From A Ways Away

Why am I from a ways away? Earlier this year I packed up my things and moved to Fredericton, New Brunswick (the move adventure will be detailed later). Not a lot of people from Ontario here. And, according to what I’ve read, if you can't claim that at least three generations of your ancestors lived here--or if your ancestors are from here, but you've moved away and then returned--then you're from away. If you've moved here--even if from the next community--then you're from away. A regional joke states that, like children born locally to parents from away, "Hatchin' chickens in the stove, doesn't make 'em muffins, does it!"

It most certainly does not make them muffins, and my muffin status is also denied by my Ontario heritage. And if the next community over qualifies one for “from away” status, then I must truly be “from a ways away”. That, and fromaway.blogspot.com was already taken. But I am here and have been relatively well-received by the locals. New Brunswick is a funny place. It is Canada’s only officially bilingual province (French and English). It has a provincial population of 749,168, less than that of Ottawa! Fredericton, where I live, has only around 60,000 residents. The province is full of trees (80% wooded) and very empty of people. Most people seem to use New Brunswick as a thoroughfare for going to and from Nova Scotia and Quebec. As a result, it is often overlooked as a tourist destination and, really, as much of anything.

But I’m here, and kind of like it. I don’t think I can see myself here long term – it’s really, really small, with no access to a large city near by. But for one year, it’s more than livable. Why one year? I’m training to become a teacher at St. Thomas University. In class we play games, sing songs, act out plays and this, evidently, prepares one for teaching. That being said, next week I go into the schools, so I assume the kids will be the ones educating me.