13 Things I Miss About Canada
Posted on July 5, 2007 - Filed Under 13 Things | 8 Comments
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I left Canada back in 2002 and haven´t been back since. It feels like a very long time and although I love my new country, there are SO many things that I miss about Canada. Here they are, in no particular order.
1. My family. Here´s a photo of my sisters (Cherith and Sarah) and my mom at a family reunion just a couple of days ago. They sent me this pic and made me cry! I haven´t seen a photo of my mom since I left. Not pictured: My baby sister, Rebekah and my Dad.
2. Daffodils. My favorite flower, blooms on my birthday and is non-existent here.
3. Twizzlers. This country has no idea what licorice is, much less red licorice.
4. Free medical care. When Dorian had to go through so many surgeries, it would have been nice to get it free!
5. English. I rarely get to speak English anymore and recently I noticed that I am losing some of my vocabulary! The only person I regularly speak English with is Dorian . . . who isn´t exactly fluent in ANY language yet!
6. English language magazines. I used to buy used ones from a shop here, but they stopped taking used magazines. Now I have to wait till Christmas to get my Good Housekeeping and Cosmopolitan fix! I know, I could read online, but it´s just not the same.
7. Being able to walk down the street without getting sex-related comments. This is such a macho society and foreigners are a major turn-on for all the nasties on the street. Would you believe that I got catcalls when I was 8 months pregnant, carrying Dorian on my hip?
8. Cheap postage. Ok, it is not that cheap in Canada, but it costs me about three times as much to send something up than it does to send something down.
9. Fast internet. I have wireless, but due to living on a volcano and the fact that it is the rainy season and therefore cloudy most of the time, it doesn´t work too well.
10. Free phone calls. You know how you can just pick up your house phone and call your neighbor for nothing? I can´t. Even if I had a house phone it would cost me Q1 a minute just to call my in-laws, a few meters away!
11. Libraries. They have them here and I would love to use them, but you can´t check books out! And I´m sure not sitting in there reading with a rambunctious toddler and a fussy newborn.
12. Public pools. Again, they do exist, but they are only for the very elite and are really expensive!
13. Being able to travel without worrying. Travelling to the capital on a chicken bus is not advisable, but it is basically the only way to go if you don´t own a car and can´t pay Q150 (about $20) for a taxi. And those buses are constantly being robbed or driving off a cliff!
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8 Responses to “13 Things I Miss About Canada”
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What a neat Thursday Thirteen. I bet you are missing Canada. Sounds like a great time was had by you there. Hope you make it back soon.
Well then, I will post this in English, Australian English at that!!
Mind you, I know nothing else (other than Tak (thanks in Danish), Bonjour (French obviously) and that’s about it…
Great list, and it must be so sad when away from family… I feel for you…
Stop by ours if you have a spare second or two…
Cheers for now
Bernie
Actually, I have to go back soon because my passport is set to expire! I was going to go back for the family reunion, my uncle offered to pay for the four of us to go up, but Dante was born too late to get the paperwork done in time. However, my uncle just told me that the offer still stands, so hopefully we can get Canadian passports for the boys and head up in January.
hi! I can so relate to #6. They don’t have English magazines here in Czech Republic
but at least my hubby, his family and friends knows English. and I also have friends here whom I can talk to in my native language.
Another expat checking in. Is there any way you can get a webcam for yourself and one for your family back home? They’re not very expensive and that way you can talk and visit to your hearts content. It’s so much nicer when you can actually see the folks back home, and even more so with little children who won’t feel connected to them otherwise. We only see my family a few times a year, but my kids race right over to them right at the airport because they’re so used to seeing and hearing them on the internet.
There is nothing like being away to make you know what you miss. Even though I am in heaven on earth in North Carolina, I found that I miss the good parking at the mall in Florida that I go to. The one here is a maze with all kinds of dead ends. It’s crazy.
Your post was so sweet! I hated living away from my family for 6 years, it was SO tough – and I was only 3 hours away. I must say – the public pools… I would miss that too!
- Audrey
Pinks & Blues Girls
Hmm, seems that expat bloggers are the norm around here!
Thanks for letting me know that I´m not alone.
I actually thought about getting a webcam, Robin, but my sister is the main person I chat with and she only has access to public computers without the updated version of Windows Live. We have chatted (in internet cafes) with webcams, though and it was great. My dad got to see Dorian when he was 6 months old, playing on my lap while I typed! (course that was back when I could actually take him out to an internet cafe without having to pay for destroyed computers afterwards!)