A Walk to Remember

I've mentioned before that I love working in a hotel because of all the interesting people that I get to meet on a daily basis. My feelings on this proved true Sunday morning while I was working front desk and breakfast duty.

I noticed a few guys wearing the same jackets with a picture of Oprah on them that looked like this:

The story that came from asking a simple question was amazing! These six university/college students from the southwestern Ontario area are walking from Toronto to Chicago to raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. As many of you may know, there has been a civil war going on in Sri Lanka since July 1983 and many innocent people of both sides have been killed or severely injured in the process. I talked with one of the members, Veejay (photo below), and he filled me in on their mission.

He assured me that there was no political agenda to their walk. They want to bring awareness to the plight of the innocent Tamil civilians who have been suffering throughout this war/conflict. I find it especially admirable that they would walk such a long distance to ask for help for their people.

Hopefully Oprah will let them on the show and give them a voice. That is their main goal. Veejay remarked that they it would take about two and a half months to reach Harpo Studios in Chicago. They walk between 20 and 40 kilometers a day. That's such an unbelievable thing to me. I can't help but be impressed the the resilience of these young men and the strength they all must have for taking action for a cause they so deeply believe in.

If you would like their voices to be heard too, please go to Oprah's website and send her a message: Oprah Show

Similarly if you would like to see the progress the guys are making or if you would like further information, please visit Oprahgiveusavoice.com

The Plight of my Nephew

The title of this blog sounds like a title of some horrid novel that you're never going to read, but I don't know else how to put it exactly. My nephew, Krysiu (Christian), was born on September 24, 2008, and has grown into a big six-month-old bouncing boy, but at four months of age, my parents noticed he had a problem. His eyes would not focus on anyone. They just darted everywhere and didn't fixate on a single thing or person. He has since been to the Children's Hospital in Cincinnati to have an MRI. The results came out that he was blind or at least partially blind. His optic nerve is intact but extremely thin. Unfortunately, they can't determine the full extent of his vision loss until he can actually talk and tell them what he can or can't see. I feel so bad for my brother and his wife, but mostly I feel for Krysiu. There's nothing he has done to deserve blindness, but you can't pick the cards you are delt in life. I know this lesson all too well on a personal level.

Although his blindness is horrible, there are worse things that being blind. He could be mentally repaired or unable to walk, or worse. There are also special schools for the blind where he can get the attention he needs and can be taught in a proper fashion. Here's to my nephew with love!!

-Auntie Magda

And then there was one......

So I guess I should introduce myself properly based on the terms of my blog title.

My name is Magda, short for Magdalena. This is not my legal name. It is however, my Polish name and more times out of not I prefer it to Meghan.

I do not hold a Canadan passport, driver's lisence, or birth certificiate. Some would call me an expatriate or expat, and that is entirely true. I am, in fact, one of those dreaded "American creatures!" I know, eh, the horror!! I hail from Newark, New Jersey originally, but moved when I was four to a small town in Northern Kentucky called Burlington. If you want to picture it on a map, look for Cincinnati, Ohio and go about fifteen miles south to Florence, Kentucky, then hang a left, go west on Route 18 for about 4.5 miles, and you'll hit Burlington (a town of roughly 12,000 souls).

I started this blog because I have a different experience of Canada than the average Canadian. I wasn't born here, so I'm not personally connected to Canada unless you count my relationship. I don't have relatives here, but I am starting to put down my own roots. The fact of the matter is, although I'm an outsider, I've felt more at home here than I have in my entire life, even while living in Kentucky. I just never felt I belonged. Basically, I never allowed myself to feel like I belong in Kentucky because the values that I have are not compatible with the majority of people from the Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati area. I'm a hardcore liberal, non-compliant, agnostic, diversity-loving, half-Pollock, cold loving, weirdo. Somehow I don't think that fits well into a place that has more churches in a town of 12,000 that I can count on two hands. Canada seems to fit perfectly. For one, I started connecting to fellow Polish people in Canada. Finding a Polish person in Cincinnati is next to impossible. And if a person is Polish, they've been so far removed form their culture that it almost doesn't count. I love connecting with my roots because I've never felt "American." I feel that I have a more European attitude. So I connect more with being Polish than American. That may seem werid to people, but I think I can partially blame that on Canada. =)

So this is my blog: A Polish/American/Wannabe Canuk's view of Canada while living as an expat. I'll offer my view of American politics from an American living in Canada, diversity, human rights, news events, and anything that I find interesting.



Hope people enjoy my point of view as Magda living in the Great White North.





P.S. It's sooooooooo cold!!!!!!