Stuff

We have been without North American television for 7 months. Some days I miss it and most I don’t. We bought a Slingbox before we came here so we could watch Canadian tv but its often choppy and sometimes fuzzy.
Last night Keith had it on and for the first time in many, many moons I heard English advertisements. There were commercials for Tim Hortons, Lipton and Canadian Tire. I, at first thought wow, I miss those. Then the wheels started turning and I started really thinking about them.
Turns out I really don’t miss the latest burger at the fast food restaurant or the special price on a new car. All of those adds made me in some weird way feel like I needed more, and I was missing something.
I had an interesting conversation with a fellow expat the other day about how life here is so much more simple. No one cares about what car you drive or what kind of purse you have. Most expats are here with some of their stuff and the rest is in storage some where. Your house is your house for now and you are not painting or renovating. Everyone lives in a microcosm of everyone having pretty much the same.
In Canada we went from a sedan to a wagon to an SUV because we needed more room! While here most people drive small cars regardless of the size of there family. The expats tend to be the ones with SUVs. Is it because it is better? Or is it just what we have been told over and over again that is what we need? I am not sure. But it does beg you to think about it.
It is refreshing to wake up in the morning and need nothing from the store or to not think, oh I should go try that!
There are not a hundred activities for your children to be involved in but guess what? Children here play outside, without their parents…like we used to. They play games, they invent games and they ride their bikes. I always know when school is out because I hear children playing in the neighbourhood.
Weekends here are not about shopping or yard work. It’s about relaxing and resting from your week at work. It’s about catching up with friends and having a nap.
So, yes there are many days when I am upset I can’t buy this or that. But there is something to be said for being able to be happy with what you have and not be thinking about what you want or what you want next.