first impressions

I drove here to my new home for the next 2 month on a raining evening outside Halifax the other day. The thunderstorm was so bad that I had to stop my car on the side of the road 3 times because it was too dangerous to drive. I could only see the 2 blurry tail lights of the car 5m in front of me. Really scary. I must have saw close to a hundred cars parked along the highway hoping to wait out the rain...crazy! But thank God I arrived safely.

My first impression of Ch'town is that EVERYONE here is separated by 2 degrees of separation, and people are VERY nice, but TOO chatty. I don't think there could ever be a secret in this town; my landlady pointed out all the people she knew while flipping through the local paper, and pointed out who lived in what house as we drove around town. She chatted with the waitress and the Cow's ice cream man about her stolen VISA card, and insisted on pointed out who owned which boat at the docks. This afternoon, I was trapped in the hallway with chatty docs and nurses for nearly an hour. It's A FRIDAY AFTERNOON! DON'T YOU WANT TO GO HOME!!! I'd rather go take a nap than hear what you did to your driveway, and how you knew someone on the city counsel, or how the shoe salesman's brother died and he's now on antidepressants. I've never chatted so much with the cafeteria cashiers. All the patients are soo easy going and so grateful to see a specialist, and no one's said I look too young. Yay!

I don't think people here even know the Olympics started today, instead they're excited about the "old home week" where there's a travelling carvinal (that's right, just like in them movies of small towns), and horse races, and all just 2 blocks from my place, so that I can hear the racetrack announcers into the night.

I think I wil lie down now and watch the opening ceremony highlights. Praying for an uneventful games.