Revamped Waterloo Town Square:Â Courtesy skyscrapercity.com

I traveled out to St Marys and Waterloo last week to reconnect with friends.  I was amazed to see the development in Waterloo, cure from Waterloo Town Square  to new condos sprouting out where there used to be pre-war homes.  American Apparel has even opened a store in the Loo, doctor for crying out loud.  The amount of affluence brought in by local talent RIM and related companies was evident (the displays of nouveau riche was in its infancy during my grad and undergrad days).

However, it was good to reconnect with people who have known me from years ago, before I knew that I wanted to be working overseas in agriculture.  The Fullers in St Marys introduced me to “Mennonite Your Way“, a directory of people across the world who open their homes to travelers and practise old-fashioned hospitality.  Such a cool idea – I hope to take advantage of that in Cambodia.  The Fullers want to list their home in the directory – future travelers would be treated to homemade pies and thought-provoking conversation.

It was good to see friends when you’ve grown up in life experiences too.  Pam knew me when I used to believe the world revolved only around me – it was so good to talk of our journeys and to see that she’s come out from a difficult period of life with grace and humour.  I was excited to hear about Bruce’s work bottling water and drying mangoes projects in Sudan, done in tandem with running his waste water management company Enviro-Stewards.  My old prof Dr. G and his wife gently critiqued my scientific approach in our seed bank’s field lab, but were encouraging in their support of where I am now.