Forgive me for putting the Barenaked Ladies song "One Week" into your head for the rest of the day, but it's been... 5 months:
- since I've seen Crocs (until yesterday, at the airport, when an obvious tourist brought me to jarring halt with her red ones, prompting me to ponder about what else I haven't seen since leaving North America and haven't missed). I considered having her deported.
- since I've entered a Wal-mart, a Superstore, or a Home Depot. And I can't explain, even to myself, why that feels really good.
- since I've heard Nickleback (the enjoyment of this I can explain quite easily).
- since I've scraped ice off a windshield (actually it's been since last winter; but still).
- since the skin on my knuckles have cracked due to the dry Calgary air (also actually since last winter; but still, a nice perk).
- since I've seen a pickup truck, a Lincoln Navigator, or a Ford Excursion.
I won't get into the obvious downsides of missing nieces and nephews, old friends, family, nature, and water pressure - these go without saying.
But overall, from a quality of life perspective, how has it been in comparison between the continents? How to sum things up now that the lustre of a new home has dulled a little?
In Europe, it seems much easier to make a life; in parts of Canada, it's much easier to make a living. One seems to come at the expense of the other, at least for the moment.
