Re-entry

So we've been back in Canada for a week now. Almost time to get used to the place again. And the culture shock isn't too great yet. Of course, we've been pretty sheltered by our loving family so far; just wait until we try to make it on our own.

We left Istanbul early in the morning of the 8th, flying Lufthansa to Munich and then London, and Air Canada to Ottawa. Lufthansa disappointed me for the first time. We arrived ready to check in two hours in advance, as instructed, but there were agents only for first and business class. The rest of us waited 45 minutes or so. They gave us a decrepit rattletrap of a plane that made it somehow to Munich. The flight to London wasn't bad, except for the dry roll and lonely piece of cheese that passed for lunch on that flight. Heathrow insisted on putting us all through a security check again - less thorough than the one at Munich that I think even picked up the metal in my fillings. Took close to an hour to get through that one, which made me glad Ron had timed our flights so perfectly. Air Canada was a blessed relief : good plane, good food, attentive attendants. So we made it to Ottawa in time for Evan to pick us up on his way home from work.

The first thing I noticed was how handsome and fit our kid looked in his suit and tie. You really can dress him up and take him places. And then I noticed how pleasant the air in Ottawa smells, and how green everything was, and how smooth and clean the roads were, and how everyone stopped for red lights. Only in Canada, you say. How nice to be home.

We loved staying with Evan and Anna in their comfy home. But Monday we headed south to Toronto, picked up a car, met our friends Bob & Eunice on their way to Toronto and our way to London, and had dinner in London with our friend Royce. Back to Toronto the next day to check in with my friend Patricia and her gorgeous new four-year-old son who was born in Haiti - what a healthy child in every way! Lunch the next day with Don, then off to Calgary.

So now we're in Ron's brother Earl's house in northwest Calgary, far too full from much delicous food and warmed by the company of more family. It's cold and rainy outside (and I left most of my cool-weather clothes back in Izmir), but we don't mind being here at all.

At the moment we're still enjoying cool, clean, affluent Canada a great deal. I don't know when the longing for chaos will set in; I assume we're going to get homesick sometime soon. For now all I miss is Turkish toilets and yogurt. And my friends back in Izmir, of course. I'll let you know if that changes.