Home, sweet home

I am finally starting to feel settled in my new apartment - all of the boxes are unpacked, the pictures are up on the walls, and I am just waiting for the piano tuner to come and make the piano sound nice again after its long journey.

When I came here for a weekend in August to go apartment hunting, I came prepared with a spreadsheet to use to compare apartments.  Price was a factor, but I used it to rule out apartments without even looking at them if the rent was over a certain amount.  The factors on my spreadsheet were:

• piano will fit in to the apartment (i.e. no long flights of stairs!)
• pets (specifically cats) are allowed
• on-site laundry (coin-operated was OK, I just don't like traveling to laundromats - which reminds me, I have to do laundry this evening!)
• natural light (I have lived in apartments with minimal to no natural light - I don't do well there)
• off-street parking (especially since I'm not using my car very much these days)

And so, after looking at a pile of places over a few days, I came up with a short-list of 4 where I could see myself living.  Why did I pick this one?  The character.  I am renting a flat in a Victorian mansion (built in 1895 by the former mayor) - picture lovely high ceilings, crown moulding, hardwood floors.  It is a bit of a commute to get to school (50-60 minutes with public transit; 20 minutes driving not at rush hour); but I found that my rent dollar goes a lot further in Dartmouth than it does in Halifax.  I could have rented an apartment a few blocks away from the school for the same monthly rent, but it was maybe half the size, and with no character - your typical cube apartment in a large apartment building.

I think that I am going to be happy here.  There are lovely windows with lots of sunlight all day long.  My landlords are great.  I have lots of space for visitors (hint, hint).  I enjoy my daily commute (especially the ferry ride).  And Dartmouth is smaller and less busy than Halifax, I I find it easier to get around.  The downtown core is a 5-10 minute walk away, and there are lots of grocery stores etc. that are easy for me to get to.

Picture time!

 (living room at the front of the house)

 (dining room / office space in the middle of the house)

 (bedroom, towards the back of the house)

(kitchen, and back door)

Chapel Services

Being a theological school, chapel services are part of the daily and weekly routine here.  Attendance is encouraged, but not compulsory (for example, I don't have classes on Fridays so I don't anticipate making the trek over to school very many weeks for Friday chapel).  Monday, Tuesday, and Friday the service is quite short - 15-20 minutes only - usually with hymns, readings, and prayers.  On Thursday, it is a bit longer - 45 minutes or so - with a guest preacher from either the school or the community.

Planning and presiding is done by teams, and teams rotate from week-to-week.  It is ideal if there is a mix of denominations, as well as year of study on each team.  There is also one faculty member with each team.

Being the keener that I am, I signed up to be a part of the team for the very first week.  Hey - why not grab hold of the chance to take part before the course workload gets too overwhelming?!  And so our team of three students (a 2nd year and a 3rd year and me) and one professor planned out the services for the week.  Each day, each one of us took part in the shared leadership of the services, taking turns leading the prayers and reading the scriptures.  On Monday, the chapel organist was away so I even had a chance to play for a service.

And I had so much fun, that I have signed up to be part of a team one week near the end of term in November.

If you are an observant reader, you may have noticed that I skipped over Wednesday in my schedule above.  Wednesday afternoons we meet with our denominational groups, and so each denomination worships separately at different times in the chapel, in the style of our own denomination.

And so my adventure at seminary continues.  I've handed in a couple of assignments at this point, and feel a bit more on top of my readings this week.

(a view of the chapel from the organ loft)

What the heck am I doing here???

I've survived the first week of classes - I just don't know if I am going to survive all of the reading I have to do before the second week of classes!

My weekly schedule is as follows:
Monday morning - Research Methods and Practices
Tuesday morning - Theological Foundations
Tuesday afternoon - United Church Worship
Wednesday afternoon - United Church Formation
Thursday morning - Biblical Foundation:  Hebrew Bible
Thursday afternoon - Pastoral Foundations:  The Search for Meaning and Connection

I think that it was some time around Tuesday afternoon that I had a sensation of being completely overwhelmed.  What the heck am I doing here?  Why did I give up a perfectly good career and home to do this?  Short term goal:  to make it to the end of the week.  Longer term goal:  to make it until the end of term.  Breathe.

That feeling has settled down a bit.  I'm getting in to the assigned readings (and getting through them, mostly on schedule).  And I'm enjoying the readings!  Maybe this isn't going to be as impossible as I thought?  But then there are the assignments - first one due on Tuesday afternoon.  What the heck am I doing here?!

I can do this.
One day at a time.
One chapter at a time.
One assignment at a time.

On another note, I finally have internet at home!  3 weeks after making contact with them, someone finally came by yesterday morning, plugged in a modem for me, and 5 minutes later I had working internet.  Yay!

I'm almost unpacked here in my apartment - just in time for my first visitors from "home" are expected this week.

(this term's texts)

Moving...

I have made it in to my new home!  Actually, I arrived on Monday afternoon, and this morning, 5 days later, the moving truck arrived.  It has been a crazy couple of weeks - 1 1/2 weeks of intensive packing up following a year of gradual purging.  One morning for the movers to load my stuff in to the moving truck.  4 days of driving to get from my old home to my new home, plus a 3-day stop to visit family and friends at the half-way point.  3 days of orientation at my new school.

