Another joint blogging activity!

Now that we've got a real blogging community, it's been fun to blog together! He's a neat little questionnaire that's been making the rounds (started by Lisa at From One Country to Another):

1. How long have you been with your husband?
Leo and I met in the spring of 2008, married in fall of 2009, and will be celebrating our second wedding anniversary this September!

2. Can you remember one funny miscommunication because of language barriers?
We don't miscommunicate; we create a household dialect -- and not because we can't speak each others' languages! We both say silly things, and then -- like a 6-year-old crossing his eyes -- it "gets stuck that way." For example: "nossa muffin! Seus chicken bones 'tá' kruff kruff!" means, more or less, "oh my God, honey! Your elbow just made a cracking noise!"

It would only be miscommunication if we couldn't understand one another.

3. What state and/or city have you relocated to?
Vancouver, BC (<-- not a state: a province!), Canada (<-- also not a state, despite what we're led to believe States-side)

4. Do you and your hubby have any children? How old?
Not yet! We are looking to lay down roots before this tree starts dropping any apples.

5. What is one things thing that your blogger friends don't know about you?
I enjoy drawing superhero comics.

6. What are some of your favorite hobbies or past times?
I'm in grad school; I'm not allowed to have hobbies! I usually lack either time or money -- or both!

When I do sneak a few moments for myself, I enjoy -- as I mentioned above -- drawing and painting. I also love to cook and bake, but it'll be a while before I can buy duck breasts or good cheeses on a whim. Hiking is another favorite hobby, but time is not on my side...

Here are some fruit studies that kept me from going completely insane after the very trying end of the last semester:

7. How did you stumble upon the blogging community?
I started blogging at the start of 2010 -- right before Leo and I left the States. I don't remember how I found The Deportee's Wife, but I think she was my first contact. There were only a few of us "back in the day," and it is very exciting to see how the community has grown in such a short period of time -- even though it's depressing to think that it's probably also due to a rising number of exiles...

8. Have you learned something new about yourself during this whole process that has changed all of our lives?
That's pretty much what this blog is about!

9. Something that you love about [Canada] and something that you can't stand or miss having.
I love the opportunity to be here and just about everything that means. Thanks, Canada! I love the eagle eyrie down the street. I love the incredible mountains that peek out of the clouds once in a while. And I love the chance to learn about a country that I'd previously thought of as just-like-America-only-more-progressive-and-less-crazy; I'm happy to report that it's much more nuanced and interesting than a what I'd imagined to be a sensible, frozen version of Boulder or Berkeley.

I do miss warm weather. I also miss straight-forward disagreements (the "sorry" thing is real, and I'm working on making my "o" as apologetic as possible).

10. Did you know your in-laws before moving and has it been a big adjustment being closer to them?
We are even further from Leo's family than when we were in the States! I did get a chance to visit them in Brazil last year, which was a lot of fun (detailed here, here, here, and here).

11. If you were going back to the States next week where is the first place you would go, of course after seeing your family?
Back to Canada.