Two Years In Canada!

It's been officially cold for two days. I hate the cold. My first instinct says "I hate this country." But that's a lie. I don't hate Canada. I do, however, hate winter. That's a promise.

Technically, this isn't even cold. Not by Canadian standards at least. It's only 30F. We'll be praying for these temperatures in another few months. But meanwhile it takes us a while to acclimate. So for now 30F is cold. Soon enough -5 will be cold. And then -20. And then, on those God forsaken days, -40 will be cold and we'll all be doing a happy dance for the prospect of a single digit number. Even if it is -8.

I digress.

Anyway, the abrupt change in season made me realize that I've just passed my two year anniversary of living in Canada. Yay for me!

It seems like it was just yesterday that I was living the solo life in hot and humid Florida. I had a real job. At my leisure I grabbed coffee or dinner with friends. I ate cereal for dinner. Maybe I skipped dinner completely.

And now...well, not much of that has changed. Except the dinner thing. I try and get dinner on the table every night. And the whole job thing...but I'm still employed. And then there is the whole hot and humid thing. Because, well, now I live in Canada. With my wonderful husband. No matter what I say, every snow flake, every negative degree on the thermometer, is worth it. Just remember I said that.





Moving to Canada from America doesn't seem like a huge difference. For the most part we speak the same language, we have the same values and general lifestyle. Hell, it's not even an overseas move. But it is a different country.

The differences aren't major. They're small things. Tiny little differences that I can't even explain - the way people answer the phone, the way you run a credit card at the store, where you get a cup of coffee - little things like that. When you add up all the tiny little differences, they eventually become a big difference. It's like a drop of water. Small on it's own, but when you put a lot of drops of water together you eventually have an ocean. Or, at least, a lake. See what I'm saying? If you step in a drop of water, you probably won't notice. But step in the ocean and you're bound to feel the change.

I'll eventually learn how to instinctively gauge a kilometer. And I'm sure this whole Celsius and French thing will work itself out. I mean, it's only been two years. Give me some time. Also, I should probably work on the geography thing too. Here, I barely know which cities are in my own province. I should work on that. For the record, so you don't think I'm a complete idiot, I do know the location of all 50 states and I can name every single capital. Texas? Austin. Washington? Olympia. West Virginia? Charleston. Not Dallas, not Seattle, not whatever other town you can't recall in West Virginia. I didn't google any of that. Impressive, no?

I'm not saying the differences are bad. Because they're not. TC and I have a saying -  it's not wrong, it's just different. We say that a lot. It is so true. So, so, so, so true. It's just different.

With all the changes and the differences, a lot of awesomeness has happened in the past two years.





First and foremost, I've become a wife. And it's fantastic.





Then there are other great things, like making new and wonderdul friends.





I've slowly become a runner.





And I've learned how to drive on ice. Learned how to snowshoe. Even tried out cross country skiing.





I've gone back to school for another degree. And I'm so close to being done that I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's the prettiest light I've ever seen.

I've learned how to cook and throw a dinner party. Like American Thanksgiving for 19 people!

Learned how to clean drool off my walls.

And go sailing like it's a totally normal thing to do.

We've traveled around a bit too. Places like Halifax, Montreal, St. John, St. Andrews, Fredericton, Prince Edward Island and Quebec City - most that I'd never really heard of.

Really, it's been amazing. It's a place that I never thought I would end up. But it's exactly right.

I'm surrounded by the best family and friends ever. They've all made the transition easy, like it was just another day and nothing has really changed - even though a lot of it has.