I'm back inland of the island now, and the weather is significantly nicer. It's a warm and breezy 20 something Saturday, except I'm sitting in bed and kicking my feet. Rarely do I sit around on such a nice day, but there are no good hiking trails in this neck of woods, only one little park that is swamped with children and their families on such a day. That and I have no one to go with, which sucks a little.
Yesterday I went grocery shopping properly for the first time and almost broke down in the store. I've never seen such a poorly stocked store. It looked like a hurricane went through, only there was minimal selection to begin with. No such thing as the summer fruits that I've associated with this time of year. No fresh strawberries, no local cherries, no plums or peaches or nectarines. No pineapples, no watermelons, and certainly none of the more exotic features I had at home: dragon fruit, star fruit, guava, etc.
The vegetables all looked like they were picked 6 months ago and shipped on a slow boat over (which let's be fair, they probably were). I've seen more vegetables in winter in communist China, and that's not an exaggeration. Spinach? Hello? Lettuce more brown than green.
On the other hand I'm starting to see how it would be hard to maintain a sustainable, healthy diet here. $6 for a head of cauliflower? Are you kidding me? Apparently I'm paying for the airfare from California for that cauliflower. At some point it's probably cheaper to fly to Halifax, pack a suitcase of vegetables, and fly back.
I was expecting to lose some of my comfort luxury-ish foods, like freshly imported Italian cured meats, pate from France, and more spices than I can shake a salt shaker at. I wasn't expecting to not find tomatoes, or bananas, or potatoes, or brown rice (there's an entire selection of instant rice though).
It hurts me a little. Food is my one, favourite comfort. I cook a pot of bucatini alla amatriciana after a hard day on the wards. I make coq au vin when I have guests over. Fashion and shopping is my other comfort, but there isn't a single viable store in the whole town. The nearest Loft is off the island. The closest, proper mall is in St. John's. While I've been known to travel distances for clothes, 4 hours of driving is pushing it.
It sucks. It sucks losing both of my top go to comforts in one of the most stressful and lonely times of my life so far. It sucks not having friends nearby. It sucks that my boyfriend isn't here. It sucks that everyone else on my social media is settling nicely into their new homes of Kingston, Toronto, London and Hamilton, and I'm still trying to figure out how to not get scurvy from the food here.
The one thing I'm repeating is that I chose this. I didn't come here for the lifestyle. I definitely didn't come for the food. I came for the training, and that's what I'll do in 3 days. A couple people have also proposed I treat this like a cooking show challenge: figure out a diet for locals to survive on that is affordable yet healthy. So far my plan involves annexing Florida in the name of Newfoundland.
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