I’m curious. I know there are Canadian dopers living in the US. There must be some Americans living in Canada. What are the things you notice that remind you that you’re living in a foreign country? I live in Seattle and used to go to BC fairly often. The thing that always struck me as oddest were that the products being sold came in different sizes than there American versions (and this wasn’t just a result of the metric system.) Anyone else have similar observations? Big thing or small, culture shock must happen pretty often. Tell us about it.
Obligatory link: An American’s Guide to Canada. 
I was informed today that there’s a group bike ride here that is guaranteed to be “an absolute piss-up.” In a good way, apparently.
And I just got the most mysterious looking tax forms in the mail.
Even though I’m sure there are some out there, I was amazed to learn a few years back that there are far more Canadians moving south every year than there are Americans moving north. According to this article, there were more than five times as many Canadians moving to the US every year than vice versa (2001 figures) – which is especially incredible considering the huge difference in our populations. I would have thought it would be more or less a proportionate number.
So if there are any Americans living in Canada out there, I’d be doubly interested to hear their take, considering how rare they apparently are.
People here aren’t as friendly. American products tend to be made with high fructose corn syrup, rather than sugar - and in the case of things like Coke, it’s really noticeable.
I don’t have Tim Horton’s handy. The nearest one is 7 hours’ drive. Canada is cleaner. I’m also way less likely to be murdered on my way to the car after work.
Summer here is like living in a baggie.
**Baltimore, Maryland. Murder seems to be the local pastime, judging from statistics.
I imagine most of those Canadians moving to the US are retirees heading for the sunbelt. No one said Canadians were dumb.
Americans moving to Canada, well, there are millions of dissatisfied voters every four years who swear they are going to move to Canada. I suspect only a tiny fraction of those who say they are going actually go.
Maybe; maybe. But I don’t think you have to actually emigrate to buy a winter house in Florida. And before anyone says it, no, I don’t think there are 30,000 Canadian actors and musicians moving to Hollywood every year. :dubious:
But still, I wonder why so few actually do go North – fewer than 6,000 a year, according to that article I linked to earlier – a drop in the bucket. Aside from any blustering threats about emigrating if their candidate loses in November, you would think the attractions of moving to Canada would be enough to attract a more significant number of people: low crime, English speaking, close to home, decent healthcare, etc. Maybe it’s harder to emigrate to Canada than to the US – though I doubt it since, IIRC, Canada has a high proportion of immigrants than the US.
But maybe ~6,000 is a relatively large number for American emigrants. I’d be very curious – we hear a lot about the people who immigrate to America, but I’ve never heard which countries are the biggest draws for American emigrants. Anyone?
Back to the OP – it might not count since I’ve only been a visitor in Canada and never lived me, but the little culture shock things that most stuck out to me on my (admittedly brief) visits were: 1) the novelty of all the packaging in the stores being bilingual, 2) the vaguely British tilt to things (more British chocolate on the candy shelves :)) and 3) the obsession with the US. I don’t mean to be provocative with the last one, and maybe it just stuck out to me more as a variant on that phenomenon where you can hear your name being spoken all the way across a crowded room, but really, it was very striking. For one small anecdote, I went to a Second City show in Toronto, and there were far more skits referencing US culture and politics than Canadian. The headlines in the papers the days I was there invariably had to do with the US. Very surprising – and also, not.
Wisconsin native in Canada here. My observations: (note that it is late and I am tired, so this is not likely to be coherent)
Milk in bags - what the hell? I grew up with plastic one-gallon jugs and I ain’t never giving them up.
People are so… helpful. And when somebody gets murdered, everybody runs around going “holy shit! Murder! Aieee!” It gets on the front page of the paper even if it’s a young non-white male. It’s so cute, the way they value human life.
I had a professor talk about evolution without even alluding to creationism and fetal development without even alluding to abortion. On a course that was broadcast on tv, even. I was really surprised he didn’t try to cover his ass somehow.
I don’t know why poutine has never caught on in Wisconsin.
Somebody built a snowman on the front lawn of Parliament! Right there, in front of the legislature.
In every little park on the end of the block or large backyard or whatever, people get together and make hockey rinks. And little kids are always out skating around.
Toque is a funny word. You wouldn’t think it’d be pronounced “toooook”.
My change jar is actually a substantial source of money now. And I can use change to pay for things that don’t come from a gumball machine.
There’s a cereal called “Vector”. I make a lot of math jokes about it.
Gas is under a dollar per unit of measurement. It costs more than in the US, but it’s still kind of psychologically satisfying.
A bunch of US companies try to make themselves look more Canadian by adding a little maple leaf to their logo somewhere - McDonald’s, Perkins, GM… just to name ones I saw when I was out yesterday.
You can get muscle relaxants over the counter (great for when you crash while skiing) but you can’t get naproxen, a fairly standard NSAID, without a prescription.
I’m sure I could come up with more, but given that I have an exam to write tomorrow, sleep would probably be a good idea.
