where am I again??
I returned today from a trip to the USA - five nights in Anchorage for the aforementioned wedding and one night in Seattle as part of the return trip. Despite living so close to the border, I rarely get into the states as I really have no need to. I just don't have enough reason to justify digging out my passport and sitting in a line up at the border to fight it out over parking spots at warehouse sized outlet stores.
This trip brought to light something that I keep forgetting: the US is a different country. I watch American television shows, I see a bit of American news and I guess I kind of figured we're all the same after a while. Of course there are the significant differences in government structure, demographics, geography and all the obvious stereotypical traits touted by the media and anyone who's proud to be either a Canadian or American citizen. blah blah blah
But the little differences took a while to sink in. The cities seemed more sprawling. I kept trying to pay people with one dollar bills, since they're the same colour as Canadian twenties and I kept looking for two dollar coins in my change. News broadcasts and newspapers were more intense. I didn't recognize many of the songs on the radio - I knew a fair few, but it was disconcerting how many I'd never heard before. A lot of my food was heavily battered and, while I'm good with most Asian, Indian and European accents, the southern drawls kept tripping me up. And, yes, there were a surprising number of southern drawls in Alaska and not just on the tourists from the cruise boats.
Now, I'd been in San Francisco last spring and noticed some of the same things, but thought it was a result of being further removed from home. Now, however, I was seeing it in two states that both border on Canada!
This was a bit of a relevation for me - I hadn't truly appreciated before this how different the Canadian and American cultures can be. Perhaps I hadn't truly appreciated, despite hearing it so often, that there are distinct Canadian and American cultures. My friends in the states (alright, they're ex-pats - but I've met their fully American friends too!) never expounded on these little differences.
At the most basic level, I've always had the belief that everyone, no matter where they're living, needs the same Big Things: to love, eat, sleep and pee. But, at the moment, I'm left to wonder how many of the other Little Things does it take to add up to a Difference?
The Difference tomorrow? I'll be going to the bank to re-convert my American money back into a more substantial amount of cold hard Canadian cash.
yay!
This trip brought to light something that I keep forgetting: the US is a different country. I watch American television shows, I see a bit of American news and I guess I kind of figured we're all the same after a while. Of course there are the significant differences in government structure, demographics, geography and all the obvious stereotypical traits touted by the media and anyone who's proud to be either a Canadian or American citizen. blah blah blah
But the little differences took a while to sink in. The cities seemed more sprawling. I kept trying to pay people with one dollar bills, since they're the same colour as Canadian twenties and I kept looking for two dollar coins in my change. News broadcasts and newspapers were more intense. I didn't recognize many of the songs on the radio - I knew a fair few, but it was disconcerting how many I'd never heard before. A lot of my food was heavily battered and, while I'm good with most Asian, Indian and European accents, the southern drawls kept tripping me up. And, yes, there were a surprising number of southern drawls in Alaska and not just on the tourists from the cruise boats.
Now, I'd been in San Francisco last spring and noticed some of the same things, but thought it was a result of being further removed from home. Now, however, I was seeing it in two states that both border on Canada!
This was a bit of a relevation for me - I hadn't truly appreciated before this how different the Canadian and American cultures can be. Perhaps I hadn't truly appreciated, despite hearing it so often, that there are distinct Canadian and American cultures. My friends in the states (alright, they're ex-pats - but I've met their fully American friends too!) never expounded on these little differences.
At the most basic level, I've always had the belief that everyone, no matter where they're living, needs the same Big Things: to love, eat, sleep and pee. But, at the moment, I'm left to wonder how many of the other Little Things does it take to add up to a Difference?
The Difference tomorrow? I'll be going to the bank to re-convert my American money back into a more substantial amount of cold hard Canadian cash.
yay!
posted by Jenn at
8:18 p.m.
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