Our house is a very very very fine house...

What makes our new home a distinctly North American 80s home?

The electric can opener attached to the wall, and the coffee percolater permanently in place on the bench.

The cassette deck and radio/clock unit attached to the cupboard.

The hanging basket of fake flowers.

The lamps in the loungeroom connected to the light switch on the wall.

The lack of fences around the front or back yards.

Totally dry air! Cos of heating and very dry (albeit) cold weather outside.

And some food differences. Here:
- people drink cream in coffee
- they eat hamburger soup (hamburger as in mince meat)
- no one's heard of waldorf salad
- filo pastry is written as phyllo pastry (I find this hilarious, for some reason! Which one is correct??)
- you can buy a slice of pizza and a coffee and eat/drink them while walking round the supermarket!
- and of course, the cheddar cheese is orange! How could I forget??

Hey, and check this out: Weetabix! With an Italian accent please! They even have rounded corners!

Funny how it's in the minutiae of daily life that I am constantly reminded that I'm in a different place.

While we were doing a big shop in 'The Great Canadian Superstore' (yes, honestly, that's what it's called!), I picked up a package of halva, the Middle Eastern sweet made with sesame seeds. A man came up to me and asked me if I knew what it was, cos he'd looked at it a few times but had never seen anyone else looking at it. I was able to explain what it was, and how you might eat a thin slice of it with a coffee for dessert, and after a very pleasant conversation, he put the halva in his trolley and said goodbye. I felt really good to be able to facilitate him trying this new food.

Other than that, I whpped the hell out of my arms playing boxing with Pat and Gord on Garth & Wendy's Nintendo Wii. I can hardly hold Jasper now! I'd never played before. Garth and Wendy are people we were in a small group with last time we were out here. They have three kids, Chelsea, Aimee and Zachary who is one week younger than Jasper. Anyway, Aimee, who's four, I think, said something to Garth, and he thought she was saying, "We play tenderly", but what she was actually asking was, "We play Tendo Wii?" Cracks me up!

As you can see, I'm trying to get used to being here, even though every difference reminds me of Australia. It's been pretty busy seeing people. We've been home one night out of four, and it will be two out of seven at the end of this week! Haven't had time to journal yet, I'll feel better when I do that, I reckon.

Today we went and bought a real Christmas tree from a local farm. Went on a sleigh ride, but because I don't have the right shoes, I absolutely froze my feet off!! it wasn't even that long of a ride! Must get to Value Village soon! Or the Self-Help! Bought a whack of decorations at the self-help yesterday - a mixture of cool and crap. Picked up a bunch of other things too - I'm gonna mine that store for vintage gold! Later on today we went swimming with Jeff & Sharon & co. at the local pool, which apparently is the best in Manitoba (and you pay for it too - $6 for an adult to swim). The activitiy was a cover for the main event of the evening: Sharon's Surprise 30th Birthday.

Anyway, must get to bed! Jetlag is still taking its toll - I was up til 5am yesterday. Here's some photos:
Arriving at the airport: Amanda (cousin), John (dad), Anne (mum), Matthew (cousin), Darlene (cousin), Jasper, Sharon (sister), me, Gord and Sheila (cousin) with Piper

Jas all rugged up!

Our house: 14 Poplar Cresent, Steinbach (but don't send mail to this address - there's no letterboxes, everyone has a post office box).


The view from the back door.

Love you all!