First Impressions

I have been meaning to write this post ever since we landed, anyways, better late than never.

Ø  Home sickness has not hit me. Not yet.

Ø  The weather now is pretty Bangalore-ish, while they say that it goes down till -40 in winters which I am dreading and yet waiting to experience as I have never seen snowfall. So I have a feeling that I might enjoy it. Let’s see how it goes.

Ø  We are staying with our friends K and Z these days who are a lovely couple and I got to know them more, I like them even more now. Angel has become so friendly with them which is a delight for me as she is shy by nature and needs time to open up in front of people and we definitely are spending a lot of time with them.

Ø  They live in a lovely neighbourhood and have  beautiful green apple and cherry trees in their backyard. I love to look at the houses here, their trees and gardens.  While we will be staying in apartment building, I think we are getting spoilt by living here

Ø  It reminds me that how much spoilt we are in India, by the maids. Yes, I now appreciate them much much more

Ø  We will be moving to our own place from the 1^st of next month

Ø  I am in love with the maple trees, they are so beautiful and they remind of one of my favourite SRK film Mohabattien every time I see them. I am hopeless I know :P I am wondering what will happen to me in autumn which is just round the corner (Anyone who remembers the movie will know what I am saying)

Ø  The people are way too helpful here. If I ask them something, they will make sure that I get it, which is very unlike India where we don’t give a second glance

Ø  It’s a very colourful country with very stylish people and I love it

Ø  There is no traffic and no honking which is such a relief, I used to wait for 20 minutes at hope farm signal back home

Ø  We also have to start studying for the driving licence exam. There is a written test and a driving test which apparently most of the Asians fail to clear in the first attempt and only then we can get a car. Phew. Some things are much simpler back home

Ø  The switches turn on in the opposite direction, the cars are driven on the other side, the steering wheel is also on the other side, there is still a lot to get used to

Ø  While looking for apartments, we came across some buildings which had problems like bed bugs and cockroaches. Yeah, shocking.

Ø  For a country like Canada, the day cares are very few and mostly full. One of them has a waiting period of one year and the schools start from 4 years, so Angel will be going to school from next September, till then, the search for a good day care is on. Once she is settled there, I can start looking for my job.

Ø  I love the public libraries here. We are yet to get a membership as it requires an address proof which we are yet to receive. Can’t wait.

Ø  Angel was very amused as we drink water directly from tap

And that is how our life has begun here, a long way to go!

Transition

I am quite busy these days as next week we are moving to Canada. So we are pretty much tied up in packing and shuffling and repacking and discarding the stuff.

Angel is excited too, but she was not very happy when we told her that not all her toys will be moving with us. I let her decide which toys she wants to take along and I must say she made her choices well. We made three stacks, one that we will be taking with us, two that will remain with the grand parents and the final one was to be given away to friends and charity. Initially, she also thought that her teachers, friends and school are moving along with us. She loves her school and I am planning to send her till the last day. Gradually she accepted this fact.

To prep her up I told her a lot of exciting things about the new place and or conversations led to snow, Christmas and Santa. The thing is, she does not like Santa Claus. Gasp. There I said it. Actually, last Christmas there was a man who had put on a pretty weird mask of Santa in a restaurant and since then she is suspicious of Santa. She confirmed a number of times that there will be no Santa Claus in the place where we are going. I hope this Christmas her fears are gone for good.

It broke my heart when I saw her giving a tight hug to one of her soft toys that we are leaving and saying good bye to it. Sometimes, I feel sorry for her. Children, they have to tag along wherever the parents take them without much say and we parents do what we feel is best for their future!

Love

Ever since Angel was young, we play this game. I sternly take her name and when she acknowledges, I say I love you and we have a hearty laugh after that. And she does the same, shouts and calls me from another room and when I go, she says I love you mamma!

It’s quite a westernized concept saying I love you aloud to your children and I love it. I don't remember my parents saying it aloud to us, it is like air. Just like the way we know that it exists, we know that they love us. But good words never hurt and it’s always pleasing to the ears.

So one day while doing the same, I asked her “why do you think I love you, baby?”  Her exact words were “kyunki main good behavior karti hu”. I was shocked as I never wanted to give that message to her. Maybe I said I love you to her only when she was behaving nicely. So we sat I explained to her that I love you because you are my child and no matter what happens, I love you. Even if you behave badly, nicely, naughtily, I always love you. I want her to understand that she can come to us no matter what the situation is. I want her to know that there is one place in the whole world where she will always be wanted and loved.

Now we have started saying “I love you, no matter what” to each other and at times we revise the meaning of this phrase. Gradually, we have got a hang of it. So a few days back when I was scolding her, she stopped me and asked, “Do you still love me, while you are scolding me?” When I replied in affirmative, there was a wide grin on her face and she said, “ok, continue scolding.” :P

Again after a few days, I asked her, why do I love you and she replied, “Because I am your baby.”

Mission accomplished!