Getting to Know Canada

We woke up at around six in the evening. As expected, the sun is still there. We visited a few people and what I’ve been seeing in this new terrain is surprising. Biggar is an entirely different place compared to Manila. Everything written down is based on first impressions and observations.

Weather and seasons. Touchdown at Vancouver International Airport was around seven in the evening; but looking outside the window, the sun was still up! To my Filipino senses, it is still midday. I was later told that the sun really sets late, around 10pm since it is summer. When I first set foot in our flat, it was around fourteen degrees Celsius—which was around four in the morning. During afternoons, temperature rises up to not more than twenty-eight degrees. I feel like I’m in Baguio before it was even overpopulated. The cold weather also makes me not eat, I’m not so sure why but that’s a good thing since I have observed my waistline has been expanding since the start of the despedida parties before I left.

People and community. I’ve met a few of the friendly locals in the area, like the Tuico family and our landlady Jones’ family. It was Mr. And Mrs. Tuico and their daughter, Hannah, who welcomed us in the airport; while Jones is the landlady of Papa’s current bedspace. Biggar is a really small community that almost everyone knows anyone living in it. You can even go around the area in a bicycle or even walking. The downside is that since it is a province, the nearest city to it, Saskatoon, is an hour away by car.

Food. We haven’t really eaten at any diner in our area. It is already closed before we could even get up—our body clocks are still badly adjusted to the Canadian time. We had frozen pizzas for our midnight dinner. We had no choice anyway. Surprisingly, it tastes way better than Pizza Hut that is so nasty because of the oiliness of the crust and the pizza itself.

Mosquitoes. I discovered that pests are the most problematic things for locals here. If you thought that mosquitoes in Manila are so damn nasty, you haven’t visited Canada yet. Mosquitoes here are twice, if not thrice, the size of their relatives in the Philippines. What is more annoying is that once they have bitten you, they won’t go away even if you’re shaking them off. I’m pretty sure they are hungry since they have finished their hibernation over the colder seasons of the year. Tomorrow, I won’t go out without wearing pants and long sleeves.