Since posting my last blog, several months ago. I have moved to Canada. This is something that has happened to me, rather than a conscious decision to extricate myself from the United States.
I used to think I was a West Coast girl. Before that, I was a Cali-girl. And, before that a Long Beachian. Now I find myself in Montreal. Not just Canada Canada, but French Canada. The girl who took Spanish two at Long Beach City College her junior year, so she wouldn't screw up her high school gpa, now lives in Quebec. And, I still don't speak French. Granted it's only been two weeks, but still, this seems like a failure in planning. Although, when you only have ten days to rent out your house, get a new car, update the puppy vaccines, pack, and move across the country, learning French falls way down on the list of priorities.
It's almost 3pm, the mister is at work, the boys are passed out on the hotel bed, that was supposed to get fresh linens today, at some point, and I am here, at work, on my computer. Or, rather, I am here writing a blog and postponing work, on Travis's computer, that actually has an appropriate sized screen and keyboard, unlike my dying netbook. Yesterday was a bad day. I felt completely lost, and disconnected from everything I know, and suffering from a very annoying head cold. But, I digress. Today, I had a revelation: Food here is awesome.
I don't just mean snooty French cuisine or all the poutine a fat kid from Long Beach could ever dream of, but genuinely, the food here is really good, in ways we Americans take for granted. SODA is made from real things.
Orange Fanta, in the USA, tastes like Orange. Orange Fanta, in Canada, tastes like Oranges. This may seem like a subtle distinction, but when you crack open an aluminum can of Orange Fanta expecting it to taste like Orange flavoring and instead you get a mouth full of slightly sour carbonated refreshing confusion, you look at the can to see what the hell just happened. The label reads made with real oranges, and real sugar. I picked up a can of Coke and to my surprise found that it was also made with real sugar and manufactured in New York. I don't understand how a product can be made in the United States but not sold in the United States.
Which brings me to another startling discovery: Stork Chocolate Reises are delicious. And Werther's Original Caramel Chocolates are completely confusing and delectable.
Although, this move has been beyond stressful and I feel myself floundering trying, to find some footing, having twelve inches of snow drop down the day before spring starts does not aid in footing finding, I can't help but feel hopeful that everything will eventually work itself out and the boys and I will be fine.
Next week we will be out of this two-hundred-fifty-square-foot-bachelor-hotel-apartment and will be in our permanent rental where the boys will have a yard and momma will have an office. Things are looking brighter already, as long as I don't gain fifty pounds drinking real soda, sucking on real candy, and eating real poutine, before the wedding in June. Did I mention our wedding is in Seattle?
