Oh Canada

The journey has officially began. I hit the road on Friday afternoon following a difficult (due to exhaustion) and emotional day at ORI involving a delicious potlock lunch and too many goodbyes. The first night I made it to Billings where I stayed with a gentleman who lived in Kyrgyzstan and worked for the Alpine Fund!?!? How did I find someone in Billings who shares my interest in this little-known corner of the world and who has worked for the very organization that I plan on joining next year? Couchsurfing.com, that's how.

Check it out www.couchsurfing.com - Jess and I have been members for about half a year and have hosted three people on our couch in Missoula while they were traveling. The idea behind the site is so simple that it is brilliant. You register your name and location and build a profile in which you give as many details on yourself as you care to divulge. The next step is either hosting or surfing. If you plan on traveling to a city, say Missoula, you just do a “Couch Search” and all the members with available couches in that city pop up, then you can choose a few that sound interesting and send them a message asking to surf on their couch (or floor as the case may be). The potential host will receive the message in their email and then can read the potential surfer’s profile before giving a yes or no. The three people Jess and I hosted in Missoula were super nice and interesting and so far my own surfing experience has been very positive. In addition to the Kyrgyz traveler in Billings, I stayed in an apartment in Fargo, ND belonging to a couchsurfer. No, I did not stay “with” him because he wasn’t in town – he actually trusted me enough to leave a key for me to stay in his apartment while he was out of town. We have never met and have no mutual friends, we spoke on the phone a couple times and he went through the trouble of leaving me access to his apartment. Despite having to climb the outside wall of his apartment complex onto his balcony (which made me feel 50% James Bond and 50% burglar) I had a very relaxing night watching movies from his excellent video library and sleeping for 10 hours on his comfy couch.

Couchsurfing.com has begun to change my view of the internet and how it influences human interactions and social systems. Most people, myself included, have viewed the proliferation of the internet as supplanting social relationships. We picture people sitting at home on their computer instead of socializing with friends. Although there are many people who use computers and the internet as a wall to block out other people, a larger number of people are using the internet as a means to connect with people in ways never before possible. Facebook, Myspace, Couchsurfing, Blogs, Email, Instant Messaging and other internet features are actually creating and enhancing social connections. People’s social networks are no longer limited by the people in their immediate surroundings; it is now just as easy to communicate with someone on the other side of the world as it is with your next door neighbor. I find this exciting because people are more likely to communicate across cultural and national boundaries. People with similar and very specific interests can now communicate effortlessly regardless of their physical location. Technology has a long way to go, especially when you consider the “digital divide” - the fact that only the citizens of the richest countries have widespread internet access. But it appears as though it is only a matter of time before the developing world catches up – just as my friend Kyle Gifford, a returned Peace Corps Volunteer who just spent two years installing wireless internet in a Armenian village that has neither regular electricity or hot water.
On a more personal note, planning my journey would have been nearly impossible before the information age. Almost all of my research was conducted online using search engines and Google Earth (if you haven’t checked that out, don’t. It is extremely addictive – all of a sudden an entire afternoon can disappear after zooming in on obscure portions of the globe). I have put together a class reunion using Facebook and email. I arranged my farm stays using their websites and email. All of my plane tickets were booked online. I will keep in communication with everyone using this blog. I will keep tabs on my finances using online banking. So rather than the internet isolating people, it can be conducive to building social relationships and seeing more of the world.

So now that I’m done ranting about the internet, I’ll continue with my journey across the country. I had good stays in Billings and Fargo and then continued on to Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. I didn’t get to the Canadian border until midnight – I was exhausted and nervous because I have already had a bad experience crossing our northern border. I pulled up to the customs booth and the grumpy, overweight customs officer started firing questions at me; “where are you living?”, “how long will you stay in Canada?”, “Who’s car is this?”, and so on. The first question really threw me off because I’m not “living” anywhere right now. After stuttering and stammering for about half a minute I tried to explain that I am moved out of Montana but I am not moving into anywhere right away. I made the mistake of mentioning Bulgaria and organic farms, which really confused things. I knew it went badly when he went to get his supervisor and they told me to pull ahead to the canopy, which I know from experience as the place where they search your car from top to bottom. I had to get out of the car and they continued with their barrage of questions while they emptied the car – I mean tore it apart opening every box, baggie, and compartment they could think of. At this point I was extremely nervous, for no good reason because I was doing NOTHING wrong. After they emptied the fully packed car – which took about three hours to pack everything into – they gave me back my passport and said, “we’ll let you repack it, you’re probably better at it”. I asked if they were kidding, but as soon as I asked I realized that they had no sense of humor anyway, so they were obviously serious. Using all the sarcasm I could muster, I smiled and said, “Welcome to Canada!” Big mistake. The supervisor/captain/head honcho got in my face and told me that I was lucky they didn’t empty everything out onto the pavement and that I made the choice to leave my country when I crossed the bridge and when I did that I gave up my rights as a US citizen. I nixed the sarcasm and asked what I could do next time to avoid this from happening as I shoved things back into the car. They wouldn’t give me a straight answer, but I guess it was my sketchy answer to the “where do you live” question and the fact that my passport lists me as from Missouri, my driver’s license is from Montana, and Jess’ car is registered in Minnesota. The last time I entered Canada alone the same thing happened – apparently I’m not welcome up north. I just find it strange that of all the customs I have been through and all the borders I have crossed, I have had the most trouble getting into Canada. Weird.

I am now in one of the most dodgy hotels I have ever had the displeasure of sleeping in, but they do have a bar downstairs with free wireless. I spent the day recovering from three days in the car and tomorrow I am off to Temagami, Ontario to visit Jess’ ancestral home island – Wabun www.wabun.com .