Monday, April 21, 2008

Things I Miss/Reminders of Home

Lately I have been thinking a lot about things I miss from Canada. This has been prompted by several events, including walking into Weymouth and seeing the Canadian flag flying high along the waterfront. Seeing the red stripes from the distance I looked towards it and thought “Can it be?” and then “Surely not!”, but as I got closer I realized that there was in fact a Maple Leaf wedged between those two red stripes. Naturally, it reminded me of home, and I have been thinking of home ever since.

Two other items have prompted me to start thinking about home more. First of all, my American friend, Ali, has been kind enough to send me a care package full of goodies that I miss . . . as it has not arrived yet, I am not sure what she included, but things I told her I was craving include Oh Henry bars, Reese’s peanut butter cups, and Ruffles sour cream and onion chips! Anything she sends me that includes those items will be fantastic and greatly appreciated, as I do not often receive care packages here.

The other thing that reminded me of home was a thunder storm that just happened tonight. It was one of those big ones, with crashes of thunder that cause your walls to shake and lightning flashes that are so bright, your eyes close involuntarily as you flinch away from it. It might seem silly that a thunderstorm would remind me of home to many of you North American folk, but they just don’t get “real” thunderstorms over here. Everyone who works here was standing outside, amazed by the storm! I don’t think I’ve ever seen one like that in all the time I’ve lived here.

Besides the aforementioned items, what I miss most is obviously my family and friends. I am hoping to get home at some point during the next year, but all will depend on funds to finance my trip, as it all too often does. Beyond the obvious, I miss proper peanut butter, hockey (especially now that Montreal did so well this year!), beer from Canada, Chewy Granola Bars, and Grey’s Anatomy (does anyone know a good site to download from?).

1 comment:

bwestcott said...

Yeah I've been feeling a little like its time to go back to Canada soon too. Also miss the thunderstorms that would start to plague Alberta in the next few months. There just don't seem to be thunderstorms in Edinburgh :(.