When I was growing up we live in the States. We immigrated to Nashville Tennesee of all places. My Father decided that we could have a better life in the U.S. so he boarded a plane from England to Nashville never having been there before. After 12 months he sent for my mother. I was 15 months old when I 'met' my Dad again. I don't think I liked him much at first. After all I didn't really know him.
My parents loved Tennesee. The weather was beautiful, they had a nice house in a nice neighborhood, they had nice friends. But something was lacking. The packed up their belongings in search of what was missing. I was 5 at the time. We moved this time to Charlotte NC. I loved it there. I had many friends and enjoyed swimming daily in the Summer. But my parents still hadn't found what they were searching for.
It's a huge adjustment to come to North America from Europe. The lifestyle is vastly different. My parents had finally figured out what was missing. Although they loved living in the States and all it afforded, it was just too different from England. They couldn't adjust. That was when the packed us up once again and we moved to Canada. I was 10.
What's so special about Canada? Toronto specifically? There are a great many British Immigrants here. My parents found that they felt a little more at home here. They had other friends who had also immigrated from England and we stayed with them for the first few weeks we were here. Thats where the Title to my blog comes in. You were wondering when I was going to get to that weren't you?
Having been schooled in the Southern states, we weren't taught very much about Canada. (Actually nothing) I don't know if things are different now or if it was just that I was in primary school and they didn't concentrate on world geography until later years. Whatever the reason, I didn't have much knowledge of Canada.
We arrived in February. If you live in Canada you know that February is the worst possible month you could move here from the South. There was snow everywhere. Just as I expected it to be. You see I didn't know that it got warm in Canada. I was one of 'those' people who don't know that Canada has a Summer. Well at least I had an excuse, after all I was a child.
One of the first people I met was a friend of the girl we were staying with. Her name was Sandi, and she was Japanese. I had never met a Japanese person before. Well as it happens, Sandi was wearing a fur parka. Can u see where I'm going with this???? I asked her if she was an Eskimo!!!!!!!!! After all it was snowing and I was in Canada. Boy did they laugh about that one.
If you are one of those people who think Canada always looks like this......
A COUNTRY ROAD IN UXBRIDGE
A DRIVE IN THE COUNTRY AFTER A SNOWFALL UXBRIDGE
BEAUTIFUL UXBRIDGE EVERGREENS AFTER THE SNOWFALL
Think again. In the summer of 2006 in Ontario we had a record temperature of 117 degrees in July.
This is what Summer really looks like in Canada.
UXBRIDGE SUNSET
MY NEIGHBORHOOD POND (UXBRIDGE)
Jo
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