Nov 5

So here we are, just two months after rolling out of Boston for good and I can’t believe we lived there for over a year. As always, the last couple of months before the move have flew by faster than we imagined possible. And after moving home and getting settled, I can’t believe how much I actually miss the East Coast. More than I ever thought I would. So here, in nor particular order, are the things I’ll miss and the things I won’t miss about living in Boston…

Things I’ll miss:

1. The old. The history of the area, the interesting things that happened there and the fascinating people who made them happen. The amazing architecture and the buildings that have seen centuries of use and places where generations have walked.

2. The new. I have never, not even once, claimed to be a big-city girl. But it turns out the city can grow on you and that it has a lot to offer. There is always something different to do and see. Festivals, museums, concerts and a different park to walk in or place to visit every day of the week.

3. The beach. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, I miss the ocean. I had completely underestimated the restorative effects of a fabulous view on the human psyche.  The sound of the waves on the shore at night, the smell of the sea air (which I thought I would NEVER get used to!), just staring out at the ocean. I can’t express how much I miss it!

4. Our backyard community. We lived in one of four townhouse style units that shared a backyard. At first I thought it would be awkward to go into the yard and know that our neighbours had a clear view of us or to go outside and find them already there. But the reality was that it was a wonderful social atmosphere. Our kids adored having playmates that were easily accessible. I loved that they had a huge yard to play in, which was extremely rare where we were living. And the fact that there was almost always someone to visit with was good for me, particularly in the early days when I was feeling kind of isolated. It was also a pleasure to share yardwork, gardening and other outdoor activities with our fantastic neighbours.

5. Cheap shopping. Food, clothes, books, need I say more?

6. The people. Amazing people. Really interesting and wonderful people and a few friends I hope to keep for a lifetime.

7. The Boston accent. It felt so strange and foreign when we first got there but now I will always think of it with fondness and hearing people with the same accent will make me miss our Boston people.

8. The diversity. Another benefit of the big city, especially one with sooo many universities (like 80 something universities in the greater Boston area) is the huge variety of people you have the opportunity to meet. It’s awesome to be exposed to so many different cultures in something as generic as a trip to the park or the grocery store.

9. Public transit. We loved riding the subway! In a few months I went from being totally intimidated by the T system to embracing it completely. We never drove into the city. We could easily walk to the subway and be in town in ten or fifteen minutes. It was convenient and inexpensive and we got a lot more Lose Weight Exercise as well as feeling good about not driving so much.  The big city i much more conducive to a fantastic transit system.

Things I won’t miss:

1. Traffic. Not so much that there are lots of cars, although there ARE. But also that it takes so long to get places. When you meet new people it frequently happens that you easily live 60 minutes or more (sometimes MUCH more) from each other. This makes it really hard to invite someone over for casual drinks and to create opportunities to get to know new people.

2. Being far away from our family, friends and country of citizenship. It was just way too far from family. Even though we don’t currently live in the same city as most of our family members, we are much closer than we were. And it’s surprising how much closer you feel just by being in the same country.  As for our country of citizenship, we genuinely missed being able to participate in our country’s systems and processes. We missed the big and little things. It’s a strange thing to be living in a society where you hold no status (in terms of voting etc.). It’s a little disconcerting.

3. The lack of universal healthcare. I think my posts from our first summer in Boston adequately sum up the frustration of trying to get set up in a very different medical system. I am so glad to once again be able to go to the doctor without having to pay for the visit and to know that I can get prescriptions and medications easily and for a much lower price.  I feel much safer, medically speaking, in Canada. Even though H1N1 seems to be running rampant where I’m living. :)

Before our one year adventure Boston wouldn’t have made our top ten list of places to visit. In fact, it didn’t register at all! But now I can’t say enough about what an amazing place it is to visit and I constantly surprise myself with how much I miss being there.

Goodbye Boston. We’ll miss you!

