Author Archives: Julia Roebbelen

In the year 2553…

December 18, 2010 – 11:25 am
By Julia Roebbelen | Posted in 2010 Comments (0)

This year has been absolutely insane for me. A winter in Oakville, a summer in Europe, a fall in Southeast Asia, and they expect me to “process” this with eloquence in a blog ten days after it’s all over. I honestly haven’t had the time to sit down and just rest in my thoughts these past ten days. What to say?
I find myself watching Asian waiters in restaurants, and noticing they have some of the same cultural tendencies that I picked up in SEA. I find myself still using small cultural tendencies that I picked up in Thailand. I find myself watching Canadians, and how disgusting some of our habits are. With the excessive spending at Christmastime and the leftover food getting thrown out, there is more to Christmas than that.
People keep asking me what the best part of my time is SEA was, or what I learned while I was there, and I find it hard to give them a twenty second answer, because, well, you’d have to read my entire journal and then look at all my pictures before you’d even BEGIN to understand what I saw and how I felt when I experienced these things.
I have noticed a change in myself since I got back. I spend more time listening and watching than I do talking; I’d rather hear about my friends’ past couple months than share about my own experiences. I’m quieter, I check myself in order not to culturally offend those around me. Things I was looking forward to when I came home have not fulfilled me now that I’m back; I no longer desire those things. What I desire is to be back in Thailand, or to be somewhere else, travelling, soaking in the culture around me, being a part of every single tree and person and market stand I pass by. I’m addicted to travel, the unknown, the adventure.
But I am here, in Oakville, in St. Stephen, and I cannot be placing my dreams and thoughts elsewhere for now. I hope I can slip back into culture here, back into 2011 with grace, but never to forget what I have learned and seen elsewhere.

Julia

So an elephant walks into a bar…

November 29, 2010 – 4:51 am
By Julia Roebbelen | Posted in 2010 Comments (0)

…fireworks are set off with old Thai men, we climb the highest mountain in the country, we sit on elephant’s heads. We get tattoos, we get spun around by mustached men in pumpkin costumes. All these things and experiences mean so much to me – but the real thing about Thailand – about this trip – is communication. I have been so frustrated by the miscommunication – or the altogether lack thereof – on this trip. Museums turn into restaurants with no warning, Robert rants about sci-fi literary devices, our homestay sister drops us off and leaves us in random places and locations, and no matter what, most of the time I have no idea what’s going on. But when I do, there is this epiphany of clarity that comes over me, and I can turn to my Thai friend Pi, and we can say, “We understand one another, we GET each other”, and it is inextricably beautiful. This miscommunication happens worldwide – even in North America – but when we gain this clarity and understanding it means so much more to us. We take communication for granted, and when we are thrown into a world where you have to use more than words to get the point across, there is an incredible learning curve, riddled with grace and forgiveness, which is extremely humbling. I hope that more people in our world today can experience this uncomfortable miscommunication, but learn to understand that this is part of the growing process, and once growth is attained and understanding is achieved, words and actions mean that much more to everyone involved.

koala lamp.

November 7, 2010 – 6:17 am
By Julia Roebbelen | Posted in 2010 Comments (0)

My first look at Malaysia was one of intense Indian culture – as our hostel was in the middle of the newly named “Little India”. In our small area we took our cultural anthropology observations seriously, and noticed at least four brothels on either side of the restaurant at which we were having dinner. This got me researching more and more the sex trade of Malaysia, and it’s rampant, just like any country. But what really struck me was the blatant obvious nature of it all, and how a police officer could be seen eating dinner just down the street from such a place. The political corruption runs deep in this country, but I am happy to say that things seem to be cleaning up and looking better, even in the news reports just last month. Malaysia is a powerful country with great potential due to its multicultural charge, and I hope to see it rise to its full potential in the near future.

What I am still amazed at is the power and influence that I, we, hold as Caucasians in an Asian country. Just yesterday we were at dinner, and an Australian couple caught my eye as they browsed the market outside. After they saw me through the window, they realized it was a restaurant, and then looked at the menu, and proceeded to sit down. They eyed our meals before ordering.

