Things that make you go...hmmm...

I got a letter today from Revenue Canada with a form for me to fill out: Determination of Residency Status (Leaving Canada). Seems so formal...Physically I have left, I suppose...but emotionally? Oy...The hardest question was "How long do you expect to live outside Canada? Number of days ___ Number of months ___ Number of years ___ Leaving or left Canada permanently and no plan to return to Canada ___" Hmm...excellent question. My TN (work visa) is only for one year, so it expires in October...but I will likely re-apply for another year. And how long can I realistically work at my job before slicing my wrists with a 200-page deposition? Maybe 3 years? I'm happy here, and if Seattle were in Canada I would not think twice about living here forever. But permanently? Yikes...I don't know. I wrote in "unknown".

Other strange discoveries made in the last week:
1. Seattle is not (as I have mistakenly thought for the past 6 months) on the ocean. It's not even close. I thought that on the other side of the islands that are in Puget Sound (e.g. Bainbridge, Vashon) that there was ocean and that the Olympic mountains were on those islands. WRONG. Apparently there is a rather large land mass, called the Olympic Peninsula past those islands. The Olympic Mountains are on the Olympic Peninsula (go figure!). Anywho, to avoid future embarassment, I should probably look at a map within the first six months of (or preferably before) moving to my next city.
2. They don't have Coffee Crisp in the U.S.
3. They don't have J-cloths in the U.S.
4. "Tea towels" are just "kitchen towels" in the U.S.
5. Americans never tire of making fun of my accent. (Actually this is not a new discovery...but I thought the novelty might have worn off by now.)

Tomorrow I am picking up a book from the library called Flaubert's Parrot. I am WAY excited!! I can't remember what the plot is, but the title sounds freakin' awesome!