We flew into Saskatoon June 8th to a warm welcome from parents and siblings. It's been four years since we have been to Saskatchewan, but it still feels very normal on some level. On another level it is clear that this is no longer our primary home. But it's still ok to have more than one home, right? On that level Saskatchewan is home.
When home, I naturally don't take as many photos. Everything is so familiar for me. The one difference is that Saskatchewan is so wet at the moment. There are lakes and ducks everywhere! It's like living in the wetlands. There is even a lake out the back of Borden, which is supposed to be there, but never was when I lived here, as there was drought then. I'll try to photograph some of this, but there are some good photos of some of this water back from 2008. Check out the archives for August and September 2008.
On that last trip in 2008, I really struggled coming back into the west after my first term living in Russia. Everyone was talking about their houses they were building, renovating etc, etc. I had so much that I wanted to share about our own experiences in Russia. But so few could relate to them. I bummed out hard for a serious case of "reverse culture shock". This time round, I notice that people are the same, they still talk about their houses and renovations. But the difference is that I expected it. I take the opportunities to speak about life in Russia and our work. Somehow though, I am more calm when those opportunities don't come up.
Last night we were watching a tv show, where this guy was building his "cottage" in Ontario. It was his holiday house for his family on a secluded lake. It was such an exorbitant house. I have to be honest though, the wealth was obscene to my eyes it made me want to puke. The only people who have that kind of wealth in Russia are the richest of the rich, people who have most likely been very dishonest to get where they are. Now I know that people here can get wealthy without being dishonest, that's great. Still I wonder do they need to have so much wealth and possessions. The world is definitely grotesquely imbalanced. That did serve to put me off a little from life in the west.
Our first three weeks in Canada have mostly been very rainy. This has been a bit disappointing. We have seen some friends to be sure. I think that Melody and I had hoped we would have gone camping by now though. I certainly hope we get a good chance still.
We are now visiting friends in Yorkton for a few days. I got the chance to speak on the radio this morning about our work in Russia. We have a friend who works at "The Rock 98 Five" in Yorkton.
During the two weeks of rainy weather in Saskatchewan we even had a tornado warning, weather system sweep through. It was the first time in my life that I have experienced such a concept. It probably wasn't that scary, because there was not really enough energy in the weather systems to create serious tornadoes. I didn't know that at the time though!
When home, I naturally don't take as many photos. Everything is so familiar for me. The one difference is that Saskatchewan is so wet at the moment. There are lakes and ducks everywhere! It's like living in the wetlands. There is even a lake out the back of Borden, which is supposed to be there, but never was when I lived here, as there was drought then. I'll try to photograph some of this, but there are some good photos of some of this water back from 2008. Check out the archives for August and September 2008.
On that last trip in 2008, I really struggled coming back into the west after my first term living in Russia. Everyone was talking about their houses they were building, renovating etc, etc. I had so much that I wanted to share about our own experiences in Russia. But so few could relate to them. I bummed out hard for a serious case of "reverse culture shock". This time round, I notice that people are the same, they still talk about their houses and renovations. But the difference is that I expected it. I take the opportunities to speak about life in Russia and our work. Somehow though, I am more calm when those opportunities don't come up.
Last night we were watching a tv show, where this guy was building his "cottage" in Ontario. It was his holiday house for his family on a secluded lake. It was such an exorbitant house. I have to be honest though, the wealth was obscene to my eyes it made me want to puke. The only people who have that kind of wealth in Russia are the richest of the rich, people who have most likely been very dishonest to get where they are. Now I know that people here can get wealthy without being dishonest, that's great. Still I wonder do they need to have so much wealth and possessions. The world is definitely grotesquely imbalanced. That did serve to put me off a little from life in the west.
Our first three weeks in Canada have mostly been very rainy. This has been a bit disappointing. We have seen some friends to be sure. I think that Melody and I had hoped we would have gone camping by now though. I certainly hope we get a good chance still.
We are now visiting friends in Yorkton for a few days. I got the chance to speak on the radio this morning about our work in Russia. We have a friend who works at "The Rock 98 Five" in Yorkton.
During the two weeks of rainy weather in Saskatchewan we even had a tornado warning, weather system sweep through. It was the first time in my life that I have experienced such a concept. It probably wasn't that scary, because there was not really enough energy in the weather systems to create serious tornadoes. I didn't know that at the time though!
This was a funnel cloud that was starting to form into a tornado. There were a couple of smaller ones that did touch the ground in Saskatchewan, but were not very big and did not stay around long enough to do any damage.
From a distance it can be seen that if this had have formed it would have been a massive tornado, the kind that would do damage. The air was swirling around in all directions and very quickly too. But anything that formed did not stay very long.
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