I don't typically get out much on week nights.
By the time I fight my through the traffic after work to get home I'm tired. All I want to do is relax. Some nights I'll take the dog for a walk in our neighbourhood but I generally I don't venture too far.
Last night Shawn made me go to the gym and I ventured out from our neighbourhood on a week night for the first time in months and too my delight there was a demonstration going on just a few blocks away from our house!
I have never seen a real demonstration before - so to me this was an exciting event!
The demonstration was in protest against President Bush's proposed amnesty for illegal immigrants in the US. On one side of the intersection there was a large group of Americans holding up signs that read: "Put up the Wall" and "Amnesty is BUll SHit". On the other side of the intersection there was a smaller group of people holding signs that read "God Created Everyone Equal - No one is Illegal" and "We Support George Bush". There were police everywhere keeping the peace. Apart from the fact that the cars driving through the intersection either honked their horns or yelled out a few comments in support of one side or the other the demonstration itself seemed relatively peaceful considering it was centered around such a controversial topic.
The strange thing about the entire event was that both groups of protesters were waving American Flags and chanting USA! USA! USA! From the outside looking in it was funny to see two groups of people on opposite sides of a political agenda with so much in common.
What can I say the demonstration probably was not the most exciting thing going on in Atlanta last night, but it sure made my night! I guess I need to get out more!!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Monday, June 11, 2007
Lost in Translation
I was reading my cousin Sarah's Blog the other day and was surprisingly touched by a blog that she wrote about Culture Shock. Sarah is currently living in Japan and has been there since last summer. In the blog Sarah writes about her experience with culture shock while living in Japan, I found this particular blog hit close to home for me.
Sarah begins her blog by stating that Canada and Japan are very similar. I found this statement to be strange. Canada and Japan are both progressive and developed countries, however I can only imagine (since I have never been to Japan myself) that the two countries wouldn't much else in common. The cultural backgrounds between Canada and Japan are so vastly different not to mention the language barrier that I would only expect to experience culture shock if I should ever be lucky enough to visit.
I moved to the US from Canada 6 years ago today. My family decided to make the move to the US almost 10 years ago, but I decided to remain in Canada to attend University since I was accepted into my school of choice. Four years later I decided to follow my family south of the border after obtaining my degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and landing a job in Human Resources with Kimberly-Clark in Marinette Wisconsin.
As I look back on my 6 years in the US I can honestly say that I have experienced culture shock on many occasions. Prior to leaving Canada I really did not believe that there would be too many differences between Canada and the US, we spoke the same language, watched the same TV shows and movies and listened to the same music. In general we have the same culture. What I found out after moving to the US is that my assumptions were only partially true.
Canadians for the most part listen to the same music as Americans do when it came to American musicians, however I immediately noticed that the bands that I was really into in 2001 (The Tragically Hip, The Mathew Good Band, and Our Lady Peace to name a few) all pretty much disappeared from the radio once I crossed the boarder.
As for movies I would say that for the most part Canadians and Americans watch the same movies, after all most of the movies that are realised in North American are shot in Canada but produced out of Hollywood, so I guess we are on equal footing when it comes to the film industry.
After living here for 6 years I can say that I am fairly adapted to the American way of life, at first the small things bothered me like the fact that you can't buy Wine Gums in the US and the fact that the Baked Beans in a can taste different and so does Corn Pops (cereal), but I have gotten over those differences. Now it is the language that gets me.
Canadians and Americans both speak English, yet there are still times when I realize that Canadian English is not the same as American English. I learned some lessons relatively quickly: the word "cheque" is spelled "check" and the letter z is pronounced "zzzzz" not "zed" and of course when in doubt drop the "u" out of most words if it follows an "o". I have pretty much abolished "ah?" from my vocabulary and Shawn tells me that I have replaced it with the more annoying American version "hun?". There were things that I knew before I moved like the fact that University's in the US are called Colleges and although it was difficult for me at first to refer to my esteemed University as a College I somehow managed to make the switch.
When I first moved here there were several words that I used in my vocabulary that are not common here in the US and every time that I used these "Canadian" words I received puzzled looks or giggles from the person that I was talking to. Over the past 6 years I have pretty much screened out most of the "Canadian" words from my vocabulary. It's not that I am ashamed of my "Canadian" words but sometimes people cause such a fuss when I use words such as "I beg your pardon" vs. saying "hun?" that I rarely use my "Canadian" words anymore.
Every now and then I discover that I still have a few of these "Canadian" words left in me. The other day I was telling my friend Lori a story about Shawn making "Kraft Dinner" and Lori stopped me mid story and asked "Kraft Dinner? What are you talking about?" I replied "You know Kraft Macaroni and Cheese" and she said "isn't it just called Macaroni and Cheese?" Even though I was talking to Lori on the phone I felt my face get hot, as I was thinking to myself that maybe only my family referred to Macaroni and Cheese as Kraft Dinner and I began to second guess that anyone ever called Macaroni and Cheese "Kraft Dinner".
