Obviously, after all, I am Canadian

I get up on a Friday morning and check my email, finding a reply from this guy in Strathem who has a Hockey team (Ice Hockey) who hold open practices and provide equipment. This is great for me, considering I only brought my skates over. So I go out to this practice Friday night from 11:45-1:45am and practice with them. We do about half an hour of drills and then have a scrimmage. Now, I’m the type who does not perform well with other peoples equipment. I can’t skate your board, shoot with your stick, or drive on the other side of the road through roundabouts. However, the stick was not too different than my own, and I made due with the equipment. I had my own skates, which is the most important part. I always have fun, but when you are in a group of new people you want to be on top of your game. Needless to say I was asked to return and join their team. I would love to but I can’t commit to it long term as I will be starting work soon as live in carer, this means I wont be as available for anything. All-in-all I had a great time and I look forward to playing again.

The next day I went ice skating with Peter’s son Isaiah who is 9. This boy can talk and talk and talk, with all kinds of questions. You could easily exhaust yourself answering him, and I made a valiant effort to respond to all I could. I find most people begin to tune kids out after a while or don’t give them enough respect in conversation. Another problem is that we often treat kids with a sense of childishness, using belittling tones of voice. I remember being a kid, and kids know the difference, even if they don’t tell you. I had a school teacher when I was 10 who used to always say “OK boys and girls…..” and I still remember how “boys and girls” felt like a belittling, derogatory term for which I was embarrassed on her behalf. So I kept up with Isaiah’s conversation because I know his 9 year old mind, brain and soul are developing at an accelerated pace and I was given the opportunity to contribute to this so I did. This conversation was extended by a 15 minute walk in the rain, a 25 minute ride on the bus in the wrong direction, and a compensatory 40 minute bus ride to the ice skating rink. Isaiah has never ice skated before but he has done roller bladding, and he also tends to pick things up quite fast. This was a learning experience as I was responsible for insuring he didn’t hurt himself. He started off gripping the boards and making short strides along and grabbing the boards again. As the day went on he began to leave the boards for longer periods of time, but I was always behind him to catch him if he slipped backwards, and sometimes forwards, but in this I was not very successful. I was looking at the day as a lesson. I felt very parental, knowing he was depending on me to break his fall, and I had to remain focused and very close with arms stretched out in preparation for his next spill. I found myself looking away for a second or two sometimes, and every time I did Isaiah would fall down. Focus was the word of the day. At the end he didn’t want to leave and couldn’t wait until next week. We are going to try making this a regular Saturday activity. I hadn’t spent time with kids in so long, and it reminded me of the fun times I had at home with all my cousins.

After skating we went across the road for some chicken and chips before taking the bus home.