Lawrence Lam @ WYD2002

Vince

Hello Everybody,

Before I begin, I just want to let everybody know that this IS NOT an  evangelical attempt, but an account of my experience at this year's World  Youth Day celebration. Honestly, it was one great and exciting and  "interesting" experience. I highlight "interesting" because there were  some...um...how would you say it? different incidences that sparked many  different emotions!

I had originally decided not to attend WYD celebrations, but to stay home  and watch the unfolding of the events on television. I must say, I was not  too keen on attending personally because I was not really THAT interested.

On Tuesday, July 23, the WYD congregation held its Opening Mass ceremony.  What a celebration!!! If you didn't see, it was an awesome showing of youth  from ALL over the world, some 50000+ people!! I must say, it was this  expression of youthful enthusiasm and faith which changed my mind about WYD.  I was inspired to go!!! For some reason I just really really wanted to be  part of the WYD celebrations!

And so, I registered and signed on as a WYD Pilgrim for the weekend. As I  waited for the weekend to approach my interest in going to the celebrations  grew stronger and stronger! I was sooooooooo keen on going now. But, where  there are good things there are always those downers!!

Because I registered late, I was issued a BLUE pass which meant that on the  weekend I would have had to stay within the BLUE section. It wasn't a really  BIG downer, only I would have had to separate from my home parish because  they were all issued YELLOW passes. At first, I was concerned because I  really didn't want to go on my own with all those people there. But, after  observing the kindness and friendliness of all the people on TV, I thought  "hey, what da heck!"

On Saturday morning, "THE DAY HAS ARRIVED" I woke up at 5:30am to shower  and pack. Boy, did I pack a TONNE for one night! I ended up with two bags  whose combined weight was PROBABLY as much as I weighed. To make things  worse, one of my bags was a duffle bag and that meant I could not wear it  like a school bag =(

At 7:30am I arrived at a local Church to meet up with my parish group and we  kicked off the weekend with an 8am mass celebration. We had a LARGE group:  about 90 people! I joined a friend's group as a buddy and we were set!!!! I  was highly enthusiastic and excited, but I was also a touch worried about  the whole PASS business...but I kept that under wraps for the time being!  Well, so off we went!

>From our church we walked a good fifteen minutes to the nearest GO station.  My shoulder was DEAD already!!! I had my duffle bag slung on one shoulder  and my WYD bag on the other!! Owwwww! Also, as i was nearing the station,  the strap on my duffle bag gave up and ripped!!! What a bummer! Now I had to  lug the bag with only the handle straps. The anticipation of having to lug  that bag later on was anything but soothing! But I had no choice! So what  the hey, "ON with the March"!

When I first met up with the group, I knew it was going to be ONE very  energetic and highly spirited weekend! During our trek to the GO, everyone  was cheering and laughing and cars even honked their horns as they passed  by. Very awesome feeling! As we waited for the GO train, we took pictures  and we chanted some of our SPIRIT cheers! The same spirit carried over when  we were riding the GO. Our group occupied an entire car! The whole trip to  Union station was filled with cheering, laughter, jokes and song! What a  ride! When we switched over to TTC, the spirit kept building as we joined  many other pilgrim groups as they journeyed to Downsview Park. The ride up  with them was even more amazing! There was song, there was cheer and now  there was also dance! I could not believe this! You don't always see this  type of energy on a subway! It was great!

Our trip and all this excitement brought us to Lawrence West Station about  three stations away from Downsview station. The excitement did not stop here  but kept growing! From here we began our pilgrimmage to Downsview park along  the Allen expressway, joined by crowds of other "devoted" pilgrims. I  highlight "devoted" because many of the other pilgrim groups started their  trek all the way from St Clair West and even Bloor!!! What devotion and  conviction! I guess we were kinda lazy! hehe! whoops! It was, in any case,  one great and wrenching trek. My body was aching and sore from carrying my  bags but since no one else complained I couldn't either! :) Our pilgrimage  lasted about 1 and a half hours.

We were here! I mean there! Downsview Park! Even from the outside I was able  to clearly see the prodigious altar at the center of the park. It was  colossal!i couldn't wait to get in....but first I had to get thru security  and get into YELLOW! Boy, was "sic q" (security) tight! As I lined up to be  searched, I got worried because I had brought two swiss armies and they  were, I believe, confiscating anything of that sort. I, however, got lucky  and only got bag checked and not frisked by hand and by metal detector.  Phew!!! hehe! I'm in and all good!

