When my half of the group arrived in Toronto, we had about a 3-hour wait at the airport. So what ended up happening was that we pulled out the drums and started to play and sing praise and worship. A lot of people were fascinated that we so free-spirited when it came to praising, singing and clapping. They came around and were actually being entertained. At one point we were told that we were making too much noise but we didn't care because we knew that what we were doing was all praising God.
When the buses came we boarded and started what was to be a five-hour trip to Quebec (the French-speaking province of Canada). We were to stay in a town called Gatineau, near to the capital Ottawa, for five days and then return to Toronto for the main activities. The bus that I was on however got a flat tyre and we were stranded for more than three hours on the highway.
When we did arrive we were told that our host families would soon come for us and that we would be mixed up with people from different parts of the country. I stayed with thirteen other girls, only two of which I knew before. I made a lot of friends.
During the five days at Gatineau we were taken to different places where we mixed with a lot of people from San Francisco and California in general. They thought that we were fun and a lot of them wanted Trinidadian citizenship.
We had Christmas in July ... Santa Claus and presents. The Trinidadians were asked to sing and so we shared our parang and sang most of the songs that we normally sing at Christmas down here.
On the fifth day we had a family day where we also reunited with the other Trinidadians and all the other countries staying in Gatineau. We met some interesting Mexicans and some of us performed folk songs.
After that we made our way to Toronto (in a long bus convoy). When we, the north group, reached our home parish St. Leo's, our families were waiting for us. The family that I stayed with was really nice. I even got my own key to the house.
Every day we had catechesis followed by Mass. On Wednesday we had the opening ceremony with the Pope. When he actually did arrive at Exhibition Place and was passing behind me, I just saw his head in his little pope-mobile and I just felt this great emotion come over me. I started to feel weak and powerless and just couldn't help basically crying for about an hour. I was so happy to have had the opportunity to be in our dear Holy Father's presence.
On Friday we had the Stations of the Cross where this young man portrayed Jesus and you really could see that he was deeply involved in what he was doing.
On Saturday I was up at 6 o'clock to start my journey to Downsview Lands, where I would spend the entire day into night and then the following morning. We reached at eight o'clock in the morning - Belinda, Dionne and myself. Some people from Venezuela gave us part of their spot to set up.
The vigil was really beautiful. Even though I was really sick at the time I remember getting up and seeing only candle light all around. There were approximately 800,000 young people ... know what it's like to see over 800,000 candles lighting in the night - especially when it's your only source of light?
The next day I woke up early, before the rain fell, to get breakfast. However, about two hours before the Pope came, they decided to block the road. When the rain did fall we got soaked, but it was still a great experience. I ended up having to leave during the homily because of how sick I was feeling (which hurt a lot). Just being there and seeing him however, gave me the determination to be in Germany in 2005.
I am grateful to God, first and foremost. I thank Fr. Cuthbert, for making it all possible for me to go to Canada this year. I am also thanking God in advance that He will allow me to go to Germany in 2005.
Charlene Sobrian