not to mention everyone speaks english!

What is funny most about being home is calling this 'home.'
I am one of the few people in Calgary who can say, 'born and raised.' Weird (i feel quite estranged from all that statement entails). Weird seeing Calgary now as i do; quite corporate, fast paced, money-driven, extremely materialistic - the sad state of many western cities, but not all (or as much). i'm quite sick of blackberry's, labels, big trucks, hummers, etc. I miss Winnipeg. Hippies all of them. :) (not all of them, but diversity is more easily seen). I miss Lakeside - our quiet hideaway in the mountains. Freshly made granola at 'buns by the lake.' I miss Otterburne.
Nonetheless, this is where i have lived most of my life save the last 6 years or so. So i come back (from Korea) not knowing what to expect or what i would feel. It's familiar yet unfamiliar. I know how to get places... I had a church here once, and a fairly large community of friends.
Over the past few weeks i have been amazed as i've gone about my days in this familiar yet unfamiliar place. I go to Kensington and order a shwarma from Sam! The same man who's served me Sam's special for years. Still smiling brightly, still calling me, 'my friend!' I couldn't stop smiling. How strange. I move away for years... experience various places, people and communities.. and things still exist here as they did!
I'm amazed at how i run into people on the streets that i know! All the time! That i will recognize someone from high school at a coffee shop, or an elderly person will come talk to me because they know my dad. Calgary is not that small. I guess it is.
Today i went to the Doctor. I didn't think he would remember me. He did. Asked all about my life, how i was doing, if i was married. Advised me that i shouldn't get married to a man under 40 and talked more to me about personal things than what i went there for. It was nice. He knew my mom, well.
These experiences are strange to me. I am not used to familiar. I am not used to being known. I think it's a good thing.