To clear my worries, I realized that they did not enforce the PASS COLOURS!!  Yeah!!!!!! So I was allowed into the yellow section and was able to spend  the day and nite with my parish group...I was at this point ecstatic, having  passed security and anticipating the Candle light vigil and the Papal mass  on Sunday. Things were turning out great!!! But then we saw our site!!!  hehe! and boy what a site!

When we first entered the park, it seemed that camping out overnite would  not be too bad. The grass was fluffy and thick and the area was pretty much  litter free. Two pluses!!! Unfortunately, when we finally pitched our mats  and sleeping bags, we saw the REAL picture. Reality sometimes is really  harsh :) We discovered that we were going to sleep with the rest of the  animal kingdom! The grass was infested with EVERY single species of insect,  rats, frogs and snakes. We saw them all, up close and personal! The  crickets, the spiders (HUGE!!), the grasshoppers (HUGE), the roaches  (NASTY), seemed like a scene from a nitemare! We had no choice though! It  was either go home or live with the rest of the natural world.

We all opted to stay! It was weird! As time marched on by, the thought and  presence of the insects and vermin stopped bothering us...well at least the  guys! hehe! The girls were a different story hehe! j/k Honestly, I didn't  mind the spiders and grasshoppers crawling all over me. I didn't mind the  frogs bouncing around. I didn't mind the crickets resting on my pillow while  I was laying down beside them. What should have been quite freaky turned out  to be alright! hehe! thank goodness!

Knowing the forecast for the nite to come, we decided that it would be  advantageous to build a tent. So, with what we had and what we could rummage  from the park (i.e. guardrails), we set out to build a large capacity tent.  It was a very fun experience. We all got together and worked as a great team  planning, designing and constructing our tent. In the end, with the use of  at least 20 garbage bags, 5 shower curtains, 2 plastic tarps, 2 guardrails,  4 flag poles (little ones hehe) and a lot of sweat our palace was complete.  We had room to fit about 10 people lying down. We had windows, we had doors,  we even had a slanted roof!! Great creativity and cooperation! We were ready  for any weather now!!!

The day went by slowly, but it was a very comfortable slow. I haven't had a  chance all summer to relax like I did this weekend. I did absolutely nothing  (physical), I had time to think, I had time to reflect, I had time to  observe and I had time to nap (hmmmmm I nap all the time anyways hehe!) It  was very comfortable to be brief.

When nite came, so began the Candle Light Vigil. What a beautiful view!  Darkness everywhere except for the humble glow of 500000 candles and  brilliantly lit altar with Pope Jean-Paul at the center. It was a very warm  and tender moment indeed. We sang, we prayed, we reflected, we listened and  we took pictures (MANY PICTURES).

When it was all over, it was time to go out and have fun with all the other  people present at the park. Despite the fact that this was a holy event,  nite life was anything but dull. Everyone was up and dancing, laughing and  cheering. We got to indulge in different cultural dances and music. A very  exciting evening! There was even a break dance contest at the heart of the  event. To make it better, the people break-danced to African drum beats.  Very funny, yet amazing!!!

But every nite has to end (well, at least for me, being a big sleepy head)!  This, however, is where it got really funny!!

At 1:00 am, I decided to call it a nite and go to sleep. When I got back to  the site. I quickly realized that there were more than 10 people present. It  looked like it was going to be a clear nite, so I decided, along with  several others, to sleep outside under the stars (which were covered by  clouds hehe! Hmmm...should have told me somehting about the weather). Well  as I laid down in my sleeping bag, beside a whole row of people and with all  the bugs sleeping around me, the PA's suddenly roared to life: "Time for the  concert!" It was 1:00 am!!!!! They had a concert at 1:00am...Oh my gosh!

The music was loud, but you all know me. I can sleep through just about  anything. I managed to fall asleep despite the incessant bass strumming  through the nite.

At around 2am, the first signs of the skys opening up hit me on the face. I  was going to ignore the spitting rain, but my friends urged me to squeeze  into the tent. So, I obediently entered the tent. I got my head under the  roof, but that's just about it. The rest of my body was being was being  washed. (Of course that was a good thing, cuz I was probably a walking piece  of dirt by that time.)

After squeezing into the tent, I really wanted to sleep. Unfortunately my  friends had other plans. They were talking, joking, laughing, anything but  sleeping. So, I decided join them for awhile. At 3:00 am we all finally got  tired and decided to try and catch some shut eye before the next morning.

Just when I was about to enter Dreamland, from right beside me there came  the loudest and most obnoxious sleeping roar, I have ever heard. Just when I  thought that was bad, another roar came from the other side of me. Just  great! I was sleeping right smack in the middle of Snore wars!! It would  have been fine if I were asleep, because by then I would have been a  participant and not a victim.

