and part two of the email

It was sad to say goodbye to Mykal and Jason but I knew that I would see them soon (hoping to spend 4th of July with them in Washington) and I am still in touch with Mike and Colleen who think I am a crazy Aussie girl but now they have a new word in their vocabulary, Bugger.

Since I have been back from Vegas thinks have been a lot quieter. Normal living I suppose, although I am still doing things that would never happen in Australia. I mean I went to a sporting event, not once but four times! Ice Hockey is a sport you need to watch in real life. I have no concept of the game but they have a naughty box, have full on punch ons and fall over! What fun! I got scared though when I realised I was cheering.

I have met some great friends, JJ and Kayla, who both put up with me most. Kayla has a young son that I swear likes to torment me... and wins! He always smiles and says Hello Kim when he sees me, he also corrects my pronunciation of words, because Canadians have an accent they say words different.. The kids is TWO! By the way, I don’t have an accent, only the Canadians do. Got asked if I can turn my accent off the other day... um, no. Luke (who is Australian and often has to translate things into Australian for me, like the cheese here. It is wrong), Jackie, Marc and Jackie’s parents, Rhonda and Brent and Jackie’s sister Kelly. They seem to have adopted me into their family. Plus can’t forget Kelly, the lady I live with that has not tried Vegemite yet but will soon happen! I think the jar scares her in the cupboard, the stuff really smells! But she tricked me into eating Bambi’s dad! I hate to admit it but it was yum. Don’t tell. Wonder how you trick someone into eating Vegemite. I have also had a little insight to the French world with Mike. Mike and I can’t hold a telephone conversation because between my Aussie accent and his French one, neither of us can understand what the other is saying! Oh, I can’t forget to mention Oliver... He is a cat that thinks he is a dog. He yells at me too. I find it scary that I have conversations with him and I think I get good answers. I must admit that I don’t like it early in the morning when he is bored and I am sleeping and I am woken by a paw to the head!

I am waiting for work still because of the recession but hoping that falls into place in the next couple of days. I don’t have swine flu, nor does anyone I know. I just ate an imported Chocolate Teddy Bear biscuit and want all Australians to not take their chocolate for granted. Everything in this country is peanut butter flavoured!! No Violet Crumbles. Oh, and McDonalds isn’t the same either, but they have strawberry pies that are to die for. The rest is crap though. Beatrice Chocolate Milk is the best chocolate milk ever invented.

The snow is all gone, today was warmer here than it was in Victoria. I still can’t believe that I wear Ugg Boots out in public or the fact that I came all the way to Canada to buy Australian shoes... I love shoes. I do miss home but there are things here that I will never see in a life time in Oz... I have seen a gopher, unfortunately so did the dog I was walking. I have had the honour, or nightmare, of smelling skunk! That is one smell that need not violate your nostrils. I drive on the wrong side of the road and can even reverse park, I still occasionally get into the passenger seat by accident though. I have seen a snow covered red barn and know what it is like to walk outside and somehow manage to walk in snow knee deep, only falling over once or twice and I can finally say that I am an alien....

I hope everyone is well and that I haven’t bored you with my email, but then if you got this far it can’t be that bad. I promise to write soon so they aren’t as long and hopefully have more shenanigans to write about... About the photos, if you know me well enough, you know I hate them.

From Canada with love,
Kim