Sep 13

I have learned a few things since we began the renovation process several weeks ago and I am here to share my wisdom with you:

  • There is more dust inside the walls and floors of your house than you ever imagined possible. You can’t possibly prepare for it. So don’t even try.
  • There is no excuse for painting anything flesh-coloured (as in Caucasian flesh, other skin colours are much classier choices for paint).
  • Sleeping on air mattresses gets old really quickly. But remembering to pump it up with a little extra air every few days goes a long way. If you are wondering why you are so damn uncomfortable…it could be because your mattress is only at 25% capacity.
  • Renovations make me bitchy cranky.
  • My husband and father-in-law have a bottomless fountain of energy from which to draw. It must be genetic. I don’t know how they do it but they have been working on the house 20 hours a day without stopping for 10 days now. My father-in-law is taking vacation time to come and help us, which is incredibly generous. However – WORST. VACATION. EVER. Sleeping on an air mattress and working til you drop every day is not my idea of a holiday. Just sayin’.

Random stuff I’ve been wanting to tell the internets:

  • Elementary school in Boston was guarded like the freaking White House. Picking up a child from school was practically a secret service mission, what with no entrance to the school without filling out visitor forms. School here is like a free-for-all. They don’t care how the kids get to their classrooms, so long as they get there. They don’t care who picks them up or where they go after the bell rings! The teacher’s first parent letter indicated her goal for the children this year is independence. I fully endorse this goal but after the red tape, overprotective atmosphere over kindergarten I’m getting whiplash just dealing with it all!
  • Everyone keeps saying Saskatoon has had no mosquitoes until September. Remarkably, when we arrived in town. The mosquitoes waited for me to show up and then moved in to feast. I am undone. Really, just covered in bites!
  • I have never been so aware of the easygoing Canadian attitude before. After being away for a while it has never been so apparent. I like it!
  • All moving companies are, without exception, completely corrupt and out to rob you of every last penny.
  • Things have been rocky with our moving company, or can you tell?
  • They charged us the equivalent of several mortgage payments extra for “packing services” because we ended up putting a lot more on the truck than we originally intended (because we bought our kitchen for the new house in the states and brought it back with us). But the kitchen was all in boxes. It required no extra packing. Loading yes. Packing no. Loading charges did not change. The cost of the Lose Weight Exercise changed, which is fair. The cost of the packing changed, which is not fair. We will contest this.
  • We were told our belongings would be delivered no later than September 10. They are arriving tomorrow, September 14. Why yes, that is smoke coming out of my ears! Thanks for noticing!
  • It is really refreshing to make such a big move and already know where everything in the city is and how to go about getting settled. Really refreshing! We know where the grocery stores and schools and parks are. We know which events to look forward to. We know which friends we can call and beg to help us with our home renos…. Ahem.
  • My Massachusetts driver’s licence broke the computer system of the local licence provider. I went to switch back to a SK licence and they had it all printed out but realized they hadn’t entered it correctly so they could create a new photo id. So they tore it up and started over. And then they started over again. And then they called the help desk. Five times. And I waited for a full hour (which I know doesn’t seem like much to those of you in big cities, but for Saskatoon if you have to wait five minutes it’s a HUGE FREAKING DEAL). And then they told me to go do what I needed to do and they would call and let me know when I could come back. And then they called and said my Massachusetts licence broke their whole system and it will be a week before they can get the bug fixed so I should come back then. Awesome.
  • A large percent of people here can’t pronounce Massachusetts. You would think that anyone who can pronounce “Saskatoon, Saskatchewan” without any problems would already have the linguistic dexterity necessary to pronounce MASS-AH-CHEW-SETS. Most common mispronounciations: Mass-a-two-shits and Mass-a-two-sits. It amuses me.

Ok, I think we’re done. Hopefully the blog is working and you can all read this. I’ve been experiencing technical difficulties recently so if you’ve been seeing nothing past August 22 and now suddenly see several new posts, it’s not you, it’s me.

May 3

Since I’ve spent a lot of time in these posts talking about how America is different from Canada I thought it was only fair that I talk about how Canada is different than America. Here are some random facts that many Americans have seemed surprised to learn about our home and native land:

1. Canadians don’t all speak  French despite the fact that it’s one of our official languages.  Most of us who grew up in Canada have some very basic vocabulary and conversational skills but are definitely not fluent. You want fluent? Go to Ottawa (capital city of Canada) or Quebec (the province with the highest population of French-speaking citizens). 

2. It is not actually brutally cold in winter in all parts of Canada. Where I’m from is definitely super cold. But it kind of annoys me when people say “Oh, you’re from Canada? You must be used to the cold!”. Cold is still cold! But. Some parts of Canada (read: the west coast) have very mild winters with little to no snow. It’s no California but it’s a lot nicer than many parts of the USA.

