There have been a few times when I've thought about things I miss from home. Mainly when I think about foods I can't have (especially comfort foods) or places that I can't go; people I can't visit, or the ability to not be able to travel at will. I miss all of these things for sure but I've really come to realize something that I take for granted a lot when I am home and miss: reliable Internet and phone service. The ability to have the Internet at any given time or cell phone reception is not something that crosses your mind living in Canada (well...maybe in the North). But being here has brought a whole new meaning to this for me. I remember how frustrating it would be for your Internet to be down for a couple of hours...here it's a good week when I have the Internet for more than three straight days. Constantly restarting my router, checking the signal, not knowing if it's just my Internet that is down or if it's the whole building....again.
This hurts the most because it is my only way of contacting or keeping in touch with anybody or anything back home. Not having the Internet for a couple of days means having absolutely no clue what is going on in Canada with friends and family...it feels a bit isolated. I rely on Skype, email, Facebook, and Twitter to keep me informed and up to date. Even more, when the Internet is down there is really almost nothing to do here...it's a very unfortunate situation. At least when your internet's down back home you can just pop to any number of places with free Wi-Fi.
I can't even plan to complete work or search for worksheets or pictures to use in lessons on any given day because I can't know for certain that I will have the Internet to do so.
I have definitely learned to cherish having this resource around a lot more. Probably won't be complaining too much about it when I'm back home and the service is down for an hour...if ever at all.
