a lovely queue free check in :) and then a good old mooch round the shops.
The plane journey was fairly uneventful. I got to sit by the window, so got a fantastic view of Heathrow from the air:



The English coast, Ireland (who apparently had some snow), the ice cristals which form between the layers of glass in the windom:



And Canada:


So as well as getting a window seat, I was also blessed to be sitting next to a very nice old couple, who were more than happy to chat a bit and tell me just how cold it was going to be when we landed.
I got to watch “St Trinians” on the plane, which was entertaining enough even though the sound kept cutting out and being replace with rather loud static for a few mins. I also got to watch “Enchanted” (again) which was of course played in a loop, so I got to see bits of it several times over!! Oh I love that film. Most of the flight though (and all the waiting time in the airport lounge) was spent reading a new book- Jasper Fforde’s Lost in a good book. I have to thank Sheila for the money which I used to get it and Adele for the recommendation. (Adele I was so glad you told me the plot outline of the first book, because they didn’t have it and otherwise I would never have understood this one).
So anyway we finally made it to Toronto Airport and after an unexpected delay while health and safety people checked the plane (no idea why or what they were looking for) we made it out into the terminal building. I though we would then breeze through and be on our way. How wrong I was. It was about a half mile walk from the plane to the customs office where everyone from every plane goes through to say if they have anything they shouldn’t have in their bag. I pick a line and waited, and waited, and waited. The family in front of me seemed to be having fun with the fact that their son had brought back a hat made from dried plant leaves. Well in Canada you aren’t allowed to take in any food, animals, plants or much else for that matter. So they had a while discussing if that was permitted. Finally though it was agreed that they could proceed and I was up, ready to declare my kilo of chocolate, tell the guy at the desk a bit about what I was doing, show him my lovely immigration letter and be on my way.
As I went to pick up my bags I found that Toronto airport is stupid! The trolleys for your luggage require $2. I had Canadian dollars, but surprise surprise as is the case for almost all foreigners entering the country, I had notes, no change, so I had no trolley and two bags I could hardly lift. Then out of nowhere a guy came up to me and with a big smile said “So you’re going to the school of ministry then?” His name was Dan and he had been on the same flight as me from Heathrow. In the immigration queue he had seen me show my letter to the attendant and had realised I was headed the same place. Seeing I couldn’t carry my bags, he, incredibly sweetly, offered to take my rucksack for me. I felt a bit bad as he had two bags of his own, but he insisted and so we headed out together to find Becca who was meeting me at arrivals. So having found Becca, we all three jumped in a taxi and headed to the church.
The church is really quite close to the airport (as you might expect with it being called Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship!) so it wasn’t very long at all before we got there, only to be greeted at the door by none other than my little brother :) So then there was the registration and about a million forms to sign, then I got my key, was shown my room, picked up the bed sheets and duvet that Ayshka so very kindly left for me (Ayshka you are a star), unpacked a few things and met my new room mates. Sophie is English and Emma is from Iceland. We have another girl coming but her dad just died so she is coming later.
Dinner was a nice steak, though possibly a bit too tough to have just been using the regular knives we had.
After dinner we had a worship session (sooo good) and the introductory talks, before we were dismissed. It was only about 8:30 local time, but I was shattered, so although some people stayed up and played games I came to my room, settled down and made a start on this blog. And that was the end of my day!