Updates on life

So I'd kind of forgotten what life on the prairie was like. Or at least the weather. :) This week was a reminder. HOT!!! With fast moving p.m. storms. Yep, really reminds me of South Dakota weather patterns. Which after 9 years in MN, I'd forgotten. Although...hearing the weather person say it's going to be a hot day...29 degrees, just sounds odd. 29? Shouldn't I be wearing a parka and gloves? No? A swimsuit and wraparound skirt? Oh, yeah Celsius. ;) But I've come up with an easier way of figuring C to F conversion then 9/5C + 32. I round to the nearest 5, (IE that 29 degree day becomes 30) and figure out how many 5s are in that number. So for our example that would be 6. Multiply by 10, and add 30. (Yes, I know it's off a few degrees. But I can do that in my head quickly and know how to dress in the morning!) In the example...I get a 90 degree day by my method. The real method gives 84.2. So yes, I'm 6 degrees off, but at least I have an inkling of what the day will bring. And that day ended up being 32 degrees which was 89...so I was really close. I've discovered something odd about weather forecasting up here....it seems to be more....accurate? Or maybe it's more pessimistic. I've not seen a "partly sunny" day. But lots of partly cloudy ones. And temperatures seem to be guessed at lower than higher, so you maybe pleasantly surprised when it's warmer, but not disappointed when it's cooler.

The bad part to the warm weather of the week is the apartment isn't air conditioned. Not even a window unit. So it's been a bit...hot here.

Update on medical stuff....I had the ultrasound of my kidneys done on Thursday. Wow! Fast appointment. I got there, presented my card, sat down and opened a magazine....and was called. 10 minutes early. Taken back by the man who was doing the test and got started right away. Hmmm...he did the right kidney first, then the left and while doing the left he says "Are you in pain? Am I hurting you?" Ummm...no. Should it be? I hate comments like that. I know I have a freakishly high pain threshold. When I hurt (not just ache like the arthritis does or my cramps do--oh wait--most people consider that pain), I know I'm in serious trouble. As in..Excuse me, but someone needs to take me to a medical professional right now! But no more cryptic comments, the results will be in Dr. K's office midweek, but he doesn't have an appointment available until July 8th. So that's when I'll hear something...although I am assuming that if something is really wrong....he'll probably call earlier. I've been told he does that.

Some other odd things I've noticed about life here on the great Canadian prairie. People are super polite. Not just MN nice, but actually polite. Please, thank you, ma'am, sir, excuse me are still heard here. It's nice, but odd. I tend to use those anyway and stuck out a bit in the states, but here I just fit in.

There are fewer types of some products and more of others on the shelves at the stores. Example: Much fewer types of pop. No flavored Coke/Pepsi, only one type of Dr. Pepper, fewer choices overall. But wow the flavors of potato chips! Dill pickle, ketchup, sour cream and cheddar cheese, and all the ones typically found in Cub foods back in MN.

Still adjusting to all packaging being in both English and French! And remembering more of my French each day. Not that I use it, but seeing it, reading it, and hearing it on TV (there are entire channels that only broadcast in French here--and some shows are voice over from the English...which is kind of fun to watch. :)

Health care still feels weird to me. Here I am having tests, going to the Dr....with no co-pay and no charge. Although strangely I found out that if there were a charge it would be fairly low. While I was at a walk in clinic with a consumer, a foreign exchange student who had not applied for a health card came in and asked how much it would cost to see a doctor without a health card. And the answer is? $100? $75? How about $45? Yep...that's all folks. He then says...I think I may have strep...what about a test for that? The receptionist replies...if we do it in office, it's included in the $45. I almost fainted. I know that's about the charge for a nurse practitioner run, in drug store kind of clinic in MN. But to see a Dr? In a full clinic setting? I asked at Dr. K's office, just to see if the charge was more...and the nurse there said Dr. K really doesn't accept patients without a card unless it's a family member visiting, then he charges $55, again including any tests he can do in office (not much...no blood work, x-rays, etc--but strep tests--yep can do that)

Another odd thing...Lottery. In the US, states that have lotteries do so to either increase their general operating budget or for a specific purpose (IE--education). And the lotteries here in Canada do that too, but there are also special lotteries for specific purposes. For example, the libraries do a special lottery each year where the grand prize is a 1/2 million dollar house. There are a limited number of tickets for these lotteries and a limited number of prizes (For that one there were....I think....10,000 tickets--each ticket costing $100 or a book of 5 for $250. ) And yes, there were corporate sponsors for the prizes, so the library wasn't paying retail for the prizes. But still, it's odd to hear and see in action. And a good number of these lotteries are for health care. Help the NICU buy new monitors by buying a lottery ticket. Or the cancer ward get new books and games for the chemo area. Oddly...schools don't do this. I asked about it and was told schools get funded first. So they don't need money. Wow! Amazing. Teacher salaries here are really pretty good too. (low end about $7,000-10,00/yr more than stateside.)

Well, there are a few more of the odd things I've been noticing. :) See you next time I start thinking of the odd strange things that are different here in the not so frozen right now North!