July 27th & 28th, 2002
F.Y.I: I went with my sister (Michelle), my cousin (Dylan) and my sister's best friend (Grace).
Saturday, July 27th 2002
Woke up at 4:30am, and frantically gathered all my things, trying to remember everything I needed to take, Finally reached Kipling Subway Station at 6:10am where the rest of the group from my Parish was waiting.
Headed eastbound with just one instruction from the group leaders: "We get off at St. Claire Station". When on the train, a friend and I figured that it would make sense to change trains at Spadina. So we got off at Spadina, only find Michelle and several others from our group still on the train. So I motion her to get out, except she's being instructed from inside not to get off at that stop. Amidst the chaos, the TTC door-operator-dude was nice enough to leave the doors open while a whole bunch of us struggled to figure out what was going on. Finally, one group leader gestures us to get back on the train, so we do. Just then, I fugure out why we're getting off at St. George instead...that long movator-thingy at Spadina would be quite impractical! So, shamefully I accept that even after 3 years of using the TTC, I still can't think straight when it comes to making wise decisions. WHAT A START TO THE WEEKEND!!
So anyways, without any further casualities, we ALL made it to St. Claire Station. Got out and waited for some of the pilgrims who needed to use the washrooms (meant only for TTC staff)...I didn't expect them to be so nice to us...I believe they thought we were from out of town. I bet they wouldn't have done that if they knew we were from Mississauga! Yeah, so since there was just one toilet and 15 in line, it was quite a long wait!
But eventually we began the 8km trek. Strangely enough, right behind the station, is this wilderness of trees and such, with a very pleasant nature path. It began with much excitement. The initial part, you see, was downhill. Ahhh...I thought to myself, this isn't bad at all!! Since people ahead of us were moving too slowly, I wanted to speed in front of them. While we were overtaking, we saw this one girl wearing 2" tall slippers...didn't anyone tell her that there was an 8km hike involved!? I heard she tripped quite a few times along the way! As we went along the seemingly endless walk, I figured singing might help...but there wasn't ONE song that came to mind that I knew the words to; 'cept "Kumbaya"...but no one wanted to sing that cuz apparently it is a camping song. WHATEVER! So about an hour into the walk I find myself getting exhausted. Nearing 9am, the sun was starting to show its wrath. Oh...but that was just the beginning. During the entire walk, we stopped just once...ppl needed to use the porta-potties placed (quite thoughtfully) along the route. What a relief THAT was. Then we headed off again...seeing that we were walking towards a subway station, I figured..."this MUST be Wilson" ...oh...but it WASN'T!! Now it was getting bad! The back of my knees were feeling pangs of sharp pain. But miraculously the pain disappeared as I was amazed to see hoards of other groups merging into our path, all heading the same way. One group was singing French songs, and they had Canadian Flags...perhaps from Quebec? Those songs were so uplifting, that I had to join in! It really eased the frustration of the walk. Now we were walking on some highway. I couldn't tell you which one, though. And finally saw the YELLOW-BLUE of the main stage. FINALLY!! It can't be too far now! A sudden bolt of energy shot within me as I sped ahead. But it immediately died when I realised that we had to walk in an almost zig-zag fashion before we got to the main gate, making the distance twice as long as I anticipated.
So we finally get to the gate, and security checks our bags and metallic-detectorize (??) our bodies. Now I'm thrilled and tired at the same time...that's a dangerous mix...so I yell at my Sis a few times coz she's walking dead-slow. Since our passes state that we are in Yellow block we get to be "quite" close to the stage, right behind Purple block. The walk to our block was LONG!!!! We passed several empty blocks before we first saw the masses of people already setting camp. I tell you, there were a lot of people! Finally we reach the first empty yellow block closest to the stage, and drop our bags like a tonne of bricks. I let myself fall on the grass...or should I say "hay". Oh, what a relief....I made it!
But then we realize that several ppl were gathering folded up pieces of cardboard boxes and using it to shade themselves from the blaring heat of the sun. So a few ppl from our group decide to find those boxes. I go with them. The walk to find the boxes was another 1km, I would say! Finally, there they are! Dylan and I grab 10 and place them on our heads, sharing the load...we head back toour block, with several close ones where we almost lost our balance...although the weight of the boxes on our heads was tremendous, at least it shaded us from the sun's heat. Got back and opened the boxes to make flooring for ourselves. Then Grace thought of bending other boxes to made surrounding walls. The remaining boxes were gingerly placed across the edge as roofing. One strong wind, and our fort would have certainly tumbled from all its glory. The first thing I did was get into its shade...ohh...how good that felt. I knew I'd get serious sunburn.
PART II...
So finally the sun begins to show signs of setting, and I decide that it is safe to come out from under my "shell". When I emerged, I was dazzled by the enormous crowd engulfing us. Flags of every nation flying proud, exotic blends of colour and voices. What a sight!! After chomping down on a quick lunch, while enjoying the musical performances on stage, we saw the "PopeCopter" (???) flying overhead. What a feeling, when the whole mass of people shouted out in unison! It circled around before landing. While it did so, Dylan and myself decided to head towards the stage, to see if we could get a better glimse of the Pope's arrival. Michelle and Grace had already gone to the far end of our block, near a main pathway where the Popemobile was believed to pass in a few minutes. After a rather long wait, the Pope began his route...then I saw this tall thing moving rather fast, and told Dylan, "there he is!" only to realize that it was just the camera in front of the mobile. Just behind it, I could see the glass roof of the mobile...couldn't even see his head! There were so many people, most of whom were waving hands in the air! What I would do for a ladder or even a step-stool!
The rest of the evening was spent in prayer. Several readings from scripture and prayers for people around the world. Then we lit our candles (a symbol of vigilance: when awaiting the arrival of a beloved one, a member of the family might light a lantern when it gets dark after sunset), and the whole place looked so beautiful. The prayer service ended at around 11pm, and most of us wanted to get some rest, so we headed to bed (or should I say - cardboard).
At around 1am, we were suddenly alarmed to hear music...there was a performance on stage!! What?! Why?! But then again, I guess no one else was interested in sleep. So I sat up and listened for a while...it was some of the BEST music since Saturday morning...but I was too tired to stay up. So, despite the loudness, I managed to sleep. The music stopped after about 40mins, and resumed at 4am. At that point I was used to sleeping through it. But then came the real eye-opener! At around 6am, it started to drizzle. We covered ourselves with umbrellas, and continued to lie in our "beds". But within minutes, the downpour heightened. ANd we had to sit up, and take shelter under what I thought was a water-proof sleeping bag.
