Culture shock for Canadians in the US

[CutienPurg 0]

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL..........repeat themselves?Why would they have to? They dont have the accent..WE DO! Just ask 'em

[Krikit 1,163]

I loved all these posts because they are so true. I thought I was going to lose my mind with regard to the lack of recycling here in the U.S. Imagine my excitement when I found out there is regular recycling in our new neighbourhood! Yippeee!

[MarieAnastasia 0]

Oh and as far as Nova Scotia is concerned , Ive heard, but have yet to experience it first hand, they are the NICEST people on the planet. This coming from my dad who has traveled extensively around the world and the US.Can't wait to find out first hand!!!!!!

I heartily agree! (And I'm not biased or anything! )

When people ask me what it's like living here in the US, I say it's different. And I say this after having lived in both urban and rural areas of Canada. There are things that I like, and things that really bug me.

My top differences are:

--we know lots about the US, and it's definitely not vice versa

--criticizing the government/politics is basically a sport in Canada (heck, some politicians make fun of themselves on This Hour Has 22 Minutes or Royal Canadian Air Farce, can you imagine that happening here? not bloody likely!), but criticizing the government/president here is basically treasonous!

--there's nothing here to rival the force of nature known as the hockey mullet

--and i won't go down the guns-in-the-house-obsession road....

I dunno, I'm not saying that Canada's perfect, because it isn't. All I know is that I am not sure if I will ever be settled here, because a lot of the American way of thinking/way of life just doesn't sit right with me.

DITTO!!! Cassie, I couldn't agree with you more..........well, except for Nova Scotians being the 'nicest' seeing as I'm from the greatest province in Canada........NEWFOUNDLAND....... heehee...just kidding because as we know all of the Martimes is the greatest in Canada. Speaking of which........I'm tired of hearing Americans pronouning 'Newfoundland' like 'New Fin Land' or 'New Fin Lund'......when I heard Larry King last year speaking with Paul & Heather McCartney talking about the seal hunt........don't get me started........I almost has a connipsion (not sure of the spelling.....lol) but you would think the media would at least pronounce it correct. The 'Americans' talk about their 'New Fin Land' dogs.......sorry......there ain't no such animal. And when I tell them politely that all they have to say is ..... UNDERSTAND NEWFOUNDLAND......it will flow right off their tongues..........no sir, they still can't get it!! When I'm not sure of pronouncing something, I'll ask if I'm saying it correct........like 'Maryland'........is it 'Mary Land' or Marylin???

And as for sense of humour.......well, I'm not sure they have any.............before I get lynched.......this is for the majority, not 'all'

And I also agree with whether I will ever settle in the States due to being the 'out sider' and not that readily accepted!! I've tried being funny with flipant remarks but I think that's a bad thing here and I'm just giving up and waiting for the day that we can retire back 'home'. And for the record, my husband totally agrees, he loves the people and life in Newfoundland and we would both dearly love to live there. I've tried putting my name in for volunteering at the school back in September and even went and introduced my self at the school for the Fall session, even though I was told by the principal that help was really needed. I kept calling but no response!! But having said that, I got an email from him yesterday asking if I could come in (he must know I'm out of town....lol.........I know I'm getting cynical!!!!lol

As we speak, I'm in 'New Fin Land' on an extending Christmas vacation. My hubby went back last week due to work and I'm staying for a few more weeks til my youngest daughter arrives from Alberta with our newest Grand Baby. Then hubby will come back for me. He is the greatest and I love him more every day.

Hope every one started out the New Year healthy and happy and more to come............{{{{HUGS}}}}

[Caladan 19]

If we're mispronouncing 'Newfoundland', so is, ime, everyone outside of Newfoundland, as my Canadian friends say it the same way I do.

[girl 37 7]

You forgot cheese. There's cheese on everything here, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you don't want cheese on your bacon and egg sandwich, they don't know how to ring it up because the cash register is only programmed for cheese.

Then there are medical conditions. Everyone here can tell you their cholestrol count, blood pressure, and a host of other things, including the prescription drugs they take. Guess they never realized that if they cut out the cheese, they could stop paying for Lipitor!

