Wanna-be Canadian

[Lonnie]

Hi, everyone,

I'm a US citizen who grew up in the Syracuse, NY area and, after some travel, moved back. My husband and I are totally disgusted with the way things are going in the U.S., with over half the country voting in Bush twice, no less. We know we're not alone, but we're beginning to feel like strangers in a strange land. We adore vacationing in Canada, go there every chance we get, and the minute we cross the border each time, we breathe a huge sigh of relief.

I'm here with the hopes that I might strike up a few conversations with people who might let me know what it's really like to live in Canada. One day, who knows? Perhaps we'll apply for political asylum. ;-) Could y'all use another Spanish or ESL teacher? a mainframe programmer perhaps? A couple people who would love to improve their French? As Leonard Cohen said, "I'm Your Man!" (oops! Except that I'm a woman! Oh well!)

Looking forward to learning what it's really like, because from this side of the fence, it's looking pretty wonderful.

Cheers,

Lonnie

 

[peapod]

Welcome lonnie Can't say I blame ya for heading north, don't let the neocons bother you around here, we got your back.

 

[Hank C Cheyenne]

I like you am a born American ...from Ohio. I moved to Canada a few years ago and I feel right at home here. Canada is quite similar to the US ...... I would probably characterize it as a left-of-center America Jr..... all the same household names and the TV is virtually the same as the US.... except with more hockey...just the way I like it.

.....having said that ... I still do miss the homeland and the many little quirks and details that are absent up here..... the only problems I have experienced in Canada is that it can seem kinda bland and boring sometimes.

..with the exception of a french speaking population I really was disappointed with the culture in Canada........ and no "not American" does not pass as culture.

 

[peapod]

uh huh. what a surprise :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Ten Packs]

Hank - and what exactly is "America's culture" like?
Don't forget - YOU'RE IN ALBERTA - IT DON'T GET MUCH MORE AMERICAN, north of the 49th....

Both our countries are a blend of dozens of immigrant groups; the one difference is yours has the "melting pot" theory and ours encourages incoming cultures not to throw the baby out with the bathwater (although there is some disageement with that among some of us).

Lonnie, one major thing you might find is a lack of outright, in-your-face "Patriotism", after your up-bringing... it's a bit unusual to find a home with a flagpole, for instance. (although I have a 4'x5' flag flying off my deck, and am not embarrassed by the fact that two of the nearby neighbours got one, at some time after I did).
Another thing is it is hard to find citizens that have what we see as a BLIND FAITH in their political leaders, they way so many Americans seem to. Most of us consider the vast majority of them to be pompous, lying b*stards - the only real choice we make is HOW we get shafted, not whether we will or not.

I'm not going to drag out that old saw about "polite Canadians" - it may be true most of the time face-to-face, but I have seen PLENTY of stunningly rude and arrogant Canucks on the Internet, at least. And having lived for a few years, and subsequently travelled in the USA, I have met scads and scads of very polite Americans, too....

Also, don't pay attention to anyone using this phrase: "free Health-Care". THE HELL IT IS FREE! The RIGHT to health care is a universal right, yes - that's exactly what it is called - but the funding comes from a myriad of sources, not excluding monthly membership payments... although next to your HMO plans that I've heard about, they would almost LOOK free!
Which, of course, means that taxes will be higher than you are used to, probably noticeably so. But I know a guy in Detroit who once BRAGGED about his $1800/month Medical plan... I'll stay here, thank you!

Give it some thought - ask some questions - the answers might not all agree completely, but then neither do we all.

 

[Hank C Cheyenne]

Hank - and what exactly is "America's culture" like?

American Culture:
- country music, rap music (born in American ghettos), worldwide pop culture, American gun culture, corporate guru culture, financial culture (wall street), Jesus/relegious god culture, invention culture (internet,electricity......ect), African American and Hispanic culture, military culture, American sports culture ( baseball,basketball,football,golf,Nascar.....), global dominance culture, hollywood/celebrity and movie culture, the culture of being the richest, most in your face,technological advanced nation in history ......ect ect

Canadian Culture:
- 2 official languages, non-American, hockey, and ummm adopted British culture, ummmmmmm... help me out guys...

....but don't get me wrong Canada is a great country and I am proud to be living here.

 

[Ocean Breeze]

Hank - and what exactly is "America's culture" like?

American Culture:
- country music, rap music (born in American ghettos), worldwide pop culture, American gun culture, corporate guru culture, financial culture (wall street), Jesus/relegious god culture, invention culture (internet,electricity......ect), African American and Hispanic culture, military culture, American sports culture ( baseball,basketball,football,golf,Nascar.....), global dominance culture, hollywood/celebrity and movie culture, the culture of being the richest, most in your face,technological advanced nation in history ......ect ect

Canadian Culture:
- 2 official languages, non-American, hockey, and ummm adopted British culture, ummmmmmm... help me out guys...

....but don't get me wrong Canada is a great country and I am proud to be living here.

sorry Hank.......but your BIAS is so obvious.....one cannot take it seriously....

