Well it may not technically be the "ghetto", but to me it feels that way. It's a good reminder not to get too comfortable with what you have because, in uncertain times like these, it could all be gone in the blink of an eye... And this is what you'd be stuck living with!
The lot has two 4-plex's side by side. In our 4-plex, the walls are paper-thin, so we hear the farts, the fights, the T.V.... We hear EVERYTHING! And our neighbour is extra special because he never takes his cowboy boots off, he just clunks around all day until he finally decides to go to bed at night. I have to be real sneaky when I get my mail because our mail box is right outside and he sure loves to talk. He'll come outside with his little chihuahua in his arms, and it's so hard to get away, because there never seems to be a pause in his talking where you can say "well, I should get going..." I'm not sure if that's just his personality, or if it's because he loves me! lol But I've always thought that senior citizens have a need to talk allot, especially if they've lost someone, they have a need for company and a need to be heard. So I feel obligated, and besides they usually have very interesting stories, for anyone who loves history (which I absolutely do)!
The single-mom next door is a constant reminder of my past. The loneliness and exhaustion I'm reminded of every time I see her. I would love to offer to watch her kids for a while, but they are just so bad that I can't even bring myself to do it. They're always outside playing on the small patch of grass between our buildings that they call "a yard", with mom nowhere to be found. The other day they were fighting, one with a pitch-fork, the other with a shovel. I felt obligated being the only grown -up out there to say "you need to put those away right now, before one of you gets hurt"! Well the older one laughed at me! And so I could tell that these were the type of kids that needed a bit more firmness, so I said "I'm not laughing, you need to it right now... while I'm watching you"... Then Tim came outside and told me to get in the house, and then yelled at me because those kids aren't my responsibility. But seriously, I think it was worth getting yelled at, over a 5 year old being stabbed with a pitch-fork!
I feel a little bad for them though, they've had their bikes stolen twice this week. They were lucky to get them back the first time and they should have bought some locks, but they didn't and the bikes got stolen again. They have so little as it is, seriously, who would do that?!
The rest of the neighbours we never see, either because they're depressed and never leave their apartments or they work nights. Not really sure, we just try to mind our own business and not spend allot of time here. We are here just long enough to do our school work, eat and sleep... The only comforting sounds in our apartment is the sound of Tim singing, and the train whistles blowing almost constantly has become a comfort to me.
Well we're about to start our day, one of my kids just woke up... We've got to take our toys back to the toy library, and twice a week I take the kids to the Parent-Link Center to make a craft. It really helped us to not have to buy stuff while we were here. I'm going to miss everything that this town has to offer... The indoor, play park, the spray park, the running trails, and stores... Even the schools compete with each other for who has a better play ground. The schools out here all have better play grounds than the big Hanover park.. But it's because the parents raise money for the parks, and a better park means better (well really just richer) parents, so they actually do compete with each other... I think people in Ontario can take a lesson from these guys.... Instead of whining about lack of government funding for the schools, consider it payment for "childcare" for having the schools raise and teach your kids!
Anyway, now too many opinions are being conjured up and I fear I may break out on a rampage, so this is where I will end this blog... I'm not looking forward to going home and losing all my friends, so I'll just say "THE END". Love you friends! Be home in 3 weeks! =D
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