Insomnia started kicking in again. I thought my insomnia and heart palpitations were the things of the past but as soon as I think so they remind me of themselves. I guess, I know the reason - unemployed, in a different country, living on savings, and anxious about the future. What can be worse? I can't remember the last time I was unemployed. I have always been working 14-16 hours a day and here you go, no job now. At least, I can speak English, it is a saviour. The other day I started volunteering as an ESL teacher and when I saw the immigrants living here for 3-5 years speaking pidgin English or no English I was terrified. After all, things are not that bad for us, we both speak the language. I honestly admire those people who, not having enough language proficiency, decide to immigrate. My first day as a volunteer didn't start well. The temperature was -30 and I couldn't feel my nostrils, my eyebaalls, I thought, were threatening to turn into icicles, I couldn't open and close them without pain. The weather was so nasty. I better be in +50 in a Saudi desert than -30 here. I just hope this ugly weather goes away soon. I can't wait for chinook. Calgary looks so ugly when the weather is so cold. My first impressions of the city were not positive at all. I remember I compared Calgary to St. Louis and someone said "I heard it is an ugly city" to which I replied "So is Calgary" and bit my lip. I can never hold my tongue...Well, Calgary is not a pretty city, to me, it looks like any mid-west city in the US, I cannot see anything different here, yet, people keep talking about unique Canadian culture. I thought even Lincoln, NE was better. Calgary from the plane reminded me of some rural town with tall building in the center and spread out paper houses and condos around.
Well, social system, government and lots of things maybe different but wherever you go you see Walmart, Shoppers (copy paste of Walgreens), Coop, Safeway, roads like in the US. There are no visible signs of uniqueness. Maybe later when I start integrating more I will see the differences but now I can't see much and I can't tell the difference. Well, there is a difference: everything is MUCH slower here. Permanent residence cards have not arrived yet, health cards we got after a month, the only thing that worked fast was the bank and the banks stay open till 8 pm, which I think is great. All the rest seems to take an eternity. Also, I can feel the time here. It is when you live in a place for a month and it seems like a year. This feeling is non existent in the US, the pace of life is unimaginably fast, in the twinkling of an eye the year is gone.
Houses here deserve my special attention. We call them cardboard houses. Whether it is condo or a house, they are all built of thick cardboard, most are wooden framed. It is so funny I feel like we are living in a match box. we are lucky to have got a newly renovated condo with a lovely balcony. But it is still a match box. When I think of condos back home made of concrete and solid bricks it feels strange how despite of the fact that we live in a match box, it is much warmer here with the temperature - 35 and how cold it can get back home when the temperature drops to +3-+5, the apartment turns into a freezer and the electricity company benefits most from this (cos all my heaters are(were) on). And here this match box is so warm that I wear shorts and a tank top inside.
Food is another story! What I miss most from back home is FOOD! The smell of freshly baked ORGANIC bread with nice ORGANIC goat cheese and sweet watermelon. Hmmm...I looked at bread here and was terrified - it is a mixture of an elephant with a monkey, I read words like ammonium chloride, calcium sulphate monoglycerides sound scary to say the least. what happened to that nice bread made of flour, yeast and water??? That is how we bake it! I am not a good baker but I am determined to bake my own bread as soon as I find organic wholewheat flour. I miss Mom's meat pies most. That fantastic mouthwatering meat pie with ORGANIC meat, potatoes, onions and herbs. I could smell it when I got close to the block. Or Mom's rice. People talk here about Chinese food and how 'awesome' that is. I can't eat it, well, I tried to eat it and I can eat it but I don't enjoy it at all. I don't like seafood, soy sauce and MSGs that is added to it. And I am not a particular fan of sticky Jasmine rice. Mom's fantastic plov is incomparable, it is not cooked in a rice cooker but in a special rice pot. It has a delicious rice crust made of yogurt, eggs, rice, coriander seeds and a bit of cumin powder. After that, eating white sticky rice is a sin for me. Well, it is 2.20 am, I am off to bed now.
Well, social system, government and lots of things maybe different but wherever you go you see Walmart, Shoppers (copy paste of Walgreens), Coop, Safeway, roads like in the US. There are no visible signs of uniqueness. Maybe later when I start integrating more I will see the differences but now I can't see much and I can't tell the difference. Well, there is a difference: everything is MUCH slower here. Permanent residence cards have not arrived yet, health cards we got after a month, the only thing that worked fast was the bank and the banks stay open till 8 pm, which I think is great. All the rest seems to take an eternity. Also, I can feel the time here. It is when you live in a place for a month and it seems like a year. This feeling is non existent in the US, the pace of life is unimaginably fast, in the twinkling of an eye the year is gone.
Houses here deserve my special attention. We call them cardboard houses. Whether it is condo or a house, they are all built of thick cardboard, most are wooden framed. It is so funny I feel like we are living in a match box. we are lucky to have got a newly renovated condo with a lovely balcony. But it is still a match box. When I think of condos back home made of concrete and solid bricks it feels strange how despite of the fact that we live in a match box, it is much warmer here with the temperature - 35 and how cold it can get back home when the temperature drops to +3-+5, the apartment turns into a freezer and the electricity company benefits most from this (cos all my heaters are(were) on). And here this match box is so warm that I wear shorts and a tank top inside.
Food is another story! What I miss most from back home is FOOD! The smell of freshly baked ORGANIC bread with nice ORGANIC goat cheese and sweet watermelon. Hmmm...I looked at bread here and was terrified - it is a mixture of an elephant with a monkey, I read words like ammonium chloride, calcium sulphate monoglycerides sound scary to say the least. what happened to that nice bread made of flour, yeast and water??? That is how we bake it! I am not a good baker but I am determined to bake my own bread as soon as I find organic wholewheat flour. I miss Mom's meat pies most. That fantastic mouthwatering meat pie with ORGANIC meat, potatoes, onions and herbs. I could smell it when I got close to the block. Or Mom's rice. People talk here about Chinese food and how 'awesome' that is. I can't eat it, well, I tried to eat it and I can eat it but I don't enjoy it at all. I don't like seafood, soy sauce and MSGs that is added to it. And I am not a particular fan of sticky Jasmine rice. Mom's fantastic plov is incomparable, it is not cooked in a rice cooker but in a special rice pot. It has a delicious rice crust made of yogurt, eggs, rice, coriander seeds and a bit of cumin powder. After that, eating white sticky rice is a sin for me. Well, it is 2.20 am, I am off to bed now.
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