I came here from Canada to stay, but I’m not a snowbird. The first year had quite a bit of culture shock for me. The things you can’t buy down here. The foods they’ve never heard of. The difference in price for basic items, e.g.: potatoes. 10 pounds for $1.49 in Ontario, up to $3.99 for 5 pounds here. The bars on the windows. The almost complete absence of news about Canada in the media. (They had a new prime minister for two years before I heard anything about it.) The cultural vacuum in which so many live. The realization that for an awful lot of people down here, Canada is that pink place on the map. I’ve had people ask me what providence I was from. I’ve been told that Niagara Falls empties into the Atlantic. I’ve met people who have never heard of the Great Lakes. That was a shock!
But I’m pretty much assimilated now. The differences I used to notice have become routine.
Some little things I noticed when in the States…[ul][]Wordy road signs: BUMP instead of the <bump> symbol. How you guys can get by with all that print on your road signs is amazing. No wonder people moan about people not learning English.[]Fractions on distances in road signs. I was expecting miles, but it’s seeing things like “Next Exit 1/2 mile” instead of “Next exit 500 yards” that looks odd. []Money that’s all the same colour, and small-value bills instead of large-value coins. Again, this was something I was expecting, but it still felt different.[]Very little mention of non-US things in the media, unless they directly involved US interests. Watching the news was like having cotton-batting wrapped around my eyes and ears. There was no sense of, “Lets just give an overview of what’s going on in the world outside our own domain, just so we can get oriented, you know.”[/ul]
Isn’t it great to have all your tax forms in one place 
Was asking what province you were from that surprising? You mentioned Ontario previously, but even if you mentioned Toronto specifically, it wouldn’t be that surprising for the average American not to know Toronto was in Ontario.
While I only spent a month in the Maritimes, given the abundence of donuts, donairs, poutine, and small Mom-and-Pop pizza places, I’m surprised that Canadians aren’t every bit as large-and-in-charge as Americans. Rick Mercer is seriously overrated though.
I think the issue was that they thought he was from a “providence” rather than a “province”
Not province, providence. It’s as though they’d heard something about how Canada has no states, but remembered it in only the most nebulous way and were unfamiliar enough with the term “province” to have it come out as the next most similar word.
Not province, providence. It’s as though they’d heard something about how Canada has no states, but remembered it in only the most nebulous way and were unfamiliar enough with the term “province” to have it come out as the next most similar word.
movingfinger:
You can’t just “go”. They kind of like for you to have a job before you can be a citizen there. On the other hand, they like for you to have the necessary visas to accomodate you being allowed to work there before you can get hired. Then of course, as with jobs in the states, they aren’t simply handing them out, you have to find a company seeking help in a field for which you are qualified, you have to submit your resume and come in for an interview, (bringing with you the paperwork, since they won’t give you much consideration if it doesn’t look like they can legally hire you), and beat out the other applicants (who get preference if they are native, unlike you, you alien taking away folks’ jobs!). So presumably you’re doing all this while continuing to live in America, — and, as is the case with interviewing for a new job across town while you’re currently employed, you have to somehow insert all these interviews into the backdrop of your daily job routine, except that when it’s a job crosstown you can do it on an extended lunch break or take half a “personal day”, but it can be a bit more complicated when you have to commute to some place in Canada to do the interviews, eh? Or you could just quit your American job and then seek out an Canadian job — yeah right. Oh, and locating a place to live, and making the move.
Not many snowbirds move south permanently - if they do so, they lose access to the Canadian medicare system, which is only available for residents. Most just go for the winter months.
Plus, how welcoming is the U.S. to retirees moving south permanently? They won’t be employed, and they will be high-users of the health care system. Is it easy to immigrate to the States permanently as a retiree?
I’ve always wanted to live in Europe for awhile (and be independently wealthy and all that), but if I can’t swing EU, then maybe Canada. I love Canada–I’ve been 3-4 times and each time the people were lovely, the prices reasonable, the place clean and the conversation intelligent (ie current affairs globally).
I’d love to move up there–but there is family here, and a job and my house etc.
When you ask for iced tea in Canada at a restaurant, you get Nestea or Lipton Iced Tea - not actual brewed tea that has been chilled. I can’t stand that stuff, I need my artificial iced tea beverage.
Seeing as I haven’t been to the States for more than a few hours ever, I don’t have much else to say. But watching American news on local channels is horrible. All those ‘special interest’ stories and 20 minutes straight of reporting nothing but murders and robberies - it is so weird. I’m so used to having at least half or more of a newscast dedicated to news from around the world. If I have to watch global news, then it is CNN for me. Me and my mom love Larry King and Anderson Cooper.
Everything you said above, I say in exact reverse. Canadian living in the US, here.
I miss Canada frequently, but I must say, living in Seattle is a pretty good substitute for home. Except without the Tim’s. Seattle is a little like a condensed form of Canada; they’re polite enough, liberal enough, proud of their coffee, and talk funny enough to pass themselves off as Canadian if they really wanted to. That’s a compliment, by the way. 
However, whenever they see snow around here, they freak the fuck out. It’s all over the news, there are warnings all over the radio and tv, they beg people to stay home, and if they must go out, put chains on their tires - damn! The first time it snowed here when I showed up, it lasted barely a day, melted away the next day, and the whole time it snowed, we lost power.
Oh, and my husband says he doesn’t know how to skate. WHAT?! :eek: