A While Longer

It’s been awhile since I have done this, so forgive me if I’m a little rusty but I will try to get back into things and keep the posts coming. It’s been almost 6 months living in Edinburgh. Christmas, New Year’s, Valentine’s and Easter have come and gone. And it’s been cold, windy, rainy, snowy and warm. I have seen one concert-Placebo, when they came to town. I made 16 year old me very happy by going and seeing a band that I loved then and still do. I have seen live theatre, a ballet version of A Streetcar Named Desire. An American classic play performed on the Scottish stage and interpreted in dance. My mother came out to visit, and together with my sister went to Oxford- a second time for me and London –for me a sixth. I showed my Mom around Edinburgh, the city I am coming more and more to call home. I pointed places out to her that I call regular hangouts or streets I walk down all the time. It was so much better to show her the pubs in person, the places where Dian and I like to go for a drink, than trying to explain the interior and the people that are part of the crowd. She was able to see the stores where we buy boring things like food and cleaning supplies. Took her to the museums where we can go look at art and delve into history. She was able to see the life that we are living and we give her credit for encouraging us to go on this trip.

We got jobs in town and have started earning money in pounds instead of dollars. The conversion rates could stop for now in our heads and we have started to just see a price. We now know which way to look when crossing the street and that it doesn’t matter what time it is, you can always go out for a drink. My job has been great, it means that I don’t have to leave here any time soon. It means that I can live in Edinburgh longer and that I can travel Europe more, because if I have a constant thought it’s that I am I am not ready to leave, I am not ready to go home.

I had a friend from Canada come out to see me, and while she was taking it all in I felt like it was all second nature.  When she would get lost looking for a café, or when she would look at me wide eyed at the idea of going to a second pub on the same night I’d get momentarily confused as this is so everyday normal for me now. I got to show her around much like I did with my Mom and show her the life I was living was different from the one back at home. She came to realize how this has been the best decision I have ever made. How I am starting to understand the culture here more and how over here being Canadian is a novelty. We are the ones with the accents and funny sayings. Canada is the different country, territory unexplored. We are the ‘Canadians’ to our friends here. So when my friend left I realized that she was not just leaving me for a short time, but leaving for a different continent and leaving Europe to go back to Canada. While I stay here and think that when I next see her it will be when my time here is up and I have to go back home.  That idea of having to go back has not fully festered yet. That Victoria will be my home once again. This whole trip has just agreed with me so well ;it all feels like it’s meant. I miss Canada, and I miss many things about Canada and most especially some people in Canada, but I can go a while longer.