So, I’m standing at the fridge on my first morning in Canada thinking “Huh, the ‘lait’ is ‘sans gras’, good to know…” Yeah, things are slightly ‘different’ here, and, as we learned in cultural class during training last week, this does not necessarily mean things are ‘wrong’. I added the ‘lait’ to my cereal, and for the record, it’s the same as milk. Canada has two official languages so everything is written twice by law on products, once in English and once in French. Okay, so it’s not the culture shock my fellow interns are getting in, say, India, but it’s still making me miss home quite a bit.
Celeste and Cam are my new host parents here. They have been so sweet to give me and my fellow intern, Leana, run of the top floor with two bedrooms, a bath and a living room. Cam runs his own Architecture firm out of the bottom floor and Celeste runs a children’s hair saloon that’s about to go global, it’s called ‘Beaners’. You know the little hat with the pinwheel on it… No? Huh, I think we have another cultural difference here… No, worries they’ve already lined up another name for the States.
Work is going well. Leana and I have been lucky enough to have had Steve (the boss man at EMI) come get us every morning last week. Next week starts the one hour, two bus ride trip into work in the snow. I’m excited. So far work has just been research on Ethiopia and getting little things done. But really it’s just nice to know that all the little things we are doing at work is contributing to greater global cause of helping EMI fight poverty and harsh treatment though out the globe.
Oh my goodness the snow! It’s been snowing lightly all day turning the whole scene outside the window white and soft. The tree branches are trying their best to hold up as much snow as they can creating a little narrow pile all down them. Being a California girl, all this makes me happy, and want to curl up with a good book. Which is what I think I will go do now.
Love and Hugs,
Cindy
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