This past weekend, through a series of events, I ended up dancing on a half-wall in a very fancy restaurant/bar, which separated the inside from the patio. Many white tourists that were walking the streets came and sat down as I danced, and when Greg, Dan and I started a real dance party in the middle of the restaurant, the customer influx was incredible. Other tourists seem to get more comfortable when they see other white people being comfortable and having fun. To be comfortable in an uncomfortable land is a blessing, and as a well-traveled and comfortable individual I am happy to be here, causing spontaneous dance parties and easing the minds of other travelers around me.

Rice Paddies FTW

October 21, 2010 – 1:14 pm
By Julia Roebbelen | Posted in 2010 Comments (0)

Life in the Philippines is filled with chaos, but the good kind. Looking four times before you cross the street, rides on open-back Jeeps, trikes and horse drawn carriages, eating fish heads and pickled eggs for dinner, and continually being the center of attention makes for an incredibly new and interesting experience.
Strangely, nothing really strikes me as weird or out of place here; I have travelled a lot and I see a lot of similarities here between places like Brazil, Mexico and Vietnam. Probably because of the strong Spanish influence, and the obvious Asian influence.
I am extremely blessed to be in a rural homestay; to wake up to cows mooing and roosters crowing, birds flying over our beds and sunrises over rice paddies make the true Filipino experience. We are lucky to have three homestay siblings; twin boys that are 8 years old, and a 9 year old girl. They don’t speak English, so we have to pull out all the stops in order to communicate with them – animal noises and piggy backs go a very long way. Living with children and being able to be a part of a family unit is probably the most impressionable part of visiting the Philippines. We are really able to engage in the culture in a way that staying in a hotel in the city would not provide. This experience is more than I could ask for, and I wake up looking forward to every pink sunrise over the rice fields.

Julia

Another Chapter of Waiting

August 12, 2010 – 3:00 pm
By Julia Roebbelen | Posted in 2010 Comments (0)

Every time that I find myself back in Oakville, I feel like I am waiting for something, or recovering from something. So now, I’m recovering from Europe, and waiting for Asia.
What do I do in the mean time? These times can be so meaningful, if I let them. I tend to find myself right back in the social, party scene, and sometimes I lose sight of the things I have just come back from learning. The application of this education is sometimes harder than we are led to believe. But if I am to start this movement, this tidal human ocean, this wave-making of a revolution, it starts with speaking out, against society, against the norm, and showing the world what I’ve learned and what we can become.
Easier said than done.
I want to move, I want to inspire, but it’s so hard to get those feet walking for the first time.
So what is there to be done? We have to get off our sofas and go outside, and talk to people, and meet someone new, and say, “Hey look at this great idea I’ve got, share it with me.” And then they’ll share it with someone else, and it’s like “Pay It Forward” all over again, but with a reformation of thought–a reformation of the mind, heart and soul. It’s engaging in a life that is worth living, exploring art and history and religion and community and politics and the ebb and flow of our lives, of their lives–how their lives intermingle with our lives like the phosphorescent particles in the ocean, and how that can be so simply beautiful. How we as a species can be so beautiful just by being, but in being we must also do, and in doing we create a mass amount of good and love and intellect and pure joy.
I’m going to try it.

Nine More Sandwiches

July 18, 2010 – 5:43 am
By Julia Roebbelen | Posted in 2010 Comments (0)

Only nine more sandwiches, and I’ll be back on Canadian soil. This trip has been more than incredible; I have learned so much about myself and about others on this trip, on top of all the academic information that has been thrown at us these past seven weeks.