Fortunately for me, I have the knack for sleeping, and so, I managed to fall  asleep again. The nite, however, never wanted me to sleep. As reveries began  to flood my mind, the nite dealt another wild card. A huge gust of wind blew  down our north and south walls. Perfect! Just when we thought our design was  fool proof! So, again, I had to drag my tired body up and this time I had to  rebuild the north wall by reattaching the shower curtains and repositioning  the wall posts. I realized that the post was not going to stay in position  on its own so I had to hold it in position with my foot. Yeah for me! NOT!

Well, with that fixed up, I finally got back to sleep. I was thinking that  would be the last surprise for the nite. Guess again Vince! At around 6 am,  the Great One blew across the plains of Downsview park. This was it! This  was what everyone thought would be a "no show"! This time we weren't the  only ones to wake up. All of Downsview park woke up.

Once again a great gush of wind knocked open our north and south  walls...Just as it did, the heavens opened up and down came the waterfall of  a century. Bare in mind, I was only wearing a T-shirt and a pair of shorts.  As the waterfall screamed down to earth I was being drenched from head to  toe. I was freezing...I was shivering and my teeth were chattering. But  there was no time to think. Because our tent was made from garbage...there  were holes everywhere. Everyone had to find an open edge and hold it closed.  This is what we did and we had to do this for half an hour.

At 6:30 am the heavens closed and the skies cleared. Phew!!!! But it didn't  go without leaving its mark. The grounds were now filthy with mud and dirt,  paper scraps were tossed and food particles were littered everywhere. Not  the greatest site...But that was quite the nite...NO SLEEP!!! hehe!

The morning was spent eating and sitting. The skies were grey but  unforeboding. As the minutes ticked by, the anticipation of Pope Jean-Paul's  arrival grew stronger.

At 8:00 am, half an hour before the Pope was scheduled to fly in, four  friends and I decided to go to the front on the pack in order to get a  personal glimpse of the Pope in his Popemobile. When we arrived we  immediately found a GREAT spot! Yay! So we stood there and waited. As we  waited the thunderous clouds above began teasing us with spittles of rain.  It did not make us budge. The spittle grew to drizzle and the drizzle grew  to waterfall (once again)! Ahhhhhhhhh! I was soaked again and this time even  more cold. We, however, were determined to stay. And we did. Despite the  heavy rain and the cold cold morning air, we stood our ground and waited. At  8:30 the Pope still had not arrived. At 8:45 the helicopter was sighted and  the Pope, finally arrived. Yay! It was good, except...we could not see ahead  of us. Everyone had their umbrellas open and we were stuck behind the forest  of different shades. What to do?

We decided on the human pyramid. Prior to the Popemobiles arrival we did a  dress rehearsal just so that we knew we could hoist up the two people. Yeah  we could, no prob! So, just as the screaming neared us, we counted to three  and the pyramid went up: "JP TWO,WE LOVE YOU," roared everybody. We saw the  Pope! It was a great feeling. All that waiting and endurance paid off... We  even have pictures of him. Yay!!!

As we returned to our site, I began to feel queezy. I began shivering and I  had the chills. My head pounded and my body ached. I was still wearing all  my wet clothes and that didn't help. The bad thing is all these symptoms  came right when the MASS began. The highlight of the weekend was proceeding  as I was getting sick. Noooooooooo!!!! I decided to hide inside the tent  which was now filled with deep puddles of water and I had to sit them.

I hid there and my symptoms got worse. I was faint and had to sleep. But, I  couldn't! I forced myself to get out of the tent and stand up with the rest  of the pilgrims to celebrate the MASS...Just as I did, the clouds opened up!  Not rain this time, thank God! The sun burst through with a glimmering  brilliance that shed all grey from the skies above. How miraculous! The sun  never looked sooooo beautiful nor felt so great! Even better, my symptoms  all disappeared and I was able to celebrate the MASS ceremony.

It was a great celebration. It was even greater because I was able to  celebrate with a a whopping 800000+ pilgrims from ALL OVER THE WORLD. A  wonderful experience.

Well, as the mass ended, it also marked the conclusion to a wonderfully  spiritual weekend. I am sooooooooo glad I came out.

WYD was a magnificent event with an even more magnificent group of  participants. I will most likely go again in two years. It will be in  Germany! hehe! Well, thanks for reading...I didn't realize I had this much  to say hehe!

Take care everybody and me will talk to y'all very soon,

Vince

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It is not my intent to offend anyone here. What I wrote was straight from the heart: uncensored, uncut.