Where friendship is a word they understand.
You will never be alone when you're in a Newfie's home.
There's no price tag on the doors in Newfoundland.
This morning I picked up the new read for my book club, "The Day the World Came to Town." It's about 9/11, when our whole hemisphere was in chaos and all of the planes in the sky were ordered to land immediately (but not in the U.S.,) So tiny Gander, Newfoundland welcomed 38 planes containing 6,935 passengers. Therefore we Americans should be forever grateful for what they did. The truth is, we know almost nothing about them.
Like so many other book club picks, I didn't think I would like it but after reading only 7 pages I was hooked. Here's why. The writer, Jim Defede, begins by introducing us to these very quirky, strange, stubborn but ultimately kind people . Here are a few facts:
Where is Newfoundland? Most folks don't know. It's an island in the Atlantic just off the Canadian shore.
How do you pronounce Newfoundland? Most folks do it wrong and Newfoundlanders don't like it one bit. "'Understand Newfoundland.' The words rhyme and the cadence is similar."
What is their style of speech? More old English and Irish than new. They generally end sentences with "me dear" or "me lovely." In response to "what do you do" you might hear "I'se be a fisherman."
Is Newfoundland a country? No. They are part of Canada but they consider themselves to be Newfoundlanders first and Canadians second. They became part of the British Empire in 1497 but became part of Canada 400 plus years later in 1949.
What time zone are they in? They have their very own time zone. They are exactly one hour and 30 minutes ahead of the U.S.
How do Newfoundlanders survive their harsh existence? They count on each other for their survival.
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| Gander Bay |
So on the morning of September 11, 2001, after American Airlines Flight 11 had already crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, United Airlines Flight 175 had slammed into the South Tower, and American Airlines Flight 77 had struck the Pentagon, Transportation Secretary Norman Mneta (who was in a bunker under the White House,) ordered that the airspace over the entire United States be shut down. The planes coming from Europe were not allowed to land in the U.S. because more terrorists could be on these planes. Despite the risk, Canada accepted the planes.
And that's how the town of Gander with it's 10,000 citizens dropped everything to care for it's 6,000 plus stranded visitors.
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