Missing

People have been asking me what I miss. Living here has meant that I have had to adjust. Food tastes different here. There is more seafood than I am comfortable with. My hot water tank and stove run off a tank of butane that I must refill. And, lighting the pilot light for the hat water is not easy. It is also difficult when you don’t speak the same language as the people around you. It can make a task like getting a cell phone fixed a real challenge. It took me three weeks of going from store to store until I found a place that both sold my phone and had someone working there who was willing to use their little bit of English, my little bit or Portuguese and sign language to help me fix the problem. Mostly it is family and friends that I miss. But, there are some comforting things I miss…

I miss Hawkins Cheezies. Little crunchy bits of heaven. The junk food here runs mainly to sweets, and I am a savoury girl.

I miss good loose tea. Luckily I brought with me a few bags of Creamy Earl Grey tea with me, but I am running out.

I miss bags for picking up dog poo. I haven’t been here long enough to just leave it where it falls, like the locals do. I went out and bought some cheap sandwich bags that I use, but see through poo bags are a little gross.

Kootenay misses a few things as well.

She misses her Kong, which I forgot at home. Now if I leave the house without her she gets a treat, but it doesn’t last long.

She misses the little orange balls that are usually used by road hockey players. But for her, they are things to run after that don’t fall apart halfway through a good came of fetch. Tennis balls are too easy to crush.