Welcome to Hamilton

 Hello Family, Friends, and all those supporting us on our journey to L`Arche.

This is Allie, and we all have reached our first destination, L`Arch Hamilton safely. This morning as we left Gannon in a more than slightly packed car, and started our journey northward to Canada, while jamming to an arrangement of CDs made by members of  our group in preparation  of the trip.
Upon reaching L`Arche we were welcomed with open arms into the house, where the core members and assistants were very excited to have us staying for the next week. They graciously showed us to where we would be staying, and we got settled in. We all experienced dinner with the members of the house, and following we spent time with the members of the house. During the time we spent with the members of the house, we learned  about each of the core members and their interests and what they do with their time in L`Arche. The members wanted to know what we did in Erie for fun, and we wanted to know what they did here in Hamilton.
We also discussed the cultural differences that exist between the two places which are not even three hours apart. One of the many things that we have learned about Canada is they sell their milk in bags and not jugs or cartons. We discussed language and speech differences, such as slang words, like click for kilometers.
After our fun discussion and many laugh, we settled down for a reflection and prayer. The reflection showed us how interconnected all the L`Arche homes are here in Hamilton, because many of the core members prayed for other members of the L`Arche community. The reflection was also about one of the members of the community and how they are an example of how others should live.
As an outside viewer, many of us thought it was a great way to keep the connection  in the community and I personally enjoyed this because when the house did personal reflection I was able to learn from the members of the community. Many people do not realize what they can learn from other, and this is a very important thing in life, learning from observing how others act and seeing the good in others.
After the house reflection, we all went to our sleeping area to do our group reflection. We discussed how we all got here to L`Arche Hamilton. Many of us find ourselves here because because of the people in our lives, many of us because of our families or those or are close in our lives.
We are all very happy to be here and excited to be partaking in the experience!