*************
Lonnie. ( Canadian wannabee---maybe) Research everything you can. Talk to people but remember that each person has their own filters, biases and experiences. so might not be objective.

the thing is that CA IS different from the US in many ways. As someone mentioned......we don't as a rule (unless it is out of sheer desperation defense) wear our flag on our sleeve. We don't brag about how "great "we are........(although most of us think it is rather special here) compared to the rest of the world ........we are very young......and still developing a history....... and taking our time doing it. We are (as a rule) not a collective bunch of "must have nows" materialists who are aggressively selfish too.

Have travelled extensively through out the US......and can say with confidence .........that the US has deteriorated a LOT since the bush(cave) man took office. the US is NOT the US anymore. And so I don't travel south anymore.

You will find that we in Canada know a LOT More about the US than the USers know about Canada.......and quite frankly .......we like it this way.....as obviously "we" have the edge. (KNOWLEDGE is the power.............not a massive number of living GI joes.)


One sees an array of changing scenery and cultures as one travels from East to West.

We VALUE Our habitat, the beauty of the nature here, and as a rule do what we can to KEEP it beautiful. we frown on dirty Ill- kept cities.......and consider them a hazard to ones health.....and the medium for crime.

Might be an idea to do a travel through the country and see for yourself. Only then would you be able to make a wise decision.

BTW: Heartfelt sympathies on the "state of the Union' as it is today. It is heartbreaking to see the direction the bush cabal has taken and continues to do so. It is very concerning to consider what more damage he can do in the remaining time in office.

 

[peapod]

quit acting like a snake, hank and just say whats really on your mind. You gots to be kiddin with those lame jabs. Actually they crack me up :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Ocean Breeze]

Dear Hank::banghead: :bs: :bs: :bs: :banghead:

....but don't get me wrong Canada is a great country and I am proud to be living here

:roll: :roll:



gee, laying it on a tad thick , aint cha???

 

[peapod]

I wouldn't mind so much ocean, if the comedy attempts were not so painful to read. I mean are all neo cons like this?? They are so obvious and such bad actors. Ouch! nuttin more painful than the obvious It must be part of the mental illness, I mean I have seen some badly baited hooks, but this takes the biscuit.... Would you happen to have a spare ginger scone ocean??

 

[Ocean Breeze]

I wouldn't mind so much ocean, if the comedy attempts were not so painful to read. I mean are all neo cons like this?? They are so obvious and such bad actors. Ouch! nuttin more painful than the obvious It must be part of the mental illness, I mean I have seen some badly baited hooks, but this takes the biscuit.... Would you happen to have a spare ginger scone ocean??

You betcha.......... have one left. Wanna share???

(just made a latte.........and pouring one for ya too. Could be a long night :wink:


agree completely about the "obvious". What is equally interesting in a weird kind of way........is that they all sound the same and say the same (Fecking) thing. It is almost like they have been drilled to repeat the same mantra. One grieves for their residual brain cells.... :wink:

there are how many of them?..........and not an original thought to be found in the group.


Ya know what I think?? I think that poor Alberta has become a tad too US-ised. All that wealth and oil...... ( something about common denominators.... )

 

[Shiva]

Lonnie, this is the link to a website written by an American who married a Canadian and lives here, and her perspectives on the country. It's not a thoroughly exhaustive detailing of what it's like to live in Canada, but it does offer the same perspective you would experience as you move here. It might be worth a look.

I would offer up just one warning, though: since the Iraq war and Bush, Canada (and the world) have become very anti-American. There is a lot of hatred for the current U.S. administration, and that unfortunately boils over to a dislike of things American at times. Canadians do love Americans, but you should be prepared for a vociferous dislike and critique of everything about your country and its gov't in public discourse. The only comfort I can offer you on this regard is that the negativity with which Canadians speak about the U.S. these days is nowhere near as bad as you'd find average Brits speaking nowadays...

 

[Hank C Cheyenne]

Have travelled extensively through out the US......and can say with confidence .........that the US has deteriorated a LOT since the bush(cave) man took office. the US is NOT the US anymore. And so I don't travel south anymore.

.....how so.... because from the way you talk I am willing to bet you never been to the US. Actually crime is way down from where it was in the 90's but i'm sure you knew that.....what about black home ownership levels currently?.....the fact is if you have been to cities like New York,LA, Chicago and many other towns you would see that crime is down and cities seem cleaner.

We are (as a rule) not a collective bunch of "must have nows" materialists who are aggressively selfish too.

......sure American spend more than Canadians ....but compare Canadians to the rest of the world........hmmmm seems Canada is more materialistic than Europeans and Asians....

You will find that we in Canada know a LOT More about the US than the USers know about Canada.......and quite frankly .......we like it this way.....as obviously "we" have the edge. (KNOWLEDGE is the power.............not a massive number of living GI joes.)

...ahh you really are ignorant....... the reason Canadians know soo much about the US is because 90% of our tv is American ...duhhh....the US is a cultural empire and its "all eyes on them". Now tell me if the Average Canadain can give any information on greenland or ummm any other country that we don't watch about every day!....geeeez think before you say.

sorry Hank.......but your BIAS is so obvious.....one cannot take it seriously....