3. We really do have free healthcare (where free equals our taxes are higher to pay for our free healthcare – but most of us think it’s absolutely worth it).

4. Women get a whole year off for maternity leave. 

5. Canadians recognize/celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving, Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day, Veteran’s Day (we call it Remembrance Day) and many of the same long weekend holidays (although some of those are for different things, though they are on the same dates).

6. Officially, Canadians use the metric system but almost anyone you talk to off the street measures their height in feet and inches and their Lose Weight Exercise in pounds.

7. Canadians aren’t necessarily ALL hockey fans. At all.

8. We don’t necessarily have an accent that gives us away (ok, unless you’re a Newfie). At least no one has asked our family if we are Canadian and when told our nationality, many have responded with “Really? You don’t have an accent at all!”

9. Canadians implicitly trust our gov’t (generally speaking) and our media doesn’t make a big deal of their sex lives or personal history. I’m pretty sure the current Prime Minister has a couple of kids but their genders and ages are not something that has been in the media spotlight.

10. Saskatchewan is not near Calgary (seven hours away), Vancouver (17 hours), or Toronto (30 hours). It is a province. It is located here.

11. Canadian-made beer has a higher alcohol content than American-made beer. Yeah. We’re badass.

Jan 20

 So here I am, a Canadian in the United States on this, the inauguration day of the 44th president of this country.  There’s no denying that today was momentous for a variety of reasons and being in this country on this historic day was moving, even if I wasn’t among the crowds in Washington.

I have to give credit to Americans. They do patriotism like nobody’s business. It is inspiring to see people to passionate about their country even if I sometimes feel like some overzealous citizens occasionally misplace that passion. Some have said that it matters more what the new president does with his position than all the pageantry of the ceremony itself. Of course, this is true. You’d have to be insane to think otherwise. But I think that the fanfare is useful in that it is a marker. That’s what ceremony is – a line in the sand, a point of origin. It doesn’t matter as much to some as it does to others but as a nation, I can see the value in having a moment to look back upon. Yes, the words spoken today mean nothing if not supported by action. But I think celebration is worthwhile and what I saw today was a celebration that will be remembered for generations to come.

As many commentators noted today, watching President Obama stumble over the oath of office drove home his humanity. The new president is not a Messiah and it’s nice to have a reminder of that. Personally, I just like to see the human side of leaders. Sometimes they seem so robotic. 

Even more striking to me, was to see the very prominent role that religion still plays in American government. It is very foreign to me to see the mixture of church and state so accepted and even seemingly celebrated. I have my own opinions on this issue but it was definitely a lesson in American culture to observe the very Christian overtones of today’s ceremonies.

Most poignant of all was the participation of Reverend Joseph Lowery who is considered one of the founders of the American Civil Rights Movement. There were many Americans in attendance today who have lived through decades of intolerance and hate and to have a very visual representation of how far the country has come was very touching. What a long way this country has come and how grateful I am to have witnessed it!

Nov 13

Can someone please tell me why EVERYTHING sold in American grocery stores is teeny tiny??? It is pissing the hell out of me today. It’s like they are a nation of very small people who only consume the most dainty portions of food and therefore do not require food to be sold in trough-like sizes as us animalistic Canadians. At least that’s the look I get when I ask where the “big jars/bags/packages” are.

Margarine, at least in the brand I want to buy, comes in itty bitty little 425g containers. I used to buy the giant keg (maybe 2kg [4.4lb] of margarine and now we go through like 25 packages of margarine a week.

Cheez Whiz comes in microscopic little jars, not the normal mayo-sized jars.

I tried to find your standard 20kg (44lb) bag of flour at the grocery store and apparently the only place you can buy SO MUCH FLOUR is at Costco! They looked at me like I was asking if I could please purchase a metric tonne of flour because WHO ON EARTH USES SUCH A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF FLOUR??? Seriously? I had no idea until this point that people actually bought those miniscule 10 lb. bags of flour and now that’s the biggest bag they have? And honestly, who the hell buys less than ten pounds of flour? Who says to themselves “I need exactly 3 tablespoons of flour, no more and no less will do. I will buy the smallest bag of flour known to man.”