Except it isn't real cheese. It's "American cheese" aka processed "cheese food". I REALLY miss the great unpasturized cheeses available in Vancouver, which are illegal here.

[KiminON 0]

gosh, so many things that i didn't think of, but are so right.

canadian postal workers would go, well postal if they had to work saturday's, carry a shoe box to the door etc.

hockey mullets are called nascar mullets around here.

no recycling. we have paper and can recycling, but we have to drop off, which i do. hubby says they only take pop cans, but i've been putting soup cans in anyhoo. i cringe when i have to toss out recycleable stuff and try to make purchases accordingly.

their humour is different, but most of my friends appreciate corner gas as much as i do.

k

[edsperfect 25]

oh, and I forgot this one:

Americans are way more publicly patriotic. Between the t-shirts, bumper stickers/car magnets, flags, red white and blue election signs, etc etc, the sentiment "I'm proud to be American" is in your face a lot more than it is in Canada. I'm not saying it's wrong to be proud of your country, because I am very proud to be Canadian, but I just often wonder.... who are you all trying to convince?

I am an ameican having grown up in New Egland but have traveled much in the states and Canada often. You are right about the regionalization here in US. I have always found the midwesterners to be the most friendy. Especially compared to a New Englander ora Nw Yorke. I have always found the nEw Yorke to be the rudiest, pushist of all maericans.

When I have been in Canada it always amase me how clean and neat the cities were and how everyone dressed up when they went out even to the store. I never saw a woman 280 lbs with tight elastic pants and sneakers. God i could get sick walking in the grocery store here in the states.

[kristenm 0]

Hilarous!

I just recently came back from a trip to Chicago that lasted two months, so here is my two cents:

Number 1, there is a definate personal space issue! Maybe because I'm from Montreal, where its normal to greet someone you just met with two kisses. Either way, I can't help but laugh to myself whenever some gives one of those ackward hugs, you know, the one where its almost resembles an air huge. So, note to all, kisses are replaced by formal hand shackes.

Number 2, bagels looks like a donount. Huge, dougey, and a non-existing whole in the middle. Having been raised on MLT donunts all my life, I think the donount situation is going to be the worst! They are horrible - point finale. Oh ya, in US Costco calls what is supposed to be a french bread, which its not, an "Artisan bread".

Number 3, "Americian Cheese" officially exists. Don't laugh, its true. When asked if I would like Americian cheese in my sandwich, I looked blankly from my Fiance to the waitress and asked what is kind of cheese was that. She looked back at me and said "its Americian". I replied, "well, since I am not Americian, I still don't know what you are talking about. Are we talking about Kraft singles?". At this point, my fiance was laughing and as I was attempting to solve the Divinci Code of Cheese. In the end, I took the Americian cheese as form of experiment, and I the only thing I can say about it is that its orange and tasteless. I really think its a velveta/kraft immitation cheese.

Number 4, "Canadian bacon" also officially exists. This was also a funny realization, after I given the option of regular bacon and/or Canadian bacon. I felt so un-Canadian at the time because I was like, what the hell is Canadian bacon? I know Im from Quebec, but are we really THAT different from the rest of the Canada?

Number 5, Margarine is yellow. In Quebec, the diary industry doesn't allow margarine to look like butter because they felt that it would hurt their sales because Quebecer's would not be able to recongize the difference between butter and margarine if they were both yellow. I know, talk about a lack of faith in our collective intellegence.

Number 6, Americians have really, really, really perfected the concept of a SALE! Coming from a girl who loves to shop, AMEN! I think I could stand living away from home and country just for this reason alone. Honestly, 70% off an iteam that has little to no taxes on it anyways! Love it. And of course, there is always TJ MAXX and Marshalls if you need some retail therapy.

Number 7, portion sizes. In two months, I got so used to large portions that when I came home and went to a dinner party, I thought my hostest was trying to starve me and/or was giving me the hint that I gained too much weight during my trip to the US!