Courses have been registered for; textbooks have been acquired; and classes are set to begin on Monday!

I am ready to go.  Except for the gazillion boxes (give or take) left to unpack.  Except that I don't yet have the internet hooked up at my new apartment (I've been fighting with the provider for the past 3 weeks to get this done).

But…
I have some exciting new textbooks to geek out over.
I have a bus pass (included with my school fees) and the ferry ride across the harbour is lovely, especially on a sunny day.
I have a gym membership (also included with my school fees) - though I only got that sorted out yesterday so I haven't had a chance to visit it yet.
I was able to get a public library card yesterday, and they have free WiFi.
And I get to sleep in my own bed tonight rather than on the floor!

And so...
Ready…
Set…
…

Thoughts on the End of Work

Last Thursday was my last day of work.  I have been a Physiotherapist for the past 15 years; and aside from my regular vacation time, 2 months before I went to Tanzania, and 2 months after I got home from Tanzania, I have worked as a Physiotherapist for the past 15 years.  And now I am not.

I don't think that I have fully processed this yet.  I've been too busy with packing boxes and last-minute appointments to think about the fact that I'm not working.  I suspect that it will hit me in a little bit.

I have had 3 physiotherapy jobs since I graduated from university, and I have (mostly) loved all three of them.  I have had awesome employers, great colleagues, and amazing clients from whom I have learned so much.  When I finished school and for many years afterwards, it felt like a calling.  At first, I couldn't believe that the hospital was actually paying me for doing this.  I loved going in to work in the morning, I racked up professional volunteer hours, I eagerly attended continuing education courses.

But over time, things changed.  I still enjoyed my work and my interactions with my clients, but the enthusiasm just wasn't there the way it was in the beginning.  I haven't done any physiotherapy continuing education courses in a couple of years (shhh - don't tell the College!).  I can't remember the last Ontario Physiotherapy Association meeting that I attended (and it has been 5 years since I was on the local executive).  I wasn't excited when I was asked to let my name stand for the provincial board of directors a couple of years ago (and I didn't let it stand).

But I have been getting more excited about my church-land activities.  I loved the 2-year Lay Worship Leader course that I took.  Despite the challenges, I (mostly) enjoyed my time on the church board.  I love going to Presbytery meetings, representing my home congregation and becoming more involved in a wider sense.

I don't think that our calling needs necessarily be static through our whole lives.  My current direction would not have been right for me 15 years ago, but it feels right for me now.  Despite the stress of selling my house and moving half-way across the country, it feels like the right thing to be doing.

And I am still a Physiotherapist.  I am still registered with the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario which allows me to use that title for myself.  I don't want to work at first, but I may look for some casual physiotherapy work at some point in my schooling.  With 4 months off in the summer, I will definitely be looking for physiotherapy-related summer jobs.  And when I am done, I will have options available to me, in terms of possibly combining physiotherapy and ministry.

I don't have very many pictures of me at work as a physiotherapist, but I will include this picture from my time in Tanzania.  This young man had spent many months in hospital following a car accident.  The local district of the Ontario Physiotherapy Association donated money to purchase a locally-made, locally-appropriate wheelchair, and so I visited his home, made the necessary measurements, and purchased this wheelchair using the donated money.  This picture was taken on delivery day - he was able to walk a bit around his house with assistance from his mother; but this wheelchair would give him the mobility to go beyond his house and participate more in his community.

The Start of the Journey (or maybe the middle?)

If you are reading this, then you probably know that I am in the middle of packing up my house and getting ready to move half-way across this vast country.  Why would I do something like this?  I have come to the conclusion that I must be crazy.  Or at least a little bit off-kilter.  Because, 15 years after finishing school, I am about to go back again.

When I graduated from university, I was so glad to be done.  I was excited to enter my chosen profession of physiotherapy.  I had a job lined up in Thunder Bay, I passed the Physiotherapy National Exam, and I was set to go.

The years passed.  I traveled.  Lots.  I lived in Tanzania for 3 years working as a physiotherapist in a rural mission hospital.  I volunteered in different contexts.  I spent a total of 5 years on the executive of the local district of the Ontario Physiotherapy Association.  Music is a fun hobby.  I bought a house 7 years ago and have enjoyed learning how to garden in this climate.

But then, maybe about 5 years ago, I started feeling little nudges that maybe this wasn't going to be where I was going to stay.  And so after 5 or 6 years of informal, internal discernment and a year of formal discernment, I am headed to seminary.  I will be studying for my Master of Divinity, and if all goes well, in 4 years, give-or-take, I will be ordained as a minister in The United Church of Canada.

Several people have told me that they want an easy way to keep up with me, and what I am doing, and what I am learning; and so I have decided to start this blog as a way to keep in touch with friends and family.  My goal is to update it every week or so.

And so my Next Great Adventure is about to begin!  Let me buckle my seatbelt and hang on for the ride.  I was planning to put a picture of a road in here - or maybe a road with a fork in it ("I took the road less traveled" etc.).  But that isn't my preferred means of transportation, so instead I will finish off with this picture.  Something to remind me of my heart's home here in north-western Ontario even when I am living half a continent away; as well as a reminder of the journey that we all take through this wild and crazy life.  What will be waiting on the other side of the bend in the river?