Et tu, Ottawa?

There are a lot of things that I miss about Brazil; the music, the food, friends, the work, charming colonial architecture, the beaches and other natural paradises, eighties music blaring outside my house at 6am on Sunday mornings. Okay, maybe not that last one! But seriously, while there is much to miss about Brazil, there are other things that I do not miss; chronic violence, lack of personal security, bitter poverty, chronic violence, extreme income disparities and chronic violence. Did I mention the chronic violence?

One of the silver linings of returning to Canada (there were a few!) was that I would no longer have to be constantly looking over my shoulder, going through red lights as soon as the sun sets and calling my friends to let them know that I got home okay. Yes, clutching my bag would be a thing of the past! Keeping my cards & cash separate but a blurring memory. How fitting then, that as I was slowly waking up - a mere ONE DAY after arriving - and listening to the local news on the radio, I learned that not only had someone in Ottawa been stabbed but that it was less than a hundred metres from my new place! Stabbings are pretty rare news in Ottawa and always get reported with a certain level of shock and amazement. Perhaps the timing and location of this last one was to help ease my transition??