Thats about it for now, but Im sure there is more burried in my sub-conscious. Till then.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

ok, the cheese issue - American cheese is kind of a fake really mild cheddar that has no taste, and yeah, it is orange. In fact, in the stores if you are looking for a real old sharp cheddar - forget it - it doesn't exist. What is sold as extra sharp cheddar tastes like a medium cheddar - definitely NOT old - and definitely has no bite. The prices of cheese, however, is a lot more reasonable - maybe because it isn't good cheese VBG. I refuse to eat cheese products and cheese slices no matter how hard up I am - that doesn't even taste like food!

Canadian bacon refers to sliced ham that is fried like bacon - and isn't that great, either. What many Americans mean by Canadian bacon, though, is peamale bacon that is coated in cornmeal ,sliced, panfried and tastes wonderful! It doesn't exist in the States either and I miss it. I just wish they wouldn't refer to that mediocre sliced ham as Canadian bacon, though.

Yeah, portion size - yipes! I used to get large coffees with double cream back in Canada and that would be perfect - the equivalent of 16 ozs. Here that is a medium -and there are at least 2 sizes larger than that! Heck, the largest size would require a pint of cream! And don't get me started on American coffee - it is bitter and oily and I really realized how bitter it was when a friend sent me a can of Timmie's - oh, that was heaven! I like Starbucks but I have to ask for their mild because their strong is just too bitter.

[Cassie 8]

DITTO!!! Cassie, I couldn't agree with you more..........well, except for Nova Scotians being the 'nicest' seeing as I'm from the greatest province in Canada........NEWFOUNDLAND....... heehee...just kidding because as we know all of the Martimes is the greatest in Canada.

Amen sister! I get counted double because my grandmother's family is originally from Newfoundland.

My husband and family pronounces it New-found-lund, which aggravates me, and he knows it LOL

And American cheese isn't cheese But I am becoming fond of pepper jack.

Edited January 9, 2007 by Cassie

[Fuzzness 2]

american cheese sucks

[jg_am 0]

I don't like all this bashing of American Coffee. If you could only try Wawa coffee(Philadelphia area, South Jersey, etc). My future father in-law likes it better than Tim's. He said, "So when I come to visit, I can get this fresh brewed, right?", instead of out of the bag I brought him. Now Wawa(and I know, it's an Indian tribe's word for Canada Goose), is just a convenienve store, but it kicks butt. I like Tim's but for the atmosphere of the store. I don't like that their medium isn't much bigger than their small.

Edited January 9, 2007 by jg_am

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I don't like all this bashing of American Coffee. If you could only try Wawa coffee(Philadelphia area, South Jersey, etc). My future father in-law likes it better than Tim's. He said, "So when I come to visit, I can get this fresh brewed, right?", instead of out of the bag I brought him. Now Wawa(and I know, it's an Indian tribe's word for Canada Goose), is just a convenienve store, but it kicks butt. I like Tim's but for the atmosphere of the store. I don't like that their medium isn't much bigger than their small.

Well, cool - there IS good American coffee then - the only trouble is it apparently is only in Philadelphia and not here in Georgia:-)! Actually, I have found Dunkin Donut's coffee isn't that bad either - especially the flavoured kind - so that is generally what I use to sustain myself between Timmie fixes (VBG). I agree - I don't like that Tim Horton's medium isn't much bigger than their small either - which is why I always went with their large. I guess there is also an extra large at Timmie's too, right? Anyway, GENERALLY speaking, MOST American coffee is too bitter for my taste. How's that? better?

Edited January 9, 2007 by Kathryn41

[no one 0]

(hmm, ok, 2nd go around - the first one decided to disappear into the ether just before I pushed send)

Environmental issues - everything is overpackaged in the stores; food stuffs come from a distance away - virtually nothing local and no farmer's markets to buy local produce; only recycling is for newspapers and we have to drive to a depot 5 miles away to drop them off - no blue boxes, green boxes, black boxes or whatever; in fact the hardware store didn't even know what a composter was when we asked for one.