...ok then on the topic of Canadian vs American culture give me your 2 cents....all I see that you wrote about it is that Canadians are not as relegious and don't wear their "flags on our sleeves".... and that really dosen't count as culture..

 

[zenfisher]

Greenland a country? I could have sworn it was part of Demark....

 

[Hank C Cheyenne]

Greenland a country? I could have sworn it was part of Demark....

sorry ..... my bad/typo.... but my point still stands

 

[Ocean Breeze]

Hank: a question*s( for you...

When did you leave the US??? Before Bush or after Bush???

Have you been back since bush has been "running" the country??

What changes do you see??


and most of all.......IF you miss the US so much......no one is stopping you from going back there. For the record: you "sound" more American*of the neo con species* than Canadian........ and that is because you are.

But it might be an idea to give Lonnie a fair sense of what Canada is about........or a direction as to where to find out..

 

[Ten Packs]

Canadian Culture:
- 2 official languages, non-American, hockey, and ummm adopted British culture, ummmmmmm... help me out guys...

Apparently you either haven't been here long, or you just haven't gotten out of the Calgary area. Travel the country and see.

Check out:
- the Sunshine Coast and West Vancouver Island: aging hippie/coastal culture; very "artsy".
- Greater Vancouver - you can eat, be entertained by, or engage with every culture in the world.
The Okanagan/Kootenay area - life in third gear, easy on the gas. (Well, except for that dung-heap, Kelowna.) Wines that have, many a time, beaten the best that Europe came up with, in World Competitions.
- the FAR North. Complete self-reliance, combined with the folks that will look out for a stranger in trouble more than anywhere else in the world, because they hope to God someone would so the same for them.
- The grain-growing section of the Prairies, especially S. Sask and Manitoba. "Next-year people" who epitomize that Brit(?) song from a few years ago: "I GET KNOCKED DOWN! But I get up again!"
- I have only spent "Ontario time" in Toronto, and its just Calgary East, without the big shiny buckle and over-priced boots.
- Never been to Quebec, but even from where you are, you must realize that it's COMPLETELY different.
- Maritimes. Hard-working, life-loving people with a great attachment to the Sea that has kept them alive for over 300 years.
- Never been to Newfoundland, but have known a few. As "plain and boring" as the Ozark people or those Cajuns of Louisana. And as willing to give you the shirt off their backs, too.
(And not at all afraid of a good stiff drink or eight.)

You gotta get around Hank....

 

[zenfisher]

Greenland a country? I could have sworn it was part of Demark....

sorry ..... my bad/typo.... but my point still stands

Was your point criticizing OB for not knowing anything about Greenland and then mistaking that it was not a country? Sorry I forgot it was a "typo"

 

[Hank C Cheyenne]

Hank: a question*s( for you...

When did you leave the US??? Before Bush or after Bush???

Have you been back since bush has been "running" the country??

What changes do you see??

-I left the US during Bush, right after the 2000 election and before sept 11 ......and I go back to Ohio every christmas, not to metion I go to florida and texas often for vacations..

...as for the changes..the country really does seem less violent and I beleive homicides are way down from the 90's and this is generally all over America....cities are less dangerous and becoming more lively.......... although I do see the divisions of the country you probably hear about..... I have noticed that large cities such as NYC and LA are uninamously democrat while people in small town America seem to be more republican....but this differers from state to state, north to south.

You gotta get around Hank....

actually I have travelled extensively throughout Canada...... except the north as well as the maritimes..... but I have been to toronto,vancouver, victoria, saskatoon,regina, winnipeg, edmonton, prince albert, niagra falls.....and countless small towns.... but even though I am not familiar with montreal or Quebec as you can see I included it as part of Canadain culture in my earlier statement.

....yea I can see the difference from east to west but its is nothing that the US does not have as well.....

 

[Ocean Breeze]

Hank: a question*s( for you...

When did you leave the US??? Before Bush or after Bush???

Have you been back since bush has been "running" the country??

What changes do you see??

-I left the US during Bush, right after the 2000 election and before sept 11 ......and I go back to Ohio every christmas, not to metion I go to florida and texas often for vacations..

...as for the changes..the country really does seem less violent and I beleive homicides are way down from the 90's and this is generally all over America....cities are less dangerous and becoming more lively.......... although I do see the divisions of the country you probably hear about..... I have noticed that large cities such as NYC and LA are uninamously democrat while people in small town America seem to be more republican....but this differers from state to state, north to south.

You gotta get around Hank....

actually I have travelled extensively throughout Canada...... except the north as well as the maritimes..... but I have been to toronto,vancouver, victoria, saskatoon,regina, winnipeg, edmonton, prince albert, niagra falls.....and countless small towns.... but even though I am not familiar with montreal or Quebec as you can see I included it as part of Canadain culture in my earlier statement.

....yea I can see the difference from east to west but its is nothing that the US does not have as well.....

Thanks Hank.....for replying to the questions. One more if you don't mind. WHY did you leave the US???


and thanks....