Day 38: What are the poppies for?

This was evidently the stupidest question an American can ask. 

During my further research, this does actually happen in the States. I, however, was unfamiliar with the practice.

Men, women, and children across Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland don poppy pins in the weeks and days leading up to Remembrance (Veterans) Day. 

The entire atmosphere here regarding violence, veterans, and paying homage to those who have fallen is very different than in the States.

On October 22nd there was a shooting at a parliament building in Ottawa. I'd heard about it on the news and from folks at work. One man, a veteran, died. The story was covered nationally for more than a week. Veterans were standing guard 24/7 at all war memorials across the country for the same duration. 

If a veteran was shot and killed in New York, the story would be on the third page of the newspaper printed in Texas. The story would run for one day. It might get mention on the broadcast news.

It's a very different atmosphere. 

Remembrance Day is still a week off, yet people have been wearing the poppy pins for several days already.

Things are different here.

Day 24: What's next?

All week I've been wrapping up tickets and getting it done. It's been great! It does, however, mean I'm asking for more things to do on a pretty frequent basis. This is good and bad and leads to a lot of time just chatting with others. 

It's fascinating to hear about differences between the States and Canada. 

First of all, with the two national languages, folks are required to take French through most of their primary school careers, and many secondary education institutions used to have French requirements for entry. 

Then there's the co-op system. Many universities require their students to participate in a year long co-op program. They work full time and don't take classes during this. Your time at university is extended to five years because of this. That's nuts to me. Yet, having a full year of on the job work to add to a resume is quite something. It definitely has an upside. Plus you're getting paid a decent salary the whole year. 

It's different, the two countries side by side, almost overlapping in places, yet starkly different. 

Day 21: What do you eat at Canadian Thanksgiving?

Turkey, apparently. Similar to that of the American Thanksgiving. Though, there is less poultry-mixing (no turduckens) and a significant lack of deep-fried anything.

There was actually no work today. But I'm having a tough time getting off the beautifully clean five days a week numbering system.

We, however, did not have turkey today. 

Thankfully, Loki and I are both feeling much better after our rough and tough Friday. As such, I felt up to particularly special Thanksgiving dinner. 

Home-fried chicken sandwiches it is! Admittedly, not the best thing for me. But after three days of protein shakes, apple sauce and tomato soup, it sure sounded amazing! So far, the body is holding up fine despite the solid food interruption. Good news things. 

What else are we doing to celebrate the festive day? Why, watching all of the Harry Potter movies, of course! Man, things have really improved since 2001.

Vancouver news

There are things in this major metropolitan area that still boggle me.

I was watching the news tonight when a very interesting story came on.

Several of the lakes around here have recently had something happen to them, so they are not up to drinking levels. 

Yea, don't ye fear, the government is working on it. A few of these lakes are now back up to acceptable qualities! All the others are still a work in progress, but will be back soon.

Do you know what this means? Do you understand what they are saying?

PEOPLE HERE DRINK THE LAKE WATER.

THEY USE IT IN THEIR HOMES.

This is one of the largest cities in Canada.

How???

Vancouver vs. Dallas #1

One of the coolest things so far are all the differences between the States and Canada. Here's the things I've noticed first and foremost.

1.    Starbucks First of all, the place to be here is Tim Horton's, not Starbucks. Starbucks can still be found on every corner, really more corners than in Dallas, sometimes multiple stores on one corner. The reason it's on this list, though, is that the Starbucks here are oddly "do-it-yourself-ish." Only at the airport have I been handed a cup with a lid on it. Want a coffee collar to protect your hands, better ask for it. The little green stoppers are more readily available than they are in the states. It's just a little odd.