Driving - in addition to parking lots on the interstate American drivers are rude; they don't use turn signals very often, they tail gate, they cut you off and they try to cram as many other vehicles through an orange light as they possibly can

Religion - I used to joke that there were donut shops on every corner in Ontario - well, here it is churches - and not just familiar churches but denominations I have never heard of. Churches have elaborate names such as "Church of the Harvest" "King's Vinyard" "CHurch of God of Prophecy" "Noah's Ark CHurch" "Church of his Blazing Glory", etc - 10 pages worth in the yellow pages. This, of course, may be more of a regional difference here in the South but the focus on religion is definitely a lot more public and less private than back in Canada

Medical costs - expect to pay for everything even with insurance: doctor's visits, women's health visits, chiropractor, xrays, etc. They will also do complete physical of all vitals regardless of what you are seeing the doctor forat every visit. Expect to deal directly with insurance companies yourself because they are slow, make many errors, and you will receive multiple demands for payments from the doctors before the insurance has been paid, while the insurance is being paid and after the insurance has been paid - all for different amounts. Of course, since you pay for tests and such you get to keep the originals or copies of all reports, including MRIs and XRays;

Spanish influenced food items on the grocery shelves - tacos, corn flour, canned chillies and beans of all shape and sizes; seeing Spanish language used where we are used to seeing French.

Mail delivery on Saturday and the mailman will collect mail at the house rather than having to deliver it to a postal box somewhere

Security - having to be a lot more aware of your surroundings at all time; experiencing suspicion from neighbours until they get to know you; being aware of cars and vehicles that are in your area

Politics and Elections - they NEVER STOP! There is ALWAYS someone running for something at some level of government or other. There are election signs and billboards for everything from dogcatcher to Senate all over the place and it never ends - and neither does voter apathy. A recent run off election for a magistrate here garnered less than 5% of the possible voter turnout. Eventually, you begin to tune it all out - which is what I think the Americans already do

Sign pollution - signs, signs, everywhere are signs - billboards, placards, jobs, selling stuff, every street corner is littered with signs; every highway intersection; every interstate has signs - they are everywhere!

Clear plastic bags and showing receipts - after shopping at many stores you have to show your receipt to a security employee as you leave and he/she slashes a red mark across it after checking it against your purchases

Cell phones - I think these grow out of people's ears or they are implanted shortly after birth. Everyone has a cell phone and they are always talking on them everywhere - driving, in the supermarket, on the street, at entertainment venues . . .

There were others that I noticed as well but these were the biggies for me:-). Oh, that and being called Miss Kathryn by everyone - that is kind of nice, actually:-). Of course, that is definitely a Southern thing.

Agreeing with most of this!

I moved from Toronto to a relatively small town in northern California (any other fellow Canadians living in or near Petaluma?!), and I also feel that most of the differences I'm experiencing is due to big city vs small town since California is a lot like Canada in terms of its idealogies.

I completely agree with the ruder drivers (and lack of turn signals!) and the higher medical costs. Even though I'm covered by my husband's medical insurance, I was surprised to find out that most things are not 100% covered. What's with the embedded cell phones, btw? That said, the same trend's happening in Toronto too.

I'm loving the Saturday mail delivery here, but feel a bit out of place with the Mexican majority. Planning on taking a short Spanish course later in the spring though! Should be similar to French, eh?

Recycling's not bad here in northern California. We DO have blue and green boxes. Or, rather, they have huge bins here. They also have huge grey bins for garbage.

I'm also feeling a bit like a 'tard for not remembering how to swipe my own credit card Oh! And you can't get stamps in just any drugstore or grocery store around here... you often have to weigh your own mail packages and fill in your own custom forms here as well.

I feel relatively safe here -- we often don't lock our doors during the day. My husband thinks my family (back home in Toronto) is paranoid because we have a house alarm system

The showing receipt thing I've only experienced at Costco

There are cool "turnabouts" here and lots more bike lanes. BUT, the highway -- "freeway" -- system sucks a lot. Often it's two lanes (even on the 101!) and the signage sucks for entrance ramps. Because there's no snow in the city, there are neat reflectors embedded into the roads and here in Petaluma, they even have flashing lights lining some sidewalks

[no one 0]

PS

Also... not sure if this is a big city vs small town thing, but people around here don't seem to care much for public libraries. There is only ONE library in this entire town and it's making me miss the Toronto Public Library system a lot!