This past month has been a challenge to say the least. I'm far away from almost everything and everyone I've ever known, in a new and strange city (that I keep getting lost in because the streets are all on weird angles!). My kids seem to have adjusted well though, so that's a blessing. They still miss 1 friend of ours that was at our house in Toronto almost everyday. Poor Pumpkin asks for her at least once a day. Thanks goodness for Slype and Google Chat!
There are limited job prospects here and a lot of people are on "poggy" AKA welfare or EI. In addition to that there are other "strange" (at least to me) things here. First, my high school population would make up about 10% of the population of where I live. Everyone knows everyone or knows someone who knows you. That is strange coming from living in an apartment building where I never even met my neighbour after living there for 2 years.
Second, there are NO traffic lights in town...there are just cross walks - most of them with no flashing lights. Does that mean that I J-Walk and pray traffic will stop? Strangely enough, most of the cars just stop to let you cross - even if you aren't at a designated crossing point! no way that would happen in Toronto.
Third. The accent. To me, everyone here has an accent. To everyone else, I am the one that talks differently. Go on Youtube and look up Cape Breton Accent - you'll get a good laugh. I have to practice my Torontonian. lol.
Fourth - Im so used to the TTC that it's very strange that there are 2 buses that run into town. There is one that runs you to the nearest major city (the third largest in NS - which is about a 30 minute drive from me) and the other takes you north and then west and back down into the city. The price to ride the bus is higher than in Toronto and they are apparently unreliable in regards to their scheduled stops.
the price of food is generally higher. Meat is almost double the price. Dairy is $1 - $2 more. Produce is pretty on par as are other general grocery items. This presents an interesting challenge when budgeting and making meal plans - gotta stretch that dollar. So recently I started looking at coupons. We can't coupon like they do in the US, but I do what I can. I base my meals around what's on sale in the weekly flyer, cut coupons when I can and buy a generic brand when I can http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifas supposed to a name brand.
The last strange-to-me thing is that there is no JK here and French Immersion starts in Grade 7.
I started a home day care which is doing OK - I could do with 1 more full time child and that would be good...hopefully another one will come. I have 2 part time children and 1 full time child. I have a 3 month old, and 18 month old a 2.5 year old and two 4 year olds. This also provides me with an opportunity to do a bit of homeschooling with Pumpkin on account of their being no JK. (and the other 4 year old too - might as well!) My friend who is one of the most amazing women I have ever met, recently posted some amazing tips in her blog about homeschooling.
http://careyjaneclark.com/encouragement/ (can't get hyper-link tool to work...you'll have to copy-paste)
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