Things I Used To Take For Granted

1.  Water that comes out of the tap when you turn the tap on.  It seems to be happening with more frequency that the water will be turned off somewhere in our neighbourhood and we can't get water from our tap or run the washing machine.  There is no warning.  Then just as mysteriously we have water again.  It happened again today after church when we were preparing lunch and had a pile of dishes to wash.

2.  A dishwasher - the machine kind.  I don't think I will ever complain again about loading or unloading a dishwasher after living now for 2+ years without one.

3.  Cereal.  Every time I go grocery shopping and go down the cereal aisle I have my hopes up that there will be more varieties of cereal this time besides Corn Flakes and Muesli and the various kinds of sugar cereals that we would only eat when we went camping as a special treat.  My hopes are dashed every time so I continue to make my own homemade granola.

4.  Seeing English words.  We see English words but our brain has to sort them out from amidst the Bahasa Malay words.  I guess that is what the French have to do in some parts of Quebec - sort out their own Francophone words from among the bombardment of English words.

5.  Internet.  It is getting better here but especially at school you can't always count on it.  I learned quickly in my first year teaching here to have a Plan B in case the Internet was down and I had planned a lesson around something that required online access.  Frustration just slowed me down from getting on with the job.

6.  Toilet paper in public bathrooms.  I always carry tissues in my purse.

7.  A public library.  The school has a decent library - actually two:  an elementary one and a middle / high school one, but oh, the joy it was to go to one of several very large libraries in Abbotsford and take out however many books or CD's or books-on-tape you could want.  On the converse though, I trust the libraries here more as part of a Christian school without having to such closely monitor what my daughters are reading.

8.  Twist-ties.  Can't get them here.

9.  Yellow Pages.  Need a service or product?  Generally have to find out through asking people.

10.  Hugs from those we love in Canada.