Culture shock for Canadians in the US

[giraffemd 0]

american cheese sucks

[Velvettt 0]

Religion, politics, food, tolerance and world knowledge. Insane amounts of the first two, bad or senseless differences in the third, and horrifying lack of the last two.

I'm going to avoid the potentially incendiary nature of the first two. I tend to rant.

There are no farmers' markets in south Texas. There is no such thing as "in season" for anything. The only cheese I can find that doesn't taste like wax costs wayyyyy too much for casual nibbling. There is no sausage that doesn't taste bland and greasy except for chorizo, which tastes hot and greasy. I can't find the cuts of beef I want to roast. The flour isn't made from the same wheat so it doesn't work the same way. EVERYTHING has high fructose corn syrup in it and is disgustingly sweet. There are days I would kill for a chunk of Tavistock cheddar, some Polish sausage and some crackers that aren't as sweet as cookies. I freak out when it's fall but the pork and ham don't go down in price. Or it's summer but the fruit and veggies are the same prices as winter and they come from Mexico or California! I know there are farms here... where the he!! is the food going?

People are just not willing to let others be different. It's like if someone believes differently than you, or lives differently, etc., it's a threat. There's no such thing as "live and let live" down here.

The world begins and ends at the US borders. And for a lot of Texans, it begins and ends at the borders of Texas. The abysmal ignorance of other countries is disturbing. No wonder they all think it's the best place in the world cuz they know nothing of any other one! Forget about international news on tv or in the papers. I'm no world traveller, but I make some people here look like cavedwellers.

So how come I live here? My mate is here. I've learned to love Tex-Mex food, wine is cheaper and we're 2 and a half hours from the Gulf of Mexico so weekend trips to the beach are easy. There's no snow! We actually get a tax refund every year. I love mariachi music. I still get a kick out of seeing highway signs for places I used to know from song lyrics and movies, like El Paso and Abilene. Did I mention there's no snow?

[Marilyn. 340]

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!

here in the LA area there are quite a few public libraries.....

and about all the differences, like a few people mentioned I think a lot of it depends on where you live in the US and if you moved from a big city to a small town or vica-versa....

[Velvettt 0]

I forgot to mention the libraries. The San Antonio library system is absolutely wonderful, except that they don't recognize my library school diploma and therefore aren't interested in my experience, either. On the plus side, the US Postal Service rocks! Canada Post could learn a lot from them.

I went from small town Ontario to a city of a million plus, so the things I didn't mention are the ones that I think are size related: traffic, crime, litter, etc. I hated living in Toronto, too.

[Zaurok 0]

Snow? What is that?

We haven't had "real" snow this year in Montreal. You'd think it's spring...

I wouldn't be suprised if we didn't have any snow at all next year.

The grass was green when I left Montreal during the Holidays...

[Emancipation 2]

The Daffodils have sprung on PEI, there are grasshoppers in St. Stephen, and no animals have hibernated yet. It's a crazy winter. We had 2 inches of snow in 2 hrs yesterday then 2 inches of rain. A right mess!

[Flames9_RN 358]

Been super mild here in DC. Meg keeps hoping for a Snow day!! Nothign here has really shocked me, except for no Tim Hortons and knew that prior,lol Drivers are idiots in every country, just more so here ,lol For the most part people have been ok,haven't had too many problems. Did I mention no tim hortons? lol

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Oh yeah, that high fructose corn syrup thing really bugs me - come on, they even put it in half and half cream! Yikes - I spend so much time now reading labels trying to find stuff that doesn't have it - ridiculous. No wonder so many people here are obese (and I have gained 15 pounds since I arrived - not happy about that!) Yeah, I think USPS rocks too - except that you can't get stamps anywhere else except at the post office and the lines are often out the door.

[Flames9_RN 358]

Iknow Costco sells stamps. And soem banking machines (wachovia) disperse stamps as well. USPS is much faster than Canada post. Once Canada gets there first gas powered vehicle and puts awy the dog teams, I'm sure service will improve.

[Velvettt 0]

Oh yeah, that high fructose corn syrup thing really bugs me - come on, they even put it in half and half cream! Yikes - I spend so much time now reading labels trying to find stuff that doesn't have it - ridiculous. No wonder so many people here are obese (and I have gained 15 pounds since I arrived - not happy about that!) Yeah, I think USPS rocks too - except that you can't get stamps anywhere else except at the post office and the lines are often out the door.

We can buy packages of stamps at the grocery stores. How about lotteries where you are? It just freaks me out that all the TX lotteries are income taxable and none of them are actually for the amount of prize advertised! They're all annuity payouts, with the option of taking approx half in a bulk payment instead.

[Galateia 1]

I could either laugh or cry over the points made in this topic (My headline would read "Liberal Canadian Atheist Follows Her Man to Texas, massacre photos on pg 2!") and since I'm more tempted to cry, I'll stick with the humorous stuff.

Up here in Waterloo, I feel like a giant tub of lard lumbering past all the slim Asian girls so prevalent at my university. Then I went to Kentucky. In the Walmart parking lot, I had an epiphany; I am slim! Sleek! Slender! I only have a chin and a half!: I am a Seal swimming among the Walruses!

And I'll be in Lubbock. The culture shock may send me over the edge. When he came to see me I took him to Pride in Toronto because it was the most fun thing happening at the time; when I go there I may actually be witness to people making homophobic comments out loud in public without getting collared by the police. My head spins at the thought.

And I forgot to mention: I don't drive. Yikes!

[no one 0]

Oh... and you can also buy alcohol in drugstores and grocery stores around here. Mind-boggling

USPS is cool. During the Christmas season, they made extra rounds with a GOLF CART around our neighbourhood. Guess they borrowed them from the nearby golf club.

I miss the snow!!! My parents back home in T.O. told me that their snowblower's been collecting dust. Thankfully, I'm around a 3 hrs' drive away from Tahoe (good skiing/snowboarding!)... and an hr's drive away from the ocean.

The sales tax system here is more complex as well. Different cities have different sales taxes, but they're all lower than Ontario's GST + PST

[no one 0]

Loyalty card programs...

Is it just here in northern California, or do stores in the U.S. ram their loyalty card programs down your throats? If you don't use your store cards, you miss out on all the discounts and sometimes have to pay twice or three times as much. Back in Canada, loyalty cards were all about collecting points towards gifts or air miles!

[jg_am 0]

Anyway, GENERALLY speaking, MOST American coffee is too bitter for my taste. How's that? better?

Thanks Kathryn!

My shock with Canada post came when I went to mail a large envelope from Ontario to Alberta for my fiancee. $10 for something that would've cost $3 from the States!!! For the next hour I thought "$10?!?!?!?, until I had to say it out loud.

[Galateia 1]

You can't buy booze on a Sunday in some states, but they have 'DRIVE-THRU' LIQUOR STORES.

Drinking + Sunday = Bad. Drinking + Driving = Alllright!