Halloween is officially over. The only candy left is the real crud that nobody will eat so I’m about to chuck it out. That’s not bad for an entire month! The other great thing was the jack-o-lanterns. We had heaps of fun carving them with our US friends and they decorated the outside of the house with their scariness for a while. And the kids even had a jack-o-lantern competition at school... 

Living here couldn’t be more different than what we’ve been used to. And it’s pretty much all good. It’s a 1 minute walk to the bus stop, and the bus comes every 10 minutes. And this is the view I have while I wait: We have at least one squirrel in the tree which overhangs our condo’s back patio. Of course there are squirrels everywhere here. But this one is in our tree. He’s...