Yes, I have grocery rage. I know, it’s stupid to be annoyed about these things. It’s not like if I had the bigger sized of these three items I would be going to the grocery store less. But somehow while it is totally acceptable to me to have to buy milk twice a week, running out of margarine every week and out of flour every couple of weeks is bringing out THE CRAZY. I’m going to go ahead and blame this one on the post-Halloween sugar crash.

Oct 17

This being our first Columbus Day (for Canadians, it was on Canadian Thanksgiving this year), we thought it best to celebrate as the locals do, by shelling out a mortgage payment’s worth of money for the most god-awful “souvenirs” ever created dutifully lining the streets of our small city to watch the annual Columbus Day parade.

It turns out that although Americans apparently are big fans of Columbus, their love does not extend to making Columbus Day a stat holiday. So the hubby had to work and I had the pleasure of taking the rugrats to the parade alone. I decided, on the advice of the neighbours, not to go into Boston for their parade as I wasn’t in the mood for crowds. The site of our local parade was not crowded. I easily found a parking spot just a block away and we settled down on the curb, prepared to be dazzled.

That was my first mistake.

My second mistake was not bringing my camera. Because this parade? Was sixteen kinds of awesome. I am still kicking myself because I am so disappointed not to have any photographic evidence of the tales I have to tell.  I fear the funny will be exponentially less so, without a visual. C’est la vie!

Without further ado, I bring you the first annual Living in the Gray Columbus Day Parade Awards!

Most Unbecoming Parade Attraction: A literal pack of some variety of politicians walking along the street in suits and ties, waving and shaking hands, handing out pamphlets and looking so clean-cut and yet greasy at the same time.

Organization Making Up More Than Half of a Parade: The Aleppo Shriners. They marched, they carried flags, they drove tiny cars and trucks and horse-drawn carriages. I’ve never seen so many goofy hats in one place before.

Float Most Likely to Cause Inappropriate Laughter: A tent-trailer pulled by a half tonne truck, fully extended, with the flaps pinned up and carrying a Shriner quintet singing old-timey hymns and looking suitably somber. And because the one mile parade route was so gruelling for the camper-sitting shriners, their microphones were wired in and hanging down from the ceiling to mouth-level. I’m not going to lie. I laughed right out loud.

Most Annoying Fellow Parade-Watchers: Three chain-smoking moms and their offspring who sat just upwind of us. Even worse, because they made a small crowd, the parade participants kept throwing candy in their direction and just missing my kids. Instead of behaving like grownups and encouraging their progeny to pass some of the candy along to the much younger kids sitting next to them, they scrambled to pick up and eat the candy THEMSELVES! Who the hell does that??? Thankfully the child sitting next to us was mature enough to share some of his good fortune with my kids.

Parade Participant Most Likely to Expire While Marching: A pitiful looking snare drummer who was approximately 128 years old and so hunched over from the Lose Weight Exercise of the drum and harness, that his knuckles were dragging on the ground. He looked so tired. I wanted to offer to switch places with him, except that I can’t play the drums. And I had doubts about his ability to manage two small kids while simultaneously NOT DYING.

Most Uncomfortable-Looking Costume: One of the marching bands had the traditional tall hats with feathers etc. Except. EXCEPT. The hats must have been designed for people with exceptionally small heads. Because the chin straps were only big enough to fit snugly under each band member’s nose. Seriously! I could not BELIEVE how uncomfortable they looked! I am not exaggerating even a little tiny bit. A nasty plastic strap cutting into your nostrils while trying to march in time and play the saxaphone? No thank you! The band members looked SO MISBERABLE. And who could blame them?

Most Unlikely Entertaining Act: There was a small pack of motorcyclists – I think about 6 of them – who were doing reeeeally slow figure eights where they would criss cross each other’s paths. That was the extent of their stunts. It was totally not what you would call a gripping show. And yet? I was fascinated. On the edge of my seat. Anticipating each figure eight with baited breath. I don’t know what got into me.  

