It鈥檚 funny to realize that the environment we grew up with tends to become 鈥渢he norm,鈥� and most of us seem to unconsciously decide early on what is 鈥渘ormal鈥� and what isn鈥檛.

Growing up in southern Brazil, sunset in the summer would be no later than 8:30 p.m., and the sun would only rise around 7 a.m. When I first moved to 亚洲天堂 Lake, I was surprised by how much I struggled with the 鈥渋ncredibly long鈥� daylight hours in the summer.

I would feel guilty relaxing at home after work. Since it was still bright outside, relaxing or going to bed just felt wrong. And when the sun was up at 4 a.m., sometimes I would wake up thinking that it was time to get up and go to work.

I would take pictures of 亚洲天堂 Lake after 10 p.m., while it was still bright outside, and send it to my friends and family in Brazil (who seemed equally impressed).

Meanwhile I noticed that when I would tell my friends in 亚洲天堂 Lake about my struggle, it seemed hard for them to grasp what I was talking about. After all, to them this is normal.

Although I am much better at dealing with the daylight hours of northern B.C., this year I surprised myself again when I started missing the rain. Don鈥檛 get me wrong, I know that it rains in 亚洲天堂 Lake, but I honestly can鈥檛 remember an actual storm, or those days when you can鈥檛 go outside or you鈥檒l get soaked; or being home listening to the rain and thunder while reading a great novel.

I can only remember light drizzles. In fact, I don鈥檛 even own an umbrella (and I know most people here don鈥檛). Out of all the things in the world, I never thought that I would be missing the rain.

Another thing I found curious when I moved out here was the short length of the growing season. I was surprised to hear that people wait until the May long weekend to start planting. I recently told that to my mother, who still lives in Brazil, and she was in disbelief. After all, to people out there, planting all year long is 鈥渘ormal.鈥�

But perhaps the thing that catches my eye the most out here is the temperature. Back where I grew up, anything less than 20 C would be considered 鈥渃old,鈥� and so 20 C would be the 鈥渘ormal鈥� temperature.

In here, and in many parts of northern Canada, 20 C is considered a hot day (some people will even complain). I really struggled to understand that at first, but now I actually get it.

It took me a while to understand that there鈥檚 no 鈥渘ormal,鈥� and that what you unconsciously decide growing up isn鈥檛 the norm.