Canadian things that totally shocked my British partner
Recently I took my British partner to visit my family in Canada – and I never realised how weird Canadian culture is! Bagged milk?? Deer everywhere?? Let’s chat about all the weird Canadian things that totally shocked my British partner!
Francisco
I’ve been to Canada twice: Stayed in a youth hostel in Ottawa. Years later, I was seeing someone who had relations in the Toronto area so spent a week or two in the area:
My observations are:
* Airlines really do lose luggage (thought that that was just a myth)
* Smog does exist (thought that it was just an effect that American filmmakers and TV studios used to make things look more dramatic)
* The slit type plug sockets you see in cartoons are real
* The current limit is similar to Europe so the power provided by said sockets is less (Power = Voltage x Current)
* Sales tax isn’t included in the price
* Mugging is something you have to take seriously (luckily didn’t get mugged but buying clothes whilst waiting for the airline to deliver my luggage I overheard the staff discussing what they would do if they were mugged at gun point)
* Streets are very long
* The Canadian Parliament is clearly modelled on the UK one and the Canadian Head of State is the monarch of the UK
* Buses are used more than trains for long distance travel
* Taxis are expensive (the one time I used one the meter was spinning so fast it looked more like a stopwatch than a taxi meter)
* Had to go to a drug store to get something that I would go to a different kind of shop here to get. I can’t remember what.
* Some vehicles are really big (I think that on a minor road trip I was the vehicles that were working a quarry)
* It gets very hot in the summer (thought weather would be closer to Europe, eg Germany)
* Ice wine is a thing
Francisco
I forgot:
* The Greater Toronto Area includes cities.
* In the suburbs,, pedestrians are made to feel like an afterthought.