First volunteering project, Brantford, Ontario

I left in a hurry and everything was a last-minute beeing-organised-is-overrated kinda deal. Traveling on my own for the first time out of the province was exciting. I took the train thinking that the more expensive option had to be something; had to try it to find out it is pretty, but not worth it, won't do it again. Was taken aback when I had to express myself in english and english only for the first time of my life; I mean, I am bilingual on paper, but like so many things, practice beats paper. And as soon as I got out of the train it hits me: I'm alone, going to meet a guy I have never seen, to help on a project even though I don't know how to do... anything, and so far from home I don't recognize any city names in the area. What have I gotten myself into?
You never fully realize how shy you are until you have to explain your awkwardness and describe who you are to kind and interesting people. I have a lot of work to do on myself to truly feel confident and stop bringing myself down.
Anyhow Brantford was a lovely little town, with nice running tracks and fresh air. I had a good time there with my host Justin and the other volunteers, Ray and Nicole. Building a yoga studio, playing with insulation and electricity, learning and testing raw-vegan 'cooking' and visiting the Toronto area... Everyday was different, staying inside and not doing anything gets harder and harder when you open your eyes and see that others are just waiting for you to start the conversation or propose some activity.
I never thought that I would one day build something, or just help a carpenter. The fear of doing something for the first time, the stress of knowing that I will screw up at some point and it will have a repercussion on others were always good enough reason for me to stick with things I knew and felt comfortable doing. Ends up, when you finally get yourself to step over your ego and just try something new, try your best and be open to criticism, accept that others will teach you something, that you have something to learn for your best interest and hell, maybe you'll like it!
Even just speaking a different language and trying to speak your mind while not being completely sure you are using the right words (or pronunciation) to make yourself clear can work magic to make you more humble in the understanding that this is a learning process, the best there is, and you are only going to get better even if you have to sound like a child for the beginning.

This trip was way to short and I was not ready to meet such awesome people. I am really glad to have kept contact with Nicole and hope to see her again, soon. The patient teaching from both Justin and Ray opened my eyes on how much I love to learn. I will have to see the Healthy Rabbit Café one day. And I loved Toronto, Niagara Falls and the whole area... And it was what got me addicted to volunteering. A good first step in the world of traveling and sharing.

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Trip Length: 3 ½ months
Blog Entries: 1
Photos: 4
Words: 1724

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Blog Entries

Date	Blog Title	Location
June 8th 2015	Ze Question	North America » United States » Idaho