My Year In Canada
Hi! My name is Birthe Kann, and I spent my year abroad (2002/2003) in the country of the maple leaves - Canada. The German organization iSt enrolled me in its programme after I had passed their interview and language test. The reasons why I wanted to go on an exchange were: I had always wanted to speak a foreign language fluently, and I really wanted to experience something new in my live, to get out of my every day routine and meet new people. There was still about one year to go after my application, but the time passed really fast. I had to fill in thousands of papers and went to meetings with former exchange students who passed their experiences on to us, the future exchange students.
On August 27, 2002 I went on the plane with forty other young people to fly across the ocean. At the airport in Toronto we went through the immigration, and our group split up to catch other planes who would take everyone closer to their new homes. I went on with six other girls to Edmonton where our host families picked us up.
My final destination was Ponoka, Alberta, Canada. Ponoka is a small town with about 6.000 inhabitants, a one-hour drive south of Edmonton, the capital of the prairie province Alberta.
At the airport I could not find my host family immediately. They stood a little bit off side and it drove me insane because all the other girls were already surrounded by their new families and I was lost ... But eventually I saw my name on a sign the Moores were holding up.
The Moores - that are Pamela and Darren with Jonah (3 yrs.) and the twins Elizabeth and Nicholas (1 yr.). They were the perfect family for me: young, dynamic, warm-hearted, adventurous, humorous - and I love kids. I had my own room and bathroom in the house, and it did not take much time for me to settle in. Communication was not a major problem and hey, what do you have hands and feet for???!!! If you don’t know how to lock a door without a key simply ask.
The family I was getting to know expanded rapidly. There were more Moores, and after I had got to know them, I met the Mousers. And as if that was not enough, there were still the Lindstrands I had to meet. Furthermore, the whole town knew me before I knew them. My neighbours originally came from Hildesheim (the world is small, isn' it?) and their door was always open for me as well.
School started in September - I went to Ponoka Composite High School, a school about the same size of Burgdorf Grammar School from grade 9 to 12. School started at quarter to nine and finished at 3:30 pm. My subjects were Maths, Social Studies, Bio and Instrumental Music in the first semester and English, French, Chem and Maths in the second semester. Each period was eighty minutes long with one hour lunch time. The principal put me in grade 11, but I was allowed to take all the courses of the graduation level. So, you see, school is not difficult and the teachers were very patient when I asked the same question three times in a row. What I really liked about school in Canada was that the lesson is not stuffed with too much theory. We disected cow eyes in Bio and built DNA out of marshmellows, for example.
I played in the school band. We practised every day and it was fun. The band consisted of 50 people, so we could play a lot of great music. The busiest time was before Christmas when we had concerts everywhere, in other schools, in old folks' homes, hospitals, at charities etc. We went on a band trip to Banff to prepare for these concerts, where we had special training with guest conductors. That was my first time in the Rocky Mountains and it was great. It is absolutely fantastic to swim in hot springs when it is -20°C outside and you are surrounded by mountains.
The organization iSt does not have an office in Canada. They work with the organization ASSE, which has provincial and regional offices all over the country. Every exchange student has an area rep(resentative) whom they can talk to about problems with the family etc. These reps were supposed to contact us twice a month, I heard from my rep about four times (one meeting, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter) during the whole year. Luckily, I did not need her once. I solved all problems or misunderstandings with my family and, honestly, the only real problem that turned up was the pronunciation of my name. You cannot imagine what ideas Canadians get if they see the letters b i r t h e in a row! Eventually, they found me a nickname and I had trouble myself to pronounce my own name correctly. Anyhow, let’s get back to the reps. The husband of the Albertan rep always organized trips for exchange students around the country. It happened that I spent my birthday weekend in Edmonton with twenty other exchange students from around the world. That was a fun time. We visited the Legislature, West Edmonton Mall, White Ave and saw the Oilers play at the Skyreach Center. That was when I discovered my new passion: hockey! After I got home on Sunday, we celebrated my birthday again. The following week I had absolutely NO voice because of all the yelling, cheering and excitement.
