Six months
Sep. 19th, 2010 04:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avreliaWhat was I planning to write about? Do you know? I don't.
It's been six months since we moved out of Canada and into New York, and only six months left to explore Manhattan, since we will be looking for a cheaper place that still makes Manhattan accessible. But I also know we won't be walking to the Metropolitan Museum that much.
Canada seems further and further away with every day. Even though it stays and we are not moving. I miss it, but I hardly ever make an effort to look up the Canadian news. There might be elections there, and I wouldn't know. Well, I checked just now, in case you are wondering.
Weirdly enough, I miss shopping there. I know, it's wrong: living on Manhattan and dreaming about Loblaws, when there are so many cool shiny things there, that are not available in Canada. But I miss things that are familiar and loved, you know? For D's birthday I ran around looking for a cake. One might think it shouldn't be a problem when there is a bakery on every second corner, right? Wrong. Most of the cakes are cupcakes, or covered in thick frosting (it is supposed to be tasty, I know, but it looks like sugar with chemicals – yack) or chocolate... I found more or less what I was looking for, but I knew that Loblaws has exactly the cakes we like. And then there is the Future Bakery...
and I miss Joe's Fresh Style for kids' clothes, La Vie en Rose as my underpants' source, Winners, Dollarama, BMV, HMV stores and others that I haven't yet figured out as Canadian. We are so used for the having mostly the same stuff across the border (shopping wise) that we are lost when bumped into the difference. There are a lot of Canadian-only stores and brands! And they are awesome!
Funnily, I can easily find Russian stores in New york, but the stores that sell all things Canadian? Hardly. Maybe I should look for them, of course. :)
I miss the healthcare, especially when I hear a horror story from USA or (different type of horror) from Russia. I mean, we all know it is not perfect, but it is safe. You won't be left without help, not after you lived in Canada for three months, anyway.
I miss small things. Things I was used to, or things I did there. These days I keep replaying in my head our walks in the park, and travels to the various D's activities. The travels very mostly bothersome (two buses and long walks), but now I remember the pretty autumn, the light, the air, the leaves, the fox crossing Dundas Street. I don't remember the boredom, but I remember picking up raspberries in the park five minutes from home, duck watching, our friends that we won't see much now. I don't know what I want. It was hard in Mississauga, socially, but over the time the connections started to grow. And now,anyway, I have to do all that work again, and it is just as hard in Manhattan as in Mississauga. Besides, knowing that we will move again soon isn't helping. Everything feels so transient...
Now, to the good things. Maybe I don't connect to people that much or that fast, and maybe it is all my own fault, but I am trying to get as much of Manhattan as I can. It doesn't necessarily involve visiting all the museums (though I should go more often, but I have to consider how D will behave there), but lots of walking in different parts and neighborhoods, lots of people watching, and general staring around.
One of the best experiences was to stand on our patio deck in the dark, after the gym, and watch the sky above New York (blurry, full of planes with hardly a dozen of starts visible) and the city beneath me (it's on the 33rd floor).
I traverse Central Park every week. I don't get lost in the subway anymore. I've been to many places. I now recognize places in the movies – though it doesn't add to a movie one way or another.
There are also too many places I haven't been to yet – and I have six months to see them all. Wish me luck. :)
It's been six months since we moved out of Canada and into New York, and only six months left to explore Manhattan, since we will be looking for a cheaper place that still makes Manhattan accessible. But I also know we won't be walking to the Metropolitan Museum that much.
Canada seems further and further away with every day. Even though it stays and we are not moving. I miss it, but I hardly ever make an effort to look up the Canadian news. There might be elections there, and I wouldn't know. Well, I checked just now, in case you are wondering.
Weirdly enough, I miss shopping there. I know, it's wrong: living on Manhattan and dreaming about Loblaws, when there are so many cool shiny things there, that are not available in Canada. But I miss things that are familiar and loved, you know? For D's birthday I ran around looking for a cake. One might think it shouldn't be a problem when there is a bakery on every second corner, right? Wrong. Most of the cakes are cupcakes, or covered in thick frosting (it is supposed to be tasty, I know, but it looks like sugar with chemicals – yack) or chocolate... I found more or less what I was looking for, but I knew that Loblaws has exactly the cakes we like. And then there is the Future Bakery...
and I miss Joe's Fresh Style for kids' clothes, La Vie en Rose as my underpants' source, Winners, Dollarama, BMV, HMV stores and others that I haven't yet figured out as Canadian. We are so used for the having mostly the same stuff across the border (shopping wise) that we are lost when bumped into the difference. There are a lot of Canadian-only stores and brands! And they are awesome!
Funnily, I can easily find Russian stores in New york, but the stores that sell all things Canadian? Hardly. Maybe I should look for them, of course. :)
I miss the healthcare, especially when I hear a horror story from USA or (different type of horror) from Russia. I mean, we all know it is not perfect, but it is safe. You won't be left without help, not after you lived in Canada for three months, anyway.
I miss small things. Things I was used to, or things I did there. These days I keep replaying in my head our walks in the park, and travels to the various D's activities. The travels very mostly bothersome (two buses and long walks), but now I remember the pretty autumn, the light, the air, the leaves, the fox crossing Dundas Street. I don't remember the boredom, but I remember picking up raspberries in the park five minutes from home, duck watching, our friends that we won't see much now. I don't know what I want. It was hard in Mississauga, socially, but over the time the connections started to grow. And now,anyway, I have to do all that work again, and it is just as hard in Manhattan as in Mississauga. Besides, knowing that we will move again soon isn't helping. Everything feels so transient...
Now, to the good things. Maybe I don't connect to people that much or that fast, and maybe it is all my own fault, but I am trying to get as much of Manhattan as I can. It doesn't necessarily involve visiting all the museums (though I should go more often, but I have to consider how D will behave there), but lots of walking in different parts and neighborhoods, lots of people watching, and general staring around.
One of the best experiences was to stand on our patio deck in the dark, after the gym, and watch the sky above New York (blurry, full of planes with hardly a dozen of starts visible) and the city beneath me (it's on the 33rd floor).
I traverse Central Park every week. I don't get lost in the subway anymore. I've been to many places. I now recognize places in the movies – though it doesn't add to a movie one way or another.
There are also too many places I haven't been to yet – and I have six months to see them all. Wish me luck. :)
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no subject
Date: 2010-09-19 11:01 pm (UTC)It makes me a little proud that you miss things Canadian. That's very unfeeling of me, I know.
I hope you find more and more things to love there.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-20 12:51 am (UTC)Ha, me too!
no subject
Date: 2010-09-20 07:18 pm (UTC)it took me a long time to become Canadian, in addition to Russian, and I don't mean legally here, and I am loath to give it up.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-19 11:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-20 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-20 12:54 am (UTC)It's the little things.
Anyway, though, it does sound like you're managing to get lots out of your year in Manhattan. Maybe the next place you go will be the place you settle down, build long-term friendships, watch D grow up ... but you'll always have these years to look back on and tell him stories about, when he's older.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-20 07:10 pm (UTC)same with everything, but there is also that I really liked some stuff I could buy in Canada and cannot buy here.
We do want to settle down somewhere! So I hope it will be exactly as you say :)