A bunch of folks have asked lately, "So, how IS Canada anyhow?"Very good, just a touch of the old bursitis, and you?"
After 6 years in the Grand old US of A (like the Duke of York) there has been some readjustment. I started a list back in August of some of the things that really stick out. Some of these are BC, or Vancouver specific...
- Coin money. No $1 or $2 bills. Only coins. It's amazing, you can find $18 in the bottom of your bag while trying to buy a pop.
- Parking meters everywhere. But, atleast you can call the meter on your phone and charge it with a credit card. It's TRUE!
- Each and Every time you buy groceries, they offer to help you take them out to the car. Even if it's only a litre of milk and some apples.
- Gas is $3.23 USD a gallon. (Had to do alot of math for that one).
- Juice Boxes are returnable for deposit. I wonder if Scouts Canada has drink box drives the way we used to have bottle drives?
- Every product is labeled in French and English. The whole country is cereal box bilingual. "Nouveau look, même goût épatant !" and "les boîtes spécialement identifiées".
- Canadian Tire: A cross between Target, Home Depot and autobarn. You get 1.5% back in "CanadianTire money" for every cash purchase. Every Canadian has a Canadian Tire money drawer where they keep their stash saving up for that big purchase. Some bars, most charities and other stores (including ebay.ca) will accept this currency.
- The city's largest University has a nude beach. IT'S TRUE. Very different from the US where the undergraduates aren't even allowed to drink on campus. If you notice while we were there last weekend, everyone was fully clothed in SEVERAL layers, and atleast one of us had a full change of clothes in a backpack.
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