I really never think about Canada being its own country. I know it... But I just never really think of them being another country because there are so many similarities. When your there you feel like you are in the US except when they get on politics and start talking Prime Ministers and all that.
I did notice a few differences of the words they use. I’m a horrible speller and when I catch a word that’s misspelled you know something is wrong. This week I was reading documents with some obvious spelling differences:
Favourite –vs- Favorite
Centre –vs- Center
Chequing –vs- Checking
These were just a few of the differences I noticed. They also have a much more polite way to refer to the toilet calling it the “Wash Room”. Doesn’t that sound really nice? Much better than the English version of Loo.
One of the things that impressed me the most last week was the variety of people from around the world. It’s really amazing how small the world is there in Toronto. It’s truly a melting pot with people from every corner of the earth.
To give you some idea there were four people I worked with last week that have family around the world. One has two daughters in England, another has a husband from South Africa, another has a child in college in Australia and another has a wife in India waiting to come to Canada.
Conference calls can be a challenge at times when you have a heavy Indian accent talking to someone who primary language is Canadian French and a southern fella trying to keep up. Thank god I have co-workers to bail me out here and there.
My meals last week included American, Indian, Chinese, Italian and Cajun food. I didn’t have time to eat my way all the way around the world... But I gave it a darn good shot. Of course you know my favorite meal was a nice steak and twice baked potato at the Keg Restaurant.
The type of food I found missing was Mexican Restaurants (one of my favorite – or should I say favourite meals). I’m sure they are there but I just didn’t see them on every corner like at home.
I find it truly refreshing to meet people from around the globe. We all have a story to tell from our lives. That’s the beauty of the blogs I’ve started reading this year. We are all telling our stories from different viewpoints from all over the world.
This past week there were several blogs I read that made me smile, laugh, choke up and even a tear come to my eyes. I read about: a crazy co-worker (we all have them, but I think this one takes the prize); a special child who gave hair to Locks of Love; a company lay-off; a remodel project going on in Mexico (which had a funny, funny picture of a Cat sprawled out taking a nap with a Doberman); pictures from New England and another teaser that is telling me about a friends trip to Norway.
The jet age and the internet have shrunk our world. We can read things instantly from any corner of the globe, and there are not too many places over an 18 hour flight. I’ve memorized international phone numbers of friends (who knew I'd ever have to do that).
When I was 20 I would have never believed what I see and take for granted today. Who knows what the children of today will see in their lifetime.
A Month in San Carlos
-
It all started with pickleball. Of course it did. The minute I heard
there was a strong pickleball club in San Carlos, Mexico, 7 hours south of
our home ...
6 years ago
6 comments:
Good post, and so true - Canada is a very diverse country. Great observations. I got a little nervous when you wrote about blogs you've read - "a crazy coworker". But then I remembered I'm no longer a coworker so I figured you didn't mean me (not that time, anyway). The Norway stories will take some time to put together as I want to include pictures...still catching up with school and house chores and life in general (you know how it goes). Hopefully later this week I'll get started...
Great post, Bennie. Not alot of diversity out here in the country--very white, anglo-saxon(or should I say"old yankee") , but changing a little ever year.
Sue - you were not the crazy co-worker but I bet we know some of the ones I'd have on that list. I can't wait to see your blogs from Norway. Take your time and get caught up, I want good long stories with lots of pictures.
Ann - I can't say Myrtle Beach is all that diverisified yet either. We are just the typical south. I doubt we will ever become a Toronto. But it's still a wonderful place to live. And I'm sure you feel the same about your home too.
Great post Bennie. And by the way, they moved Nuttzoid to the very back of the room and she has an entire long table to herself. And there's a big brawny guy (ex-principal) back there who's the supervisor. Woo hooo! I think they're not firing her because she truly is nuts and unpredictable.
We used to frequent Canada a lot when we were in Seattle. My perception is that more Canadians would consider themselves to be citizens of the world, whereas many Americans think of themselves as just U.S. citizens. That's not meant as a cut. It probably has more to do with Canada's close ties to the U.K. But I haven't been in the middle of Canada. I suspect I'm basing my perception on the coasts!
I LIKE the spelling variations...they seem so much more civilized with the "u"s in there....My Dad was born and raised in Toronto, so I have a bit of an attachment to the people.... plus, I have an Internet buddy that lives near Toronto, actually in Port Credit, so I get all the news on the cold and snowy northlands and their different political view of the world...who'da thunk we would be so GLOBAL in our lifetime, eh? The Net is a wonderous thing!
Although I recently learned that Portland is the “whitest” big city in the nation I still see a lot of diversity. There are Asians, Mexicans, Middle Easterners, etc. We have a lot of ethnic restaurants in the area as well.
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