Hockey is THE sport in Canada. Every other Canadian is born on skates. The atmosphere in the arenas is unbelievable. Well, it is the same as in any other sports but for me hockey is definitley more exciting than soccer. There is more action going on, and the game is faster and more thrilling than anything I have seen so far. Darren, my host dad, had season tickets for the WHL in Red Deer, which is college hockey. So, I became a Rebel’s fan, and the arena was my second home.
In November the basketball season began. I went through the try-outs and got on the JV team, later I was nominated for the Seniors. It was a tough time, but fun. The physical challenge was enormous, I had never run that much in my life. Sports are big in Canada, the more you do the more famous you become at school. The whole school supports the teams and every student is called a bronc, the mascot. My Bio teacher ran the marathon “Rennsteig Lauf” in Germany while I was in Canada.
Both participating in the band and in the basketball team was a great help to get to know people and to find friends. Although, there were quite a few who came up to me, as well, because they were curious to see what a German girl was like. Germany is still the country of Lederhosen, beer and the Oktoberfest. Speaking more than one language is a miracle to most of them. You might think, Canada is a bilingual country. This is basically correct, but only for the eastern provinces (especially Ontario and Québec). The further west you go the less French is known.
In 2002 I had my first white Christmas. There was not only this small pile of snow in front of the window, which was already melted away on Christmas Eve. No, the whole ground was covered with 5 feet high snow or more for at least three whole month. Our backs were sore from all the shovelling we had to do every day. Once we were finished we could almost start again ... Snow and/or low temerature (-40°C) were more than once the reason that school was cancelled. I loved those days, because I was able to watch a movie, covered with blankets and drinking a cup of hot chocolate or coffee. Tim Horton’s coffee is the best coffee ever!!!!!! It was almost an addiction ...but everybody has it. Oh, I got sidetracked. So, let’s get back to “business”: Christmas.
Christmas is the biggest holiday. And it is celebrated a lot. Our Christmas tree was put up the first weekend in December and decorated with thousands of balls and lights and a lot of glitter. It was a sight I had to get used to. The presents were collected under the tree, and Pam and I were busy to sew me a Christmas sock. Not only the Christmas tree was full of lights, they were also put up on the houses and in the yard. Sometimes all of us went out for a drive around town to have a look at all the lights. Some houses were ugly with pink lights, others were pretty. The most fanatic person in town had a reindeer sleigh out of lights on the roof and he even decorated the street sign.
The last school day before Christmas could also be called “gift exchanging day”. Everybody had gifts for everyone. I came home totally overloaded with stuff and, honestly, I felt bad every time I got another gift, because I had nothing for the other person, simply because I did not know, but I was happy at the same time. On Christmas Eve (Dec. 24) we went out for Oyster dinner, which is a tradition in my host family. Although hardly anybody likes oysters, it is all about the family. In the morning of Christmas Day (Dec. 25) we opened all our gifts. That took us about three hours because there was soooo much to open and we had to see what the others got as well. On Boxing Day (Dec. 26) we had the whole Mouser/Moore family at our house for Christmas Dinner. There was everything from turkey, mashed potatoes to gravy on the table, and we spent the whole day and the following week to eat all the food.
I was told that around Christmas everybody gets homesick. This was not the case for me, neither on Christmas nor on my birthday. Those days were so busy that I did not even get close to getting homesick. The only time I got really homesick was about four weeks after my arrival. At that point everything came together: a little jetlag was left, the language, I did not really know anybody yet, school ... I was actually sitting over my homework in the living room, the kids were running around as always, Pam made supper and I suddenly started crying, but hey, that is the way it is. I talked about it, my host parents gave me a bear hug and made me a cup of hot chocolate. The other time I cried was because I was so pissed off. The principle had kicked me out of a class two days before the second semester started. The course was full and “his” students had preference to get in. He had been playing the nice guy all year long, smiling all the time, but he is such a loser ... I am still getting angry when I start thinking about this again. There was no chance he would take me, even yelling did not help. So, for this one course I went to a different school downtown and got a 97% on it. And I probably did better than a lot of "his" students ...
