I just realized that a bunch of you posted on some of my last posts and that I never got the normal emails that LJ ususally sends to say there have been comments. I’m not sure what’s up with that but I’ll check on it.  In the meantime, thanks for reading! I was starting to think y’all had forgotten about me.
It has been a week and a half since I arrived in London.  I am finally starting to feel settled.  We have basically unpacked and I am slowly adjusting to my new habitat. It doesn’t feel like “home” yet. But it doesn’t feel as strange and unfamiliar as it did last week.  There have been some really wonderful discoveries this week and some interesting observations and some annoyances and negative things that I have learned about London. And now, let the randomness commence!

I found a beautiful park by the river here.  It is huge and has a nice playground, a spray park, walking paths that go for miles, and tonnes of Canada geese and ducks.  We went there last week with a new friend and the geese ate bread out of our hands. There were a lot of little goslings that were totally adorable!  It was a highlight of the week for me. 

Another highlight has been the Farmer’s Market that is near our house.  It is only about a five minute walk and it seriously is the best farmer’s market I’ve ever gone to. (Although I do recognize I have limited experience!) They sell all kinds of fruit and vegetables, meat, cheese, eggs, bread (and other baked goods), coffee, honey, really beautiful flowers, and all kinds of yummy things to eat.  We went on Saturday and only bought a few things but the prices were so reasonable I’m planning to start buying all my produce there. And we bought some fresh-out-of-the-deep-fryer apple fritters that were unbelievable!  I can’t wait to go again!  The walk was pleasant and I was so happy to find this gem in the ghetto!

There are seriously Tim Hortons EVERYWHERE here. There are two within walking distance of our house!  Does that seem excessive?  I think it’s an Ontario thing because even in my husband’s home town of Timmins, ON there are a lot of Tim Hortons for the smallish population of the city.  I know it’s popular, but come ON people!!!  I feel like I will stick out like a sore thumb if I don’t walk around gently caressing my Tim’s coffee cup!

I met some really nice people this week. All of them are spouses of other Ivey students. They actually have “support group” of sorts for those of us who are here with our husbands or wives (although it seems we are mostly wives).  The group is called the Ivey Circle which totally sounds like a cult.  I am so going to give myself a secret name.   But the women I met are so nice. Some have been here since last fall as their husbands started in the October program and they have been very welcoming and full of good tips and encouragement.  Others, like me, have just arrived and are going through the very same things so it is nice to have a network of people to share my concerns and frustrations with.  A few of us had a small get-together over dinner the other night and at the end of the evening I felt that these women were old friends already.  I am truly looking forward to getting to know them better. 

Hubby has caved and bought a “milk pitcher” but I am still persevering in my quest for 4L jugs (Have I mentioned that I feel the frequent use of the word “jugs” is starting to make me feel dirty?).  I found one Macs that sells them but they didn’t sell skim milk, which is what we drink.  I keep hearing that some places sell them so I’m going to continue to search. But for now I’ve had to give in  to using the little pitcher.  I’m tempted to draw the anarchy symbol on it with a sharpie or “Down With Bags!”.  But that might annoy my husbands and Ontario neighbors. I’m trying not to whine about it, really. But it just enfuriates me so damn much!  Why is that?  I guess I just have to pick something to obsess over and milk bags won the day.

I have noticed that the gas stations here do not change their prices at the same time. Ever.  At any given time you can find gas stations that are a couple cents higher and lower than the average. I find this strange. Do you?

It smells like a greenhouse here.  It hasn’t generally felt too humid but when it’s warm you can smell flowers everywhere and it smells exactly like walking through the inside of a greenhouse.  Really nice.  I’ve got a bunch of perennials starting to bloom in my yard and that is kind of fun!

You would think the market would be saturated with “corner stores” around here. I know I mentioned it in a previous post but I really can’t believe how many of them there are around here!  There are also crossing guards. Not just by schools. In random places on busy streets.  I walked with the kids in the stroller today and a real, honest-to-goodness guy in a flourescent orange vest stopped traffic for me!  He even blew on a whistle!  How awesome is that?

The biggest frustration of the week (other than the ongoing milk bag fiasco) is that I wanted to get groceries yesterday, Victoria Day, and do you think ANY grocery stores were open??? No! Of course not!  Apparently there is a bylaw in Ontario that prevents certain items from being sold. The corner stores are open but the liquor/beer stores are closed, all grocery stores are closed, Walmart is closed (except for their garden centre), and, although Shoppers Drug Mart was open, half the store was blocked off because there are specific products they are not allowed to sell because of some Ontario legislation. I know this because they had signs up apologizing for the idiocy of the whole thing.  I mean really, a closed store is one thing, but opening the store and then not allowing you to shop in all of it??? I needed diapers for crying out loud!  I was ready to start tunneling through the shelves to get to them, that’s how desperate I was!  I will definitely not make that mistake again.  I just assumed that it would be like Saskatchewan, where grocery stores open for shorter hours.  But, as usual, Ontario wants to remind the world that it is so NOT like anywhere else.  Boo.

I know there is more but that’s all I can think of for now. I promise pictures of the inside of the house are coming soon!  Really!