The joys of home

So here I am, sitting on a real squishy couch (as opposed to my wicker and foam furniture in Jb), enjoying the fire in the fireplace, the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree, the hum of the furnace (though my nose and toes are still a bit on the chilly side) and having a full belly from a very nice dinner with friends (beautifully soft grilled meat kabobs, baby tomato salad with mint leaves and rice). And I realized that I haven't blogged in a few days. I warned you that I might disappear... anyways, there's not too much going on that's very exciting. I have, however, been a bit surprised again by a few things back here in my home and native land.

• I had a problem recieving text messages on the cell phone that my mom uses while I'm away (and I use when I come home!), so I called the customer service line. I was chatting away with the guy on the other end who was walking me through reprogramming and updating the phone... turns out he was sitting in the Philippines. He seemed truly surprised that I knew where Manila was, and even more surprised that I've actually been there. What a strange world - imagine this guy in the Philippines sits and chats with people in Canada the whole day, making small talk about the weather and trying to trouble-shoot phones with Canadians all day ... and yet he's probably never set foot in Canada. It's a wierd world.
• My fingers can't take the cold - each time I come in from being outside (even though I've been wearing my mittens!), my fingers get all swollen. It's wierd. In fact, I can't type as fast as normal tonight because I've just come from my friends' place, and my fingers are still swollen from the drive home.
• There's a lot of stuff for sale here. So much choice. And really, how much do you really need? You can spend a lot of money. And people do. I've been in a lot of malls and shops in the last few days. And there's a lot of money being spent. But wow, there are some really nice things in the shops. I've just been enjoying looking at all the sparkly things in the stores.
  
• Everything is so clean! Squeaky clean. There's no dust. There's no pestilence. It's just clean. I almost wonder why people take showers here. I probably wouldn't take a shower every day here... except for the fact that it's so wonderfully warm! What a treat to get all sudsy and smelling all clean and fresh and to do it all in amazingly hot water. Wow. The only time of the day that my whole body feels truly warm! So don't worry, I'm not in danger of stopping my showering, but I certainly don't feel like I'm dirty when I step into the shower, like I do in Jb!
• The internet is really fast. I can watch YouTube videos without pausing and waiting for for the little catch up thing. Really amazing. It's practically instant!
  
• You can watch "Friends", "Seinfeld" or "Frasier" at pretty much any hour of the day or night on TV.

I think I'm getting used to life back here at home, though I already miss Jb a bit more than I thought I might... but Christmas is coming and I'll be seeing my nephews the day after tomorrow, so it's all good :)