One reason my suitcases started to fill up was Christmas, the other one was West Edmonton Mall. West Ed. is the biggest shopping mall in the world. It is a huge two-story building with thousands of stores, an ice rink, a swimming pool, a hotel, mini-golf, two food courts and Galaxy Land, which is a smaller version of the “Heidepark Soltau”. The mall is more or less like a labyrinth, and I spent hours and too much money there. The fact that I only lived an hour away did not improve this situation.
Edmonton and Calgary were not the only places I visited. My family took me to White Fish in Montana (USA), Las Vegas (USA), Pincher Creek and I went to Banff, Jasper and Vancouver, as well.
Montana is exactly how we know it from movies. Wide and endless roads, surrounded by the Rocky Mountains, deep blue rivers, mail boxes along the street and “western-movie” buildings. This is at least my impression from the part I saw. The most impressive thing was the "drive-through" bank, I had never heard of such a thing in my life. It is built like a gas station but you get your money out of those machines.
From the air you have a great view over Las Vegas. All the buildings are flat except for the Strip, so you know exactly where to go. At night, when the lights are on, this view is even more impressive. Each hotel is a small city with its own show: vulcanoes, fountains, battle ships, rollercoaster ... There is so much to see that we had no clue where to start: Treasure Island, Caesar’s Palace, New York New York, Bellagio, Paris, Aladdin, the Mirage, the Luxor ... One weekend was hardly enough to have a small peek at everything. It is too bad that I was not old enough to gamble and to play all night long on the slot machines. So, my highlight was the Céline Dion concert we went to one night. This show was amazing and three times as big as regular concerts when the artists are on tour.
I went to Vancouver with some other exchange students. On the way to B.C. we toured Jasper National Park and its sights. Once you get across the mountains, you are in a different climate. The trees are green, and it is a lot warmer because of the ocean. Vancouver is located in a bay at the ocean with the Rocky Mountains in the background. In April every flower is blooming. This is not the case in Alberta, so we were all soaking up the colours we saw. The University is located on a hill, and you have a wonderful view over the city and the ocean. We spent one night on Robson Street (main street with shops, restaurants etc.) and witnessed the parade after the Canuck’s had won a play-off game, which was important for the Stanley Cup. The Stanley Cup is the most important trophy for hockey clubs, and the whole town went nuts that night. It was awesome. What else did we do? We went sightseeing every day, of course. Lighthouse Park, the Port of Vancouver, U.B.C., Chinatown, Stanley Park ... and one day we took the ferry to Vancouver Island to visit Victoria. When I got out of the car, I thought I was in Hannover - I am not kidding. The Legislature looks exactly like the town hall in Hannover. I had so much fun that week and found a lot of new friends from all parts of the world. And Vancouver is the most beautiful town on earth!
During the first week of July the annual Stampede is in town. Yahoo!!!!! The town of Ponoka hosts the biggest professional rodeo in Canada, and it is the event of the year. All accomodation is booked out and whereever you look you will see cowboys. My favourite disciplines are calf roping and the Chuckwagon races, but there are also bull riding, barrel racing, steer wrestling and bronc riding.
If you have the chance to go on an exchange, do it! I can highly recommend it because you learn a lot about yourself and others. You experience a whole different way of living and you become more independent. And you incidentally learn a foreign language fluently. The last question remaining is: why did I choose Canada? Well, simply because of the Rocky Mountains, empty highways, big cars, A&W, snowdays, Big 105 FM, West Edmonton Mall, lockers at school, country music, my host family, Roots, Oh Canada! (anthem), maple leafs, pancakes, English & French, miles & kilometers, cm & inches, the flag, -40°C to +30°C, hockey, Red Deer Rebels, the Old Spaghetti Factory, Tim Hortons, moose, Saskatchewan jokes, Stampede, hot tubs ...
“... Canada is the second largest land, men, the first nation of hockey and the best part of North America ...”
Birthe Kann, 12. Jg.
