As some of you may now be aware, I
traveled to Canada for a board meeting of the North American
Interfaith Network combined with a site visit for the next NAIN
Connect to be held in Regina Canada at the Luther College, a part of
the University of Regina, Saskatchewan. eh? (See picture)
Originally I had been told that I could
expect the weather to be between 30 and 50 below zero for my trip and
I planned accordingly, packing my battery operated heavy socks, and
knitting myself a set of heavy fingerless mittens to go under heavier
gloves. I had discovered in my youth that if I could keep my feet,
head, and hands warm, the rest of me would follow so long as I
dressed reasonably for the weather. I was actually looking forward to
experiencing this type of cold as I had never before had the
opportunity to do so having lived in California most of my life.
Early on the morning of my travel I
therefore dressed in my thermals, heavy jeans, long sleeved shirt and
over sweater and…of course, my battery operated socks sans
batteries. I also wore my crocks as they are very easy to slip off
and on, figuring that I could add batteries, and heavier boots once
in Regina. BIG Mistake!
I was certain that I had packed
everything that might even cause a hiccup in my check-in, carrying
only my backpack/roller board. Once I walked through the detector
however, I discovered what I had failed to take into
consideration…my socks had wires. When I realized what was
troubling them I told them what I was wearing and even pulled up my
pants leg to show them. Nothing doing. Apparently no one in the
airport had ever heard of electric socks. I was made to take them
off and they (the socks), and I were tested for gun powder residue
and other explosive chemicals and then they were run back through the
machine; though to tell you the truth I have no idea what they
thought to find as you can clearly see the sleeve for the wires and
feel them anyway. They were so befuddled by the entire thing that
they finally had to call the head of security over to once again test
them. You know, I think that even a middle school student knows that
you have to complete an electrical circuit for it to be in any way
dangerous. THERE WERE NO BATTERIES IN THE SOCKS! Scheeze! Finally
they determined that, as there were no batteries in the socks (duh…)
and I had none with me it must be safe to let me through. Really? I
could have bought batteries in three of the stores inside. I am so
glad that I allowed an extra hour for check in.
Fortunately the rest of the trip went
more smoothly and I reached Regina airport in the evening around
seven only to discover that it was closer to thirty-two degrees and I
didn’t even need to change out of my crocks (or put batteries in
those deadly socks) to still be comfortable. I told our driver that
she was great and that CoG should make her an honorary “Weather
Witch” for doing such a fine job of calling in the Chinook that so
drastically changed the weather, which she insisted that the
committee had done just for us. After meeting up for dinner our tour
guide and wonderful hostess took us to our hotel where we wasted no
time in turning in.
Our same guide,
Brenda Anderson, came by at 0830 hours the next morning and scooped
us up for the board meeting and a site tour of the Campus. I am the
internal communications chair and had made sure to bring my computer
and external cameras and mics for connecting our distance board
members as needed, to the meeting. I was delighted to discover that
every room had 54” monitors along with full connections to a
computer and that I was able simply to open Skype on their equipment,
log in and call folks without ever having to set up my own equipment.
As an interesting side note for the more conspiracy minded of you,
the technician who helped set everything up happened to work for the
Canadian equivalent of the CIA… He was such a nice young man, very
helpful in making certain that all of my wires were properly
connected…hum… We did have a bit of a problem with mic volume
that our youngest board member handled with efficiency.
 |
| Drea adjusting the Mic. |
We worked through with only a break for
lunch (at a typical college dormitory cafeteria, boy have my tastes
changed!) until after 1700 in the evening but felt that it was a very
productive day. We then went to dinner at a great, if a bit slow,
place where I was seated next to the dean of the college. Great
conversation and food was had by all. This is the picture that Greg
posted while I was gone.
The next day saw us hard at work
finishing up the agenda and being shown the web page for the Connect
which had just that afternoon been put up. I am sooo excited about
this connect, and I cannot encourage you each enough to save pennies,
and go go go. They are having academic workshops in the morning,
experiential workshops in the afternoons and then listening groups
during the last part of the day to allow small groups of folks to
share with one another what they had gained from the day. These
“listening groups” will remain the same throughout the
conference. Check out the schedule which will populate as proposals
come in. You’d never guess that this is being both sponsored and
produced by academia would you?
https://luthercollege.edu/university/alumni-friends/events/north-american-interfaith-network-nain-2015
We left the campus at 1230 hours for
the return home which, for me, was without major difficulties
(possibly because I left my socks in the check-in). The one problem
that I had was that I figured that I would eat something at the
airport as I had two long patches of waiting, (having experienced the
student cafeteria once already) but there were no restaurants on my
side of the security check in any of the airports I was at. I ended
up ordering nachos at a bar and this is what I got. Who knew there
was a kit for nachos? I took a pass. We in California take our
Mexican food somewhat more seriously.
In Calgary I was told that I should
pick up my bag on the other side of US customs, but once there
discovered that I should have picked it up on the Canadian side and
dropped it off on the US side. The Federal Customs agents thought
that this was very funny and gave both me and the poor girl pushing
the wheel chair all kinds of grief (in good fun) finally taking and
holding my passport until we got back. I then had to sit and wait
three hours to board a flight for the final leg of the trip home,
staring at a full service restaurant on the other side of a very
thick glass for the entire time.
The worst part of the trip home was
that United did not meet me at the gate with a chair and I ended up
having to walk almost half a mile around construction and other
obstacles just to get to my bags. I then discovered that I had to
walk to the Bay Area Rapid Transit that would take me home as none of
the elevators went to the third floor to catch the “sky tram” in
the part of the airport that I was in. I ended up walking a bit over
a mile. Fortunately my suitcase has wheels but was none the less
very hard to schlep by the time I was bent over from the pain in my
back. My loving husband had dinner ready when I got home and between
that and some really good drugs, I was feeling much better by bed
time.
One interesting part of the trip is
that there is a First Nations College on the University Campus,
(which you can readily identify from the overhead picture of the
campus, as it is the only building without corners) and that Brenda
is very active, as a professor of Women’s studies, in the problems
that Canada is having with First Nations women being murdered and
disappearing right off of city streets in broad daylight. We chatted
every chance we got about the issues of the Tar Sands, Indigenous
rights and education, and the effects of Colonialism on the First
Nations people. It is hard to imagine how much this colonialism
still plays a part in the politics of civil rights for the First
people of the land.
I was invited to represent the Wiccan
voice in a panel on Women’s issues in the religious forum for one
of the plenaries and also asked to do what they call an experiential
work shop on the differences in types of communication in meeting
with one another and decision making. Should be quite interesting. I
did accept for both of them.
I am sorry that there are not more
pictures but I was very busy at this meeting. As Greg will be with
me at the Connect, I trust that we will be able to present a better
photo essay next summer.
In Her Service and Yours,
R Watcher, National Interfaith
Representative
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