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Drive-by post
So I'm in Newfoundland -- yay for hotel Internet! Actually, it's a small apartment that we've rented, not really a hotel room. My husband and his group are here for two weeks, while I'm only joining them for one. (They came here for a robotics competition; I joined them after the contest was over.)
Newfoundland is not unlike Alaska in a lot of ways -- similar climate, isolated, small population -- and I really like it, as I thought I probably would. But it's definitely its own unique place; in fact, of the various places I've been, it's probably one of the hardest to categorize, maybe because it isn't well-known enough to have its own paradigm. England is much as I always thought England would be; so is France; so is Manitoba. But I keep wanting to compare Newfoundland to other places in my head (*this* is like Wales, *this* is like Maine) and ultimately, it's just its own thing. The terrain is very barren and rocky, with low scrubby forests where there is enough shelter from the ever-present wind to support them. I love the bright-colored houses, all jammed close together along narrow winding streets -- and the street names are as colorful as the houses. ("Hill o'Chips" is my favorite so far ... a street name that apparently dates back to the 1700s.) There's a very distinctive local accent which sounds, to me, sort of like an Irish accent crossed with the mainstream, (mid)Western Canadian accent. Not everyone has it, but it's lovely to listen to -- even though I sometimes find it hard to understand (as I had difficulty in Dublin, also).
Today we hiked around the bay, starting on Signal Hill and looping through the town around to Fort Amherst ... a hike of probably about 6-8 miles, I'd say. (Hard to be sure because there were a lot of detours along the way.) Anyway, I'm tired but I stayed up for a quickie post before going to bed.
Newfoundland is not unlike Alaska in a lot of ways -- similar climate, isolated, small population -- and I really like it, as I thought I probably would. But it's definitely its own unique place; in fact, of the various places I've been, it's probably one of the hardest to categorize, maybe because it isn't well-known enough to have its own paradigm. England is much as I always thought England would be; so is France; so is Manitoba. But I keep wanting to compare Newfoundland to other places in my head (*this* is like Wales, *this* is like Maine) and ultimately, it's just its own thing. The terrain is very barren and rocky, with low scrubby forests where there is enough shelter from the ever-present wind to support them. I love the bright-colored houses, all jammed close together along narrow winding streets -- and the street names are as colorful as the houses. ("Hill o'Chips" is my favorite so far ... a street name that apparently dates back to the 1700s.) There's a very distinctive local accent which sounds, to me, sort of like an Irish accent crossed with the mainstream, (mid)Western Canadian accent. Not everyone has it, but it's lovely to listen to -- even though I sometimes find it hard to understand (as I had difficulty in Dublin, also).
Today we hiked around the bay, starting on Signal Hill and looping through the town around to Fort Amherst ... a hike of probably about 6-8 miles, I'd say. (Hard to be sure because there were a lot of detours along the way.) Anyway, I'm tired but I stayed up for a quickie post before going to bed.
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