Lately I have been struggling with the theme of the trip: the community versus the individual, and my previous theme, the sacred versus the secular. Although I have been told not to always try to compare and contrast opposites, these have been the recent things on my mind. I find myself entering a church, a cathedral, a basilica or a chapel, and I immediately feel the presence of God, or the lack thereof. There is either a “thinness” or an absence of thinness of space between myself and God, and it does not have any correlation between the amount of tourists or the amount of historical significance in these places. I will enter a historically important place, with absolutely no one else in the church, and sometimes it will seem very flat, and very without God. Other times, there can be a hundred tourists taking pictures, bumping shoulders with me, but I can strongly feel where God is. What makes a place worshipful, or sacred? It very much has to do with the community surrounding the place. It is not the physical location, but rather the community, that makes a place thin. If a place is not so thin, or not so sacred, it is up to US, the individual, to make it a sacred space, or make it worshipful. It is up to the community to change the significance of a place. Vimy Ridge would just be a hill to a passer by, but there is extreme historical significance there that makes us FEEL the heaviness of war. Flanders Field is just a geographical landscape, but when we think about the tens of thousands that died there – that is what makes it important. Sebastian, an individual before the reformation, could not have published his Ship Of Fools without the help of Gutenberg’s printing press in Strasbourg. That sparked the flame of the reformation in Switzerland. What if the printing press was created somewhere else, such as England? What if Sebastian wrote a book about the positive effects of the Medieval era, and found that secularism was better than encouraging Protestantism? These individuals have shaped our lives, much more than we know.

What do we, as students of St. Stephen’s University, have to do with this transformation of a nation? What if Joel Mason’s publications, or the SSU Prayer Book, ended up in the hands of a very powerful publisher, or on the 6 o’clock news? Could we change the face of North America with our Celtic liturgies, our passion for the preservation of the environment, and our heart and focus on community? Could this become another reformation?

It is up to us to decide. So do we take this challenge? Do we step up, with our crosses and our writings, and create a better world?

These are aspirations almost too zealous for me to actually think about, but it gives me shivers. Discovering where I fit as an individual in a community that is potentially in a very influential position in the 21st century is a huge undertaking. This trip has made me consider these things, pray about these things, and talk about these things, in a way that I never would have expected before coming to Europe with SSU. I hope that this fire doesn’t die away upon my return to Canada, and that we can keep on keeping on, making this world more sacred and more thin with every step we take.

Julia R.

Two and a half weeks in…

June 13, 2010 – 5:50 am
By Julia Roebbelen | Posted in 2010 Comments (0)

…and Europe has been incredible so far! Spain, Southern France, and Italy have been just incredible. From the modern works of Gaudi to the 500 year old works of Michelangelo, the ancient Etruscans and everything in between, this trip is opening up my eyes to more than I could have ever imagined. Being able to contrast and compare art and cultural movements and the differences between modern day societies around the world is definitely challenging me to look at the world through a new lens.
I am finding it most difficult to find the balance between the sacred and the secular, and seeing where they conflict and where they are perfectly intertwined. This theme has been running through my time here since day one, and I hope to finally figure out the balance.
Another challenge is the social aspect – I was feeling a little insecure and on the sidelines for the first week and a half, and now I think that I am trying my hardest to put myself out there in order to get to know other people and feel comfortable.
Sometimes I feel like I am leaving God out of the picture, it’s so easy to just forget when you’re on such a busy trip with so many other people. But I have to continually remind myself that I am His, and this is really all about Him, and I am just a small part of a much bigger picture.
I am really excited to head up to the northern countries, like Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany. Those will all be new for me and a very different experience from the southern countries.

Julia

My Life as a Wednesday

May 23, 2010 – 9:35 am
By Julia Roebbelen | Posted in 2010 Comments (0)

I forgot my retainer. I can already feel my teeth moving out of place.

Am I feeling a little directionless? Yes. Wondering where I fit into this giant, ever-changing world of SSU, Oakville, family and friends is becoming more and more of a struggle than an exciting venture.
Scattered.
I just want to get on that plane!
I’m really excited to go, but I feel like this is a pretty big crossroads in my life. This trip marks the middle mark in my SSU experience (much like a Wednesday), and I thought I had it all figured out, but now, it feels like the world is a whole new place and I’ve yet to experience it! Where am I going? Who knows. But I’m glad I’m doing it with these friends I’ve made over the past two years, and I can’t wait to make new friendships along the way.