Wednesday, January 21, 2009

I Take 2 Traffic Circles To Work - And Other Weird Stuff About Canada

Traffic Circles or Roundabouts - California does not have these interesting obstacle courses. I'm still not quite sure what to do when I approach one... I just learned last week that I need to yield before entering it. Before that I was just entering it at full speed and hoping for the best. =]



Milk in a bag - It's just plain odd. I don't think I will ever get used to grabbing "a bag of milk". There are no cartons, I think maybe special milk comes in cartons. I'm not too sure. The grocery store still looks like it's in a different language.



Electric Fires a.k.a Fake Fire - They seem to be everywhere. Ian got one awhile back for his room and I thought it was a little strange. After coming here I saw that they were really common. We chose a TV stand with one and I actually like it.



"Zed" or "The Incorrect Pronunciation of Z" - It might have German and French roots. Unfortunately, everyone says it. I think one of the ads for a store called Zellers (very similar to Target) states "We have everything - from A to Zed". >< Come on people... You don't go to catch some Zeds! You go to catch some Zzzzs! This leads me to my next weird thing...

Soda is NOT Pop - Ian and I were shopping at the grocery store and they had a "Pop" aisle. No no no. I refuse. Soda is soda. Pop is something you might get from an antique SODA machine and comes in a glass bottle.

Leaving the butter out - I think this one might be an east coast thing since my sister does it now. All I know is... we didn't do this when we were growing up so it's been a bit of an adjustment.

Loonies, Toonies and Monopoly Money - I'm still not used to getting change back from a purchase with $1 (loonies) and $2 coins (toonies)... (Hey Mom, that baby sock coin purse you got me is working out GREAT! It's getting a lot of use....) I still expect them to give me a paper bill. Plus their money in general looks like Monopoly money.



The addition of extra U's for no apparent reason - Yes, I know that some people who shall remain nameless... feel that the addition is the correct way of spelling some words. But no, it's really not. Canada/England/Anywhere else that missed the memo... Stop putting extra U's into words that don't need them. For example:

WRONG:
  • colour
  • favour
  • honour
  • rumour
RIGHT:
  • color
  • favor
  • honor
  • rumor
You can probably add the whole "re", "er" thing in there too. It's CENTER, not CENTRE! I realize it's the British English language... but when you grow up a certain way, it still looks funny.

Aside from these odd things, my transition to Canada has been good. I miss California and my mom like crazy but I'm doing well up here. I'm settling into work and seeing how I fit into the team. Since I'm not backfilling anyone, I'm making a lot of decisions about what my role does and does not do.

Friday marks 2 years that Ian and I have been together. We are going to 20 Hobson Street Restaurant for dinner. We both really can't believe that it's only been 2 years... it feels like we have been together much longer than that. Friday also marks a year until our wedding. If you scroll to the bottom there is a cute little counter from The Knot. Very exciting!

2 comments :

Megan said...

OMG I'm sitting at my desk giggling. I'm gonna have to show Dominika this post!!!

Anonymous said...

Heheh, you put a link to this and as a Canadian friend I had to laugh so hard, when I go visit the States all my Rights and Wrongs are reversed with yours, so funny how that happens eh? (Yes I used it.)