When I got home that day I looked "Kraft Dinner" up on Wikipedia and sure enough it said that Americans refer to it as "Kraft Macaroni and Cheese" however Canadians retained it's original name "Kraft Dinner".
The point of my story is that even after living in a country that is very similar to my home country I still find that I get home sick even after 6 years. No wonder Sarah is a little homesick, she has only been in Japan for 10 months!
Sarah begins her blog by stating that Canada and Japan are very similar. I found this statement to be strange. Canada and Japan are both progressive and developed countries, however I can only imagine (since I have never been to Japan myself) that the two countries wouldn't much else in common. The cultural backgrounds between Canada and Japan are so vastly different not to mention the language barrier that I would only expect to experience culture shock if I should ever be lucky enough to visit.
I moved to the US from Canada 6 years ago today. My family decided to make the move to the US almost 10 years ago, but I decided to remain in Canada to attend University since I was accepted into my school of choice. Four years later I decided to follow my family south of the border after obtaining my degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and landing a job in Human Resources with Kimberly-Clark in Marinette Wisconsin.
As I look back on my 6 years in the US I can honestly say that I have experienced culture shock on many occasions. Prior to leaving Canada I really did not believe that there would be too many differences between Canada and the US, we spoke the same language, watched the same TV shows and movies and listened to the same music. In general we have the same culture. What I found out after moving to the US is that my assumptions were only partially true.
Canadians for the most part listen to the same music as Americans do when it came to American musicians, however I immediately noticed that the bands that I was really into in 2001 (The Tragically Hip, The Mathew Good Band, and Our Lady Peace to name a few) all pretty much disappeared from the radio once I crossed the boarder.
As for movies I would say that for the most part Canadians and Americans watch the same movies, after all most of the movies that are realised in North American are shot in Canada but produced out of Hollywood, so I guess we are on equal footing when it comes to the film industry.
After living here for 6 years I can say that I am fairly adapted to the American way of life, at first the small things bothered me like the fact that you can't buy Wine Gums in the US and the fact that the Baked Beans in a can taste different and so does Corn Pops (cereal), but I have gotten over those differences. Now it is the language that gets me.
Canadians and Americans both speak English, yet there are still times when I realize that Canadian English is not the same as American English. I learned some lessons relatively quickly: the word "cheque" is spelled "check" and the letter z is pronounced "zzzzz" not "zed" and of course when in doubt drop the "u" out of most words if it follows an "o". I have pretty much abolished "ah?" from my vocabulary and Shawn tells me that I have replaced it with the more annoying American version "hun?". There were things that I knew before I moved like the fact that University's in the US are called Colleges and although it was difficult for me at first to refer to my esteemed University as a College I somehow managed to make the switch.
When I first moved here there were several words that I used in my vocabulary that are not common here in the US and every time that I used these "Canadian" words I received puzzled looks or giggles from the person that I was talking to. Over the past 6 years I have pretty much screened out most of the "Canadian" words from my vocabulary. It's not that I am ashamed of my "Canadian" words but sometimes people cause such a fuss when I use words such as "I beg your pardon" vs. saying "hun?" that I rarely use my "Canadian" words anymore.
Every now and then I discover that I still have a few of these "Canadian" words left in me. The other day I was telling my friend Lori a story about Shawn making "Kraft Dinner" and Lori stopped me mid story and asked "Kraft Dinner? What are you talking about?" I replied "You know Kraft Macaroni and Cheese" and she said "isn't it just called Macaroni and Cheese?" Even though I was talking to Lori on the phone I felt my face get hot, as I was thinking to myself that maybe only my family referred to Macaroni and Cheese as Kraft Dinner and I began to second guess that anyone ever called Macaroni and Cheese "Kraft Dinner".
When I got home that day I looked "Kraft Dinner" up on Wikipedia and sure enough it said that Americans refer to it as "Kraft Macaroni and Cheese" however Canadians retained it's original name "Kraft Dinner".
The point of my story is that even after living in a country that is very similar to my home country I still find that I get home sick even after 6 years. No wonder Sarah is a little homesick, she has only been in Japan for 10 months!
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Sweet Virginia!
Brad has been bugging Shawn and I for the past year to come and visit him in Virginia Beach so
Shawn and I finally decided to make the 9 hour road trip north for our Memorial Day weekend.
We had a great time relaxing on the beach and hanging in all of Brad's favorite places such as Dairy Queen, Chicks and Harpoon Larry's.
We saw Dolphin's playing in the surf, and although we tried to swim with them, they didn't seem to want to swim with us.
Wilf even had great time on our little vacation, he played Frisbee on the beach and learned to body surf.
All in all it was a great relaxing weekend at the beach!
Here are a few pictures from our vacation:
Shawn and I outside of Chick's Restaurant before a huge seafood dinner.
Brad and Wilf after a long day at the beach and a few too many beers!
Wilf body surfing!
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