2.    National Language(s) The States don't have a national language. Canada has two. This mean French and English translations are on almost every public sign, product and good. On top of that, we live in an area with a large Asian population, so things are frequently triple listed. In the Costco, they have all boxes stacked in two columns, one with the French labels facing out and on with the English labels visible. It's beautiful in a way. A real mixing of cultures. I've often marveled at the way the States refuse to declare a national language. When they were first being settled with the motto and heart of a melting pot, it made sense. Since then English has become the unofficial official language, causing great heartbreak and strife among some of our people. Particularly in the southern most states where Spanish is a very common language. I've heard and seen a lot of "learn to speak our language" type statements. These infuriate me. The nation hasn't declared anything to be "our language," so how do you call yourself a patriot of this great country when you are rude to those whom your country welcomed. The States have long touted themselves as a haven for all. Even when they first settled, this wasn't true. Canada seems to have actually been able to embody this mentality as a governing body and as a society. I wrote about a really gorgeous observation from a gentleman we encountered in this post. For as much grief as I might have even once given USA's hat, the people of America have some things they could easily stand to learn from the people in Canada.

3.    Left turns Dallas has an overabundance of left turn only lanes. Tulsa has a few, with a spike from what I was used to in protected right turn lanes. Vancouver also has a large number of left turn lanes. The kicker is, these lanes frequently don't come with a left turn arrow. What I've seen this result in is cars just turning left after the light turns yellow, and the opposite lanes having to wait while their light turns green to ensure they don't t-bone anyone. It's terrifying. Usually only two cars try to make it through, but I've seen a bus pull this maneuver!! Seriously dangerous stuff!

4.    Flashing green lights Lord have mercy. I have no idea whose idea this was, but I would like to kick them in the pants. If a traffic intersection is "pedestrian controlled," the green light will flash. This means that pedestrians using the walk buttons can cause the light to change at a moment's notice. I think. I'm not actually sure. But I get really antsy when driving through a series of them. Because Wikipedia covers everything under the sun, here's an article on Pedestrian Crossing. Enjoy it as much as I did.

5.    Stopping where cars should stop This is a VERY pedestrian city. The only place I've driven so far was to the PetSmart because I wasn't sure how much I would be getting. The beautiful wonderful amazing TransLink train system and walking are the primary ways to get around. I even took the train to the airport htis morning. It's just the way to do it. In light of this fact, the cars behave the way they should around pedestrians. Drivers stop BEFORE the crosswalk!! It's an unbelievably novel idea. Absolutely insane, really. Practically archaic. Yet I have seen drivers throw their car into reverse and back up if they stopped in the crosswalk. It's a truly heavenly sight for ye olde pedestrian.

6.    TransLink trains have no operators Everything is run automatically! It’s 2 parts terrifying and 8 parts amazing. The trains run constantly. I’ve never looked up a schedule, because even if I approach the platform when the train is leaving, I know it will be less than five minutes until the next one arrives. It’s a really awesome system. The one thing I would recommend is installing an actual turnstile system. Right now they don’t have a way of checking that you actually purchased tour train ticket. Apparently they’re in beta testing for an electronic system. We’ll see what comes of this during our time here.

7.    Bike lanes Ok, so I heard from many sources that Vancouver would be the most bike-able city in the world. I think the city planners put a great deal of effort into making it so, but in the end, the cars and foot pedestrians will always win. There are bike lanes in place, marked by green strips on the roadway. They are supposed to yield to pedestrians. They don't. They are supposed to still follow all traffic laws. They don't. I think the problem boils down to the few people who DO bicycle around town. They do so with such disregard to all others that it makes it dangerous for the average rider like myself to attempt to join them. I will stick to walking, and I'm just fine with this. It's a beautiful city and I don't have anywhere to be in a hurry.

8.    Driveways Homes don't have front driveways!!! It's absolutely confounding to me!!! Neighborhood streets are all sidewalk and no driveway. Alleys and street parking are what it’s all about here. It makes for a really cute neighborhood street, but it makes it tough when you made a wrong turn and need to pull a u-ey.

9.    Street buses They’re electric. Downtown and neighborhood streets are blanketed by an intricate network of electric cables. They are familiar to me for trolleys in cities like Dallas and San Francisco. Pure electric buses are a little odd to me though. Surely they have backup systems… we’ll see. I haven’t had to ride a street bus yet. Further investigation is clearly required.

