Day 2, June 15 - Like Mother, Like Father...

We finally made it to Saskatchewan by way of Cereal, AB. This is a neat little town. We ended up camping in a playground just off the highway. Cereal is a town of 100 with a decreasing population. So much so, that the local school closed this year due to lack of sustainable population. Sara spoke with the Water Works manager of the town who decided to fix the water pump that was in the camp ground. The funny thing about this pump was the fact that it had run dry a few years ago, and then recently just started flowing water again. He ended up shutting the water off just when we were getting ready to brush our teeth in the morning... Oh well, it wouldn't be the first time that I didn't get to wash my face or brush my teeth before breakfast... Shhhh... Don't tell me my dentist.


The Water Works man was saddened by the fact that people were leaving Cereal. But as he pointed out, there is nothing there for them to stay. The farms are being sold to larger agri-businesses and children do not want to stay working on their family farms. This is a 180 degree turn around from my experience in Moleta, MB where we celebrated the 100th Anniversary of the Brigden Family Farm... More about this later... (See Day 3).

We drove just south of Saskatoon stopping at Lake Manitu just outside of Watrous, Sask. for lunch. There we ran into a wonderful couple and her parents. Scott is from Regina and his wife Shen-ai is from Korea. Her parents are in Canada for a whirl-wind 9 day tour of the WHOLE COUNTRY! They started in Vancouver and made their way through the Rockies then flew to Toronto to go to the Niagara region before ending up in the middle of the country. Scott's family is going to take them up north to go fishing. How's that for a cultural experience???

We got to talking as we shared a picnic table under a gazebo overlooking the salt-water lake. We talked about the roles that parents have in influencing their children and if there are commonalities between the way that Shen-ai was raised and the way that Scott was raised. One of the commonalities is that parents want THE BEST FOR THEIR CHILDREN. We all want our kids to succeed, and the way that we support their success is very similar. We endeavour to give our children the building blocks to higher education, we endeavour to provide security, shelter, clothing, food and general basic needs, and we endeavour to teach our children right from wrong.

Knowing all this, I asked a question along the lines of, "At what point does our environment over-ride the influences of our parents?" We discussed when children "rebel" and what that looks like between Canadians and Koreans. Scott and Shen-ai both said that while the expectations of success are the same, the route to that success are very different. North Americans value the material goods more-so than the family in that Shen-ai's family supported her through her studies because there was an expectation that she would receive top honours and follow the path that they have laid out for her. Scott's parents supported him through his studies but there is an expectation that he will be financially successful in his own right. The pressures between the two families are very different. I wonder how they are going to raise their kids coming from such different approaches to parenting? I also wonder that if we all measure success through the success of our children, is there a commonality of that success measurement? Would a child in a Korean family be considered successful if she dropped out of college and became an artist? Would a child from a Canadian family be considered successful if they chose to have their parents move in when they were too old to care for themselves?

This conversation raised more questions than we had time for. It seems that all the people that I have met along they way have raised more questions than provided answers. But I do know that everyone has mentioned the role that their PARENTS have played. We all have had parents at some point along the way, whether biological or adopted. I know that for me, when I was travelling and living far away from my own parents, it was the parents of my friends that became my pseudo-family unit.

I am having some challenges with the photo link... Pictures from the last couple of days will be forthcoming.