The First Few Days

When we arrived it seemed the water had been turned off.  Our next door neighbour sprang to the rescue with a bucket of water to flush the toilet, a case of bottled water to drink and a lift into town to show us where we could get food.  Later he remembered where the stop cock might be located and came back round to turn it on for us!  On day two we figured we should mow the lawn as it was over a foot high.  Our neighbour the other side came along to welcome us and offered to lend us some shears and a rake.  Shortly after that another person appeared with a "whippersnipper' or strimmer to you and me.  He promptly took over the cutting of the long stuff which just left us to trim up and rake up.

In town people were so friendly inviting us over for a drink, offering to fetch things from Marathon for us next time they went in.  We had a visit from the local Bye Law Enforcement Officer, Cherie,  who welcomed us, offered advice on how to keep the bears out of the yard and told me there was a job at the Township if I was interested!

Despite all that however, nothing we'd read or been told prepared us for the waves of panic, isolation and homesickness that ensued over the first few days.  I have to confess that despite all our best efforts to take things in our stride there have been times when out of the blue one or the other of us has suddenly just burst into tears because we miss everyone.  Even to the point that,on some occasions, we have wanted to just turn around and go back to the safety of everything and everyone we know and trust.  And yet everything is just as we expected and wanted.  We both know that to turn tail and run would be as bad as not coming at all,  for later in life we would still wonder whether we could have made it and what it would have been like.  These feelings, I hope, are something common to most immigrants and something that will lessen as we settle in.  In the meantime I guess I just need to keep the tissues handy and get on the phone or Skype!