Homesick

By Katelin Mei

I grew up in Canada, and lately I’ve been missing it. There are many things that remind me of Canada and make me feel at home.

• The Metric System — In Canada we use the metric system. It made everything much easier to understand. We didn’t use Fahrenheit, so whenever I see the degrees measured in Celsius rather than Fahrenheit, it makes me feel at home.

• French — Canada is a bilingual country, so I was taught French at a very young age (since kindergarten). The French language makes me feel at home because I am very familiar with it, and, because of that, I am taking French class now.

• Ferry boats — I grew up on an island, so I am familiar with having to take a ferry to the mainland to buy groceries. Ever since I can remember, my parents have been taking me with them for a ferry ride to get groceries, go shopping, or just visit the mainland. The ferry’s foghorn used to scare me, but now it just reminds me of when I was younger and helps me remember my home.

• Pine forests and daisy fields — I grew up in an area that was practically in the middle of a forest, and vast evergreen forests are something that we don’t really have here. I miss the smell of pine and the climbing ivy. There were also sprawling, fragrant daisy fields. Evergreen forests and daisy fields are some of the things that make me feel most at home.

• Wildlife — Since I grew up in a forest, I am quite familiar with different types of wildlife. My family and I used to feed the deer. There were constantly caterpillars — eagerly munching — on track to become butterflies.

Editor: Renée Vazquez