The feedback for my last two posts went a little something like this... my sister: "well I think California is good for you because your blog is much sunnier when you're there", David: "I'm a little depressed now", and my mom: "do you really hate snow that much??". So I apologize for the last posts that were somewhat depressing.
I have now been back visiting in Canada for about 2 weeks. We had a fantastic Christmas full of family and food. I have been reminded that there are many things that I love about Canada, even though it's cold (and it's not even cold right now! What's going on?!). So here are some of the things about Canada that I love, in no particular order.
Bumping into random people from your past: In the last two weeks I have bumped into the following: a friend who I haven't seen since junior high (I actually saw her at the L.A. airport and she's an actress in L.A.! Crazy!), a friend who I've known since grade 3 but have kind of lost touch with, my high school boyfriend, and a friend from my choir. These things just don't happen in L.A. (with the exception of the junior high friend but that was just wierd).
Grandparents & Aunties: Of course, we are thrilled to see our family because we love them and want to spend time with them but we also love the free babysitting that they provide. David and I took a quick trip down to Calgary while our girls stayed behind with Granny, Grumps, and Auntie Jeanettey. Calgary is not exactly an exotic location but we got to sleep in until... wait for it... 9:30am!! We then laid around and did nothing until 10:30 when we had to check out. It was heaven.
Hockey: While in Calgary we went to the Sweden vs. Switzerland World Juniors game. We got two tickets for $20 from a scalper and sat so high we were actually above the scoreboard. We thought about sneaking down to some empty seats lower down (just like old times) but decided that's OK when you're 20 but not when you're 32. The game was suprisingly fabulous! We chose teams to cheer for to make things exciting. I chose Sweden not because of their hockey prowess but because I love the Swedes with their leftie Socialist ways. Sweden turned out to be a far superior team but Switzerland somehow pulled it together and forced a shootout. Anyway, I forgot how much I love hockey. We don't watch it much anymore because we don't have TV but I have vowed to watch it more often. The game confirmed our already-held belief that hockey is soooo much better than football. Oh, and my favourite David quote from our Calgary trip was: "I think I saw one of the hockey players in our hotel lobby because he was wearing a suit and sounded half-retarded". Isn't that just so true? Where else do you see simple-minded teenagers wearing suits than at a Canadian hockey rink?
Kind people in traffic: My experience has been that, in general, people in L.A. are as nice as people in Canada. However, this is not the case in traffic. People become evil on the L.A. freeways. When we were driving back from Calgary there was a semi-truck flipped over in the ditch that had strewn sheets of OSB all over the road. Needless to say, this caused a bit of a traffic jam because one lane was completely closed. Our initial reaction what that we needed to get out of the lane immediately because we didn't want to get stuck. This was because in L.A. if you are in a lane that is ending you will NEVER get out of it. If people see that you need to get out of the lane they will speed up so that you can't. I don't know why people are so mean but it makes my blood boil. You have to pretty much take your life into your hands and just go for it or you will be in that lane for the rest of you your life. So, back to highway 2 between Red Deer and Edmonton. The civilized Canadians actually took turns letting people in with vigorous waving every time. It was so refreshing.
Chip readers for credit cards: They don't have these in the U.S. yet! Can you believe that? Welcome to the new millenium people!! They've had them in Europe for years. When I use my credit card in L.A. I actually have to sign the receipt! Crazy! On a similar note, it's nice having money that doesn't all look the same.
Taboganning: It might surprise you that this made the list given my last post. Well, while we were visiting David's parents we did a little taboganning. On our first run, Asha and I got snow in our faces, up our sleeves and down our boots. Asha started screaming and said it was the worst day ever and she was NEVER going sledding ever again. But guess what? Asha was begging someone to go down again with her 5 minutes later. And I willingly went again. Maybe taboganning is like childbirth. It kinda sucks while you're doing it yet eventually you want to do it again. I've heard that women have some sort of inherent amnesia that literally makes them forget the pain of labour so that they want to do it again. Maybe Canadians have a similar amnesia for snow.
Stars: It's not really fair to compare the visibility of stars in the middle of L.A. to an acreage outside of Onoway, Alberta but when I went outside to get something while staying at David's parents I was dazzled by the stars. There are about three layers of stars that I had completely forgotten about.
So, am I excited to go back to L.A. where it is supposed to be 25 degrees next week? Am I looking forward to going outside to play with Asha and Nia without 30 minutes to put on snowsuits, followed by 10 minutes of playing, followed by 30 minutes of removing snowsuits? Heck yeah! But will I miss our family and friends, the familiarity of home, and of course that lovely feeling of snow packed against the inside of my wrist? You betcha.
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