Pot lucks and Peggys Cove

So, we were settling in. Blow up bed gone and furniture in. I was very happy. This is what I had dreamed of. So many places to explore. New friends to make, new adventures to be had. The future looked exciting.

Within about 10 days we got invited to an expat curry night. Basically, part of the expat community arrange a monthly get together where everyone takes a dish and we all chat and eat. It was a great opportunity to meet lots of other people who were in the same boat as us. Like I said in previous posts, only an expat can understand what you go through.

Little did I know that this event in October 2010 would be where I would meet some of my closest friends here in Nova Scotia.
I think for me personally I found some comfort in hanging out with other brits as they understood the journey and in some ways I clung onto this as a comfort blanket so to speak. Time would show me that actually sometimes the only thing you have in common is that you are expats. And I don't mean that in any horrible way at all. There are many expats here who I am and will remain good friends with but also you can't just be friends with people because you were all born in the same country. It's like with anything, some people like surfing, some like football (or soccer to my canuck friends ). What I had to realise is that you cannot be friends with everybody just because you happen to have been born in the same place. If that was the case life would be pretty boring hey?

Anyway, I attended a few more pot lucks and more eating and drinking occured and I continued to develop friendships with people. Life was good :)

Christmas 2010 arrived and it was the first time I think I felt a real emptiness of missing family and friends. Christmas has always been about family to me so it was strange just the 3 of us. To be honest it was like any other day and felt pretty lonely. My dear friend in NS had also lost her dad in the Uk suddenly before christmas and it saddened me to see her griefstricken and really hammered home to me how important family are and how life is so short.

And sadly that sad feeling would rear it's ugly head many more times in the 12 months that were to follow.

We did our best to spend a lot of time exploring the beautiful province of Nova Scotia and in our time here we went to Martock (ski resort) to watch our friends and their children skiing. (some for the first time). It was great to see how the people here embrace the outdoor lifestyle and thats what brought me here in the first place.

We also visited Western Shore, Eastern Shore, Annapolis Valley and all bits in between. But one of our favourite spots has to be Peggys Cove. No, I had never heard of it either until I moved here and how can I explain it. Well, Peggy's cove is a small fishing community that houses a lighthouse. Now that in itself may not seem that exciting but it has been made famous as in 1998 when a Swissair flight 111 crashed into the ocean just by peggys cove and people go to visit the memorial there. I don't know what it is about Peggy's Cove but we refer to it as our happy place. Whenever we drive towards it we feel happy and relaxed somewhat. It has been a place for us to go when we have been feeling the expat blues.