::alio!::

Reflections on Five Months

Every once in a while, it hits me - I mean, really hits me - that I live on a rock in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by short people descended from alcoholic Irishmen.

I'll be in the copy room at the office and hear a burst of something I can only assume is English, and it will hit me.

I'll be struggling through 100km/h winds pushing rain into crevices I didn't even know I had, and it will hit me.

I'll be drunk in a crowd of happy drunk people and feel like I suddenly belong, and it will hit me.

A perfect stranger will address me as "me dearest darling girl," tell me all her troubles, and send me on my way with a laugh, and it will hit me.

You get the picture.

I'm going home to Ottawa next Thursday (only six short days from now) and I know I'll be asked again and again, "So, what's it like living in Newfoundland?" So I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to say about this particular period of my life.

In the past five months, I have:

Consumed more alcohol than I have in the past year.
Eaten cod tongues, scrunchions, bakeapples, and seal flipper pie. Not really keen on any of them.
Been Screeched-In (drank Screech and kissed a Puffin's ass).
Joined an online product survey panel.
Had a crisis of faith with my future career prospects.
Had my faith reaffirmed.
Missed my dogs, my friends, my family, but have not felt homesick.
Learned that umbrellas are my enemy and my coat has a hood for a reason.
Been blown backwards by wind while standing at a crosswalk.
Seen two people on two separate occasions get kicked out of bars in front of me - on a weekday afternoon.
Met someone who works in offshore drilling.
Visited Michael Ryder's birthplace.
Gone grocery shopping every day of the week.
Discovered the joys of dark chocolate, and gin.
Re-evaluated how I feel about native Torontonians.
Nearly been struck by a car more times than I can count.
Been unimpressed by the actuality of Rawlings Cross (the intersection, not the band named after the intersection).
Suffered from sunlight deprivation.
Made curtains, with no prior experience or pattern, and without measuring.
Realized it's useless to brush my hair in the mornings if it's going to be that windy.
Learned that in this humidity, my hair is curlier than I ever imagined.
Learned how to straighten my hair.
Discovered that going back to school sucks.
Figured out what a lot of Great Big Sea songs really mean.
Eaten lots and lots of jam.
Seen lots and lots of movies.
Magically passed myself off as a librarian and did an incredibly good job of it. Everyone is still convinced.
Seen short ponies and even shorter cows eating off trees that are shorter still.
Stood on the most Eastern geographical point in North America.
Watched whales play in the breakers.
Met a bunch of new people. Liked most of them.
Witnessed 500 motorcyclists with teddy-bear passengers parade up my street.
Become accustomed to a peculiar dialect that's not quite English.
Decided to ask everyone I meet, "Hey Buddy, whaddya at? Why doncha come where we're to?"

In the past five months, I have come to call St. John's home.

Posted by Ally at December 12, 2008 12:14 PM