Evening in Toronto

Our first day of orientation is over. Our facilitator is quite good. He has lots of good stories to tell. I liked his illustration of culture – he says it’s like an iceberg, with only 10% being visible and 90% being invisible to an observer. The 10% is what people DO – the 90% is what they think and how they feel.

One cool exercise was a card game where the group was split in half and each half had slightly different rules (which suite was trump, whether ace was high or low). The winner of each round switched to the other table. No one could speak, so when you got to the other table, you didn’t know the rules had changed and no one had the language to tell you, or the knowledge that the rules you had internalized were different. It was quite fascinating, feeling like and outsider, and wanting to assimilate, but not quite knowing how or what the new rules were.

It seems like a great group of people. So far, no evidence of grating personality traits. No know-it-alls or arrogant people. Most seem quite easy to communicate with. I probably represent the average age – some younger, some older.

There was a neat energy in the room when we all came together – an anticipation and expectation. There was excitement with just a hint of apprehension. I think we’ll build a fairly successful mini-community.