Adapting to a New Home

To all the Haligonians, all the friendly, smiling pedestrians who greet me on the street and the extremely polite drivers who go out of their way to stop for me so I can safely cross the street. I thank you all. This is my first year living in Halifax, and coming from the big city of Toronto, I could not have been more pleasantly surprised by the friendliness and warmth I have received from everyone in this new city. Coming from the big city of Toronto where everyone is constantly in a rush, with their headphones in and avoiding eye contact with all the other pedestrians, I assumed it would be a similar society here in Halifax. Naturally, I followed what I was brought up with being the norm and began the year walking down the street, listening to my ipod and tuning out everyone around me. Now, seven months later, I can happily say that I have adapted to the friendly, Halifax society where I now smile to all passer-bys and will happily chat with anyone who greets me. It may have taken a while to adapt to the new social structure of the city, but I am so happy to have done so. Thanks you Halifax, for showing me that there is such a thing as a big city with a friendly, small-town feel to it. —Proud Haligonian

This article appears in Apr 7-13, 2011.