SAME...BUT DIFFERENT...

Moving to Canada hasn’t been a huge culture shock, because it is very much the same here as it is in the states (everyone speaks English here in Burlington, the driving laws are the same, and it looks & feels like most places in the U.S.), other than a few things that seem funny or strange, and things that we are still trying to get used to. Here’s just a few...

Everything is in the Metric System, so temperatures are in Celsius, speed is in Kilometers per hour, food is in Liters, milliliters, grams, etc. When people say that it's going to be so nice & warm at 23 degrees, I have to go figure out what that is in Farenheight (74*). 23 degrees to me = FREEZING! :) And it’s interesting sometimes when I’m trying to make a recipe & need a certain amount of something, but my cookbook is in ounces, and the food here is in grams or liters. I’ve had to look up the conversions online a few times! And as for driving, on all cars in the U.S., the speedometer is in mph in big numbers, and Km/h in small numbers under that. Here, it’s just switched around. Neil’s car is in Km/h, and our van is from the U.S., so it’s still mph, but we just make sure to watch the Km/h when we drive. It seems funny to see the speed limit signs that have 100 on them.
When we were shopping for school supplies, we learned that "duotangs" are folders with brads, "pencil crayons" are colored pencils, it's a "washroom" not a "bathroom," you say “Grade 1, Grade 2,” etc.—not 1st grade, 2nd grade...and the last letter of the alphabet is called "Zed" not "Zee." Also the schools here are Primary (from K-8), and Secondary (9-12). I was a little concerned about such big kids being in the same school with the little ones, but they say it’s not a problem and it give the older kids lots of opportunities to help the little ones (we haven’t had any problems so far, and it’s great for me to only have to drive to 2 schools, instead of three or four!). Also, they don’t serve hot lunch here in the schools. Everyone takes their own lunches from home. The kids in Primary grades just eat in their classroom and then go out for recess once they are done. The kids in Highschool have an open campus & can either eat in a lunch room area with tables, or they can walk down the street to get some fast food. And to graduate from the Highschool here, the kids are REQUIRED to document 40 hours of community service by the time they graduate. I think that's a great idea! :) And our kids are having to learn how to spell certain words the Canadian way. Like Labour, Colour, Cheque, Centre, etc. They are doing great & their teachers are very understanding.

When you go grocery shopping, you take your own reusable shopping bags. They have plastic bags available, but you have to pay extra for them. And if you don’t have your own bags, they’ll ask you how many bags you need, as they start checking. At first, I was thinking, “How would I know how many bags I’m going to need?!” But I’ve become quite good at judging how many bags I need for the amount of groceries I’ll be buying, and I’ve also gotten in the habit of always leaving our reusable shopping bags in our van, so I always have them available! AND I always have a couple quarters with me, because several stores require you to put a quarter in the cart handle to “unlock” it, then when you return the cart, you get the quarter back. It was kind of frustrating at first, trying to remember all these little quirks.

Another thing is that the Canadians are crazy about their recycling! When we were in the U.S., we had one large city garbage can, and one large city can for recyclables. Well, here they take it several steps further. We have a “blue bin” for things like paper, glass, foil, & metal recycling. Then we have a “green bin” for compostable items (food, toilet paper rolls/paper towel rolls, papertowels & napkins, etc.) And with the “green bin” comes a small white bin that you leave under your sink to collect all the nasty food & such, (then transfer it to the larger bin). GROSS! We call it the “Yucky Bucket.” I’m all for recycling, but this is a bit much. But, we’ve had to go the way of the Canadians & do it, because otherwise, all of our garbage wouldn’t get picked up, because the last “bin” we have is just a regular garbage can (that we had to purchase ourselves), that is for anything else that can’t go in the other recycle bins. AND they only pick up the “garbage” cans every other week, and you have a maximum of 6 bags when they pick them up. Which means we are only allowed 3 bags of garbage per week. (Some areas only allow 1 bag of garbage per week! Whoever decided that obviously doesn’t have a family of six!!!) So...we are becoming good little recyclers... I still think the “Yucky Bucket” is nasty & disgusting, but you do what you have to do. At least they sell “compostable” liners/bags made especially for the “little yucky bucket” and the “big yucky bucket.” I think they should just name them that....sounds better than the “green bin” and “white bin.” :)

And here in Canada, you don’t order “Canadian Bacon” on your pizza—it just confuses everyone! Hahahahaha! When we first moved here, we went to order some pizza at a local pizza place. I ordered a medium pepperoni, and a medium canadian bacon with pineapple. The guy started writing all these extra ingredients. I said we didn’t want those other things, just canadian bacon (ham), and pineapple. So he added ham to the list of items. He was totally confused, and so was I. Then I realized that in Canada, "Canadian Bacon" probably means something else. He said that their “Canadian” pizza was hamburger, sausage, & bacon, so then he added the ham & pineapple to it, because that’s what I asked for. Too funny! I’m sure he thought we were crazy Americans. :) Hahahaha!