Parade Participants Most Likely to Become the Target of the Local Sniper: The *&^%&$#@% Vendors with big-ass carts full of cheap plastic garbage to hypnotize my kids.  They started peddling their wares on the street before we got there and continued to do so DURING THE PARADE!  This would be less of a big deal if they hadn’t been walking on the street, thus getting between the viewers sitting on the sidewalks and the floats and marching bands on the street. So every 15 seconds, while we were craning our necks to try and see around another stupid cart, we’d hear “Do you kids need something? What can I get you?”.  I almost wished I’d brought money to buy a piece of crap to keep them moving along as they always walked more slowly past the people who weren’t holding five pounds of inflatable hammers and trumpet whistles that could make the ears of a deaf person bleed. Plus, they blocked the candy-throwers! Sacrilege!

Sep 7

Jessica has tagged me to do the What’s New Meme which has been around since Jessica invented it last week. So I’m supposed to tell you five things that are new in my life. Except that right now EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE IS NEW. And you may not realize this, but EVERYTHING is kind of a big pool to choose from. Nevertheless, I did come up with something and here they are in no particular order:

1. Extended alone time with my son: Avery will be starting school on Monday and this isn’t exactly new since she went half days last year. But those half days were during Kieran’s nap-time and this year she will be gone all morning and a good part of the afternoon which means I will have mornings alone with Kieran for the first time…ever!  I’m kind of excited to get to know him outside of the shadow of his big sister.  I’m also a little worried that he has been so reliant on her for entertainment that we might be in for a rough transition.  Hold me!

2. Garbage Disposals: It appears that garbage disposals are commonplace around where we live. Every place we’ve stayed since arriving in Boston and every rental property and property for sale that we viewed had one.  And they weren’t all necessarily treasures, if you know what I mean. But still they had garburators.  Oh wait. They don’t call them that here. Anyway, in the places I’ve lived they have been much less common and I’m not sure why it’s deemed a necessity here.  I do know that the hubby and I needed some education on what I could and couldn’t put down there.  Turns out that watermelon rind takes a long time to grind up. Heh.  

3. Transit Rage: The uncommonly muggy weather definitely played a part in the explosive and distressing scene that played out on the subway today. It was hot, it was very crowded and everyone was feeling cranky. So when a lady with a bad attitude and a short temper started pushing her way into a train car and cursing at the slow moving crowd and her loud-mouthed husband it was not exactly surprising. We all felt on edge. But the lack of restraint and social awareness was appalling. As was the fact that another such unrestrained person with several children who let a string of curse words fly that would make a sailor blush when she was verbally assaulted for getting on before Bike Lady and her ill-mannered husband had disembarked. I’m not overly protective of my kids hearing “bad” words. I use appropriate language around them (most of the time) and I don’t want to make a huge deal of every little naughty word their delicate ears might hear. But I can’t excuse repeated and deliberate shrieking of c*nt and f*ck in front of other people’s children, let alone your OWN kids.  My 5 year old was really upset by the encounter and my 2 year old would have been if he wasn’t sleeping through all the commotion. Besides all this, I’m not a confrontational kind of person and this kind of screaming and raging made me really anxious. Hours later, I still feel tense. 

4. Video Games: I bought the hubby a used Wii for his birthday and we have been eagerly trying out a variety of sports, cooking games and old school Mario.  I didn’t grow up with video games, although I did play my share of Super Mario 3 at friend’s houses. But any skill I may have had as a kid has long since returned from whence it came.  Bottom line: there was a lot of cursing. (I didn’t say I didn’t approve of all swearing – just not in front of the kids or at random strangers on the subway!)

5. Politics: I have never had a passionate interest in politics, other than an unwavering conviction that EVERYONE has a duty to vote. But recently I find myself at least wanting to be more informed about both Canadian and American politics. Being in the US in the final months gearing up to an election has proven interesting. It has also inspired me to develop a better understanding of the Canadian system as all too often I find myself saying “Does Canada do X, too?” or “How does it work when Y in Canada?”. All too often I have no idea.  Just this morning in Canada parliament was dissolved and an election called for October 14.  Meanwhile the American election campaign has been going for something like a flobbity-gillion months (Why yes, I did just start watching the first season of How I Met Your Mother.) and still going strong.  It is interesting to see how our two countries do things differently and the ways in which that affects our cultures, governments and ideologies. 

So there you have it. I’m not going to tag anybody this time. But if you need inspiration for a blog post, consider yourself tagged!