10. Units This one’s a little more obvious, and we knew we were walking into it. Still it catches me off guard on a regular basis. Celsius vs Fahrenheit and Kilometers vs Miles. Kilometers and miles are fairly easy to deal with. One kilometer is about 2/3s of a mile, plus we really only need that when we’re driving, and our car has both on the speedometer. On that note, though, Canadians drive sooo slowly! Our parking garage has a 10 km/hr speed limit. That’s like 7 mph! That’s nothing! The highways are typically between 80 and 100 km/hr, which is roughly 45 and 65 mph. It’s tough for this Dallas girl. The temperature units are much more difficult. I was telling someone that Dallas reached 115 degrees on a regular basis in the summer. The look I got was indescribable. I quickly realized my mistake and amended my statement with Fahrenheit. I know there’s a formula for conversions, but it’s not exactly the quickest thing in the world. So far I just have my phone weather app report the temps to me in Fahrenheit, and we’ll go from there.

11. The accent Oh it’s a beautiful one! Every time I hear “sorry” and “Mazda” pronounced with much longer vowel sounds than are used in the States, especially in the South, I lose my shit. On the flip side of that, I became so accustomed to the accents of international students at TU that I’m just as floored when someone appearing to be of foreign decent speaks with a flawless Canadian accent. That’s one of the biggest negative things I gained while at TU. The school consistently tried to improve the interactions and impressions between the nationals and internationals, but it never got very far. I’d like to say I was never rude to anyone of international origin on campus, but I will also say I never went out of my way to befriend anyone from the same group. Also, here's a YouTube video of a fabulous (in every sense of the word) gal teaching people to "speak Canadian."

12. Conservative banking America tried to tell the rest of the world that their democratic approach to government and banking is the best in the world. Wrong. Canada’s is. Their economy is right on par with that of the States’. The exchange rate between Canadian dollars and US dollars fluctuates in favor every week. They have a strong workforce and a healthy economy, based on everything from industry and farming to technology and business. I’m quite excited to look for a job here. The market is healthy and I’m decently marketable. This difference became most apparent to us when we applied for our bank account. First of all, US credit doesn’t transfer in any way to Canadian credit scores. They saw the negative influences the lending market was having on the validity of our credit scores and decided to stay true to theirs. As a result of this, they pulled our US credit score to be able to recommend us for a checking account, but this did not establish any sort of credit record or score for us in Canada. We will have to get a Canadian credit card in order to start building up our credit here. They are also large, enormous, overwhelming users of the built in chip in credit and debit cards. I remember a few years back when the States tried to implement this same program, and it failed quite splendidly. Scammers were bumping up against purses and wallets, people were hesitant to use them, and they weren’t even national installed. In Vancouver it’s practically the only way to go. Retailers will still let you scan a card, but they look at you a little funny. The card readers here are also slightly different. They’re mobile, so waiters bring it right to your table, retailers don’t have it mounted to the counter, and it has multiple ways of use. There’s the typical swipe ability on the side of the machine. It also has a slot more like an ATM on the bottom of it. Then it also allows for tapping with the chip on the top of the machine. Debit cards are true debit cards, and cannot be swiped like a credit card. There is no option to use it without your PIN number. PIN numbers can also be any length between 4 and 20 or something like that. They recommended we choose a 4 digit PIN if we wanted to use the card in the states, as it’s the only length they recognize. It’s really one of the starkest differences.

13. College Don’t tell anyone you went to college. It does not mean what you think it means. In Vancouver, Colleges are all trade schools. It’s the Tulsa Welding School and the Art Institute. Still reputable schools teaching excellent abilities, but not the four-year higher learning institution I paid good money to attend.

Well 13 isn’t the best number for a list of items… I guess I could break a few things up to get to 15, but is it really worth it? Probably not.

I hope to continue with these lists as we run into more fascinatingly different things about Canada!