There are also certain things that you just can’t buy in Canada, like Rhodes frozen rolls. We are bummed, because we really like them & they are fast & easy. Also Twizzlers like they have in the states, they don’t have here. And “smarties” are not like smarties in the U.S. They are like M&M’s only with a weird fruity outer coating. And what we call smarties in the U.S., are called “Rockets” here. I also haven’t been able to find Zyrtec allergy medicine for my kids, so we’ve had to switch to a different medicine that is similar to Zyrtec. And their milk comes in BAGS! You have to buy a pitcher to put the bag in, cut off one corner, and pour it out that way. Kind of a pain, but we are getting used to that too. The butter doesn’t come in long sticks, it comes in one giant block. And the cheese comes in long, skinny blocks, instead of a brick-shaped block.
There aren’t any Men’s Warehouse stores in Canada, so we’ll have to find somewhere else to shop for Neil’s suits & work clothes. And as for restaurants...well, they don’t have any good Mexican places around here, and the other restaurants (Italian, Chinese, Steakhouses, etc.) are okay, but we haven't found any that we really love yet, and they don't have any of our favorite places like PF Changs, Abuelos, Outback, Chick-fil-A, etc. Even the Canadians say that the food at U.S. restaurants is SO much better. I guess that’s a good thing, though, so we aren’t tempted to eat out as much, since it’s so incredibly expensive here! They don’t charge any tax on groceries, which is AWESOME, but tax on everything else is 13%, which really adds up. And prices in general are a lot more here than in the states. We went to look at the Old Navy here in Burlington, and about died! Prices were about double! So we might have to wait for good sales, or save our shopping trips for when we drive over the border, to save us some money! (It's a good thing I hate shopping).

And we also learned that the DMV is a universal, international, PAIN IN THE NECK!!! Glad we are done with that & got it all finished up within the first few days of being here! And the government insurance here is something we haven’t experienced yet (thank goodness, we are usually very healthy)! You have to apply for the OHIP card (Ontario Health Insurance Plan), and you have to be living here for 3 months before you are eligable. But Neil’s company paid for supplimental insurance for us until that kicks in (on Nov. 30th). When you have the OHIP insurance, and you go to the doctor or hospital, you don’t pay a penny. That will be strange, and GREAT not to have to pay! (Although they take PLENTY out in income taxes to make up for that benefit!!!) However, we’ve also heard that the waits can be kind of long because of that. And there are Walk-In Clinics all over the place. I think most people go to those when they need to see a doctor. You can have a regular doctor & schedule appointments too, but they also just take walk-in patients all the time.

Another thing that’s funny is that everything is written in both English & French (signs, food, etc.), and the kids are required to take French beginning in 4th grade. PJ was able to waive that requirement, because he’d be SO far behind everyone else & they don’t even offer beginning French at the Highschool, assuming everyone has already had that since 4th grade. But they offer Spanish beginning in 10th grade, so he will take that next year to fill his language requirement.

Mail here is called "POST,” electrical power is called “Hydro,” the $1 coin is a "Loonie" and the $2 coin is a "Toonie," you hear LOTS of “aboot”, “ootside”, and “Eh!”, and many other funny little terms and accents. A lot of people have mentioned Poutine, which is a Canadian dish of French Fries & fresh cheese curds, covered with brown gravy. Neil tried it once & said it was fine. I doubt I would like it, because I don’t really like fries. But I guess I should try it at least once.

Another GREAT thing is that Canadians LOVE Holidays. So much so, that they have created a holiday, with a day off (usually on a Friday or Monday, so that there is a 3-day weekend) almost EVERY month! They really know how to relax & enjoy time off! I like that idea! And when it's a holiday here, EVERYTHING shuts down--even Walmart! We figured that out on Labour day (we had only been here a few days), when we had a ward barbeque & had volunteered to bring cookies. Well, we drove to several grocery stores and Walmart, but they were ALL closed. We finally went to a little drug store & bought some packaged cookies. :)

And people here RANT & RAVE about a place called Tim Hortons! It’s like a religion here! It’s like a cross between a Panera and Krispy Kreme. They serve fresh donuts, bagels, pastries, etc. As well as soups & sandwiches for lunch. But they are most famous for their coffee. People are crazy about it! Seems even bigger than Starbucks is in the states. Their food is good & we’ve eaten there a few times, but there is always a HUGE line at the drive through, for people to get their coffee fix. And their donut holes are called “Tim Bits.” I called them donut holes once & the lady didn’t know what I was talking about. :) Hahahahaha!

Anyway, that’s just a few of the funny little differences that we are getting to experience here in Canada. We will soon get to enjoy the nice long, cold, snowy winter here as well. That should be interesting. The kids are excited for “real” snow. Me...I could do without any cold weather or snow, EVER! But I’ll just enjoy it from inside the nice warm house, while drinking my hot cocoa! :) Life is good, we are happy, & feel very blessed!