Proud to be Canadian

[Piglet]

On this Election Day in the USA, I am feeling proud to be Canadian. I have been homesick like crazy and all the fighting and insulting behaviour I am seeing in the election is making it worse :( I miss hockey. I miss good beer (although I can buy Unibroue at the grocery store around the block). I miss snow. I miss politeness. I miss multi-party elections. I miss spelling things with extra "u"s. I miss zed.

In case anyone knows the Arrogant Worms, sing along:

Our fair country Canada is north of the USA
Our Maritimes are lovely and our prairies give us hay
You might think you Yankees are better than us Canucks
But we don't need no microchips inside our hockey pucks
We know that you have Disney world and you keep it very
clean
But we don't have Bob Dole and we can drink when we're
nineteen
We might watch your TV shows for hours and hours and hours
We'll give you Alan Thicke, but Shania Twain is ours

CHORUS
We're proud to be Canadian
We're awfully nice to strangers, our manners be our curse
It's cool in many ways to be Canadian
We won't say that we're better, it's just that we're less worse

Your beer is not to tasty but you weather can't be beat
We all fly south in the wintertime to escape the snow and sleet
We're pleased to say we've enjoyed all your southern
charms
But we get sunburnt we exercise the right to bear our
arms

CHORUS

Alanis Morissette she is our latest pride and joy
She used to sing about high school dances
and chasin' after boys
Now she's fed up and about as angry as can be
She's got one hand in her pocket
and the other's in gaurd for thee

[EllasMum]

Canada misses you, too, Marina!

When my brother and I did a backpacking trip around Europe, we had the greatest Canadian pride moment. It was early, early in the morning, and we had just pulled into a hostel in Germany. My brother and I were sitting on the floor (with everyone else) waiting for our rooms to be ready. We were bleary-eyed, exhausted, and homesick. Out of the corner of my eye, I see one of the hostel kitchen staff walk over to their sound system and put in a CD. All of a sudden, the first chords of "Giftshop" by Tragically Hip permeated the air... you could tell the Canadians in the room, because all our heads shot up in unison! It was like this "HEY! CANADIAN!!" moment that I will never forget! So, I recommend to you to put on some of your favourite Canadian music and spell things with extra u's while you drink beer. :boogie:

[MontrealMum]

Sorry you're feeling homesick Marina, it's surprising how different Canada and America really are, since they do appear to be similar on the surface. BTW, DH has that CD - SIL went to Queen's and is a big fan. If you want anything I can ship it down there ;) *real* maple syrup, Trad (I think you're from AB?), snow...OK, just kidding with the snow! The thing I really notice when in the US is that people don't drive with their lights on all the time. I've really gotten used to it, and it freaks me out now.

I have seen St.-Ambroise for sale in MI, as well as the Unibroue line, and you can get Breton crackers and Anna's ginger thins-they're from High River of all places-everywhere. Also, some stores in MI have begun carrying President's Choice, though no peppermint crunch ice cream at Xmas :(

Get yourself some cable or satellite tv so at least you can pick up the CBC and others. Living so far south that's the only way you're going to get them. I have a very good Canadian friend that lives in the Boston area, and I think he's become more, not less, Canadian in the time he's been there. Not to be all lessons learned and all, but think how much more you'll appreciate it when you're back home :)

Sorry, I tried to use an -our word for you, but realize that I did not. Here goes :p ...This weekend DH and I stood in a terrible line-up at the Canadian Tire so he could buy some new tools to put the tyres on since it snowed last week. There was no washroom and we'd just been to Tim's for a double double and I could hardly stand it. Even though it's only 10 clicks on the autoroute, the ride home was bloody long. We're hoping it gets up to 5 today because I can't find any of the tuques and it's a long walk down to the legion where they're giving out poppies...sorry, I think that's as long as I can go on :)

[EllasMum]

LOL Molly, you rock! :hysterical:

[MontrealMum]

Thanks! Maybe that should have been part of my test :) Most of it is due to DH, who is very proud to be Canadian, and loves to use Canadianisms. He's been to every part of the country except Nunavit because it didn't exist when he was working in the Territories. I have all the territories and Sask. to go yet...and "and Labrador"

[Piglet]

LOL Molly! Thank you. I totally forgot about double doubles... oh the double doubles. And yes, I have tried in vain to find a word to use instead of tuque and have failed. Ski hat just doesn't seem to cut it!

[mommyp]

Hey Marina, I've been in the US five years now and still miss some of the same things you do! I also cannot use any other word than tuque, it is the only word that works for me. Thanks for posting the Arrogant Worms...I love them! My other favourite (whoo hoo...I spelled it with a u!) is The Last Saskatchewan Pirate.

[Neatfreak]

Gosh, I miss the Arrogant Worms. I was at the Calgary Folk Fest this summer, but they weren't. Sniff.

I completely get your post, Marina. I think it's really weird that I had to leave Canada to actually feel more attached to it! I try to pretend that the imported American mac n' cheese I sometimes feed M is really Kraft Dinner and my iPod is full of CBC content. My husband teases me about my subscription to Maclean's :)