I'm just starting the K1 process, so I'm still in Canada. But I've travelled a lot in the US, and I recently spent 2 months with my guy there.

I don't know if I can describe much as culture shock for me. There were a lot of differences, but most were differences in big city life compared to small city life. And there were differences in what's available to buy, but that was covered in the thread favorite things you'll miss from Canada.

One Canadian-American difference was how to pay with credit cards. In Canada, the cashier swipes them in the credit card thing (sorry, I don't know what it's called) and gives the customer a receipt to sign. In the US, the customer is supposed to swipe the credit card, sign the credit card thing, and then push the "done" (or whatever it is) button. It took me a couple of weeks until I'd learned which direction to swipe the card and then to remember to push the button. And now I've forgotten how to do it.

Whenever I struggled with the US credit card, I felt like the cashiers must have thought that I was clueless. If that's the only way they know how to use credit cards, they probably don't understand why it's difficult for someone from another developed country.

What have you felt as a Canadian in the US that could be described as culture shock? What differences in thinking, perceptions, and behaviour did you encounter? What made you feel like a foreigner?

Also, what thinking, perceptions, and behaviour made you feel at home? While Canada and the US are different, we're also quite similar in a lot of ways.

I'm a dual, born and raised in New Jersey, who went to Canada at 18 and stayed many years. I'd often hear Canadians say Americans are: greedy, vulgar, trigger-happy, aggressive, rude, fat, self-centered, war mongering, etc. I poo poo'ed this as an over reaction. I also heard Canadians quick to describe themselves as "not American!"

However, after coming back to Jersey and living here a year, I can understand why Americans have such a bad reputation in Canada.

Don't worry about handling your own credit card; it's for your security. Instead, worry about people who can be overly competitive, nasty, manipulative, untrustworthy, sleep deprived, quick to sue, fanatical, and materialistic.

Watch out for false faces, that is, people who hide their true intentions. The corporate world here is based on showing one's "nice face" to everyone and concealing one's real opinions and plans.

These are generalizations, I know, and can be construed as stereotypes, which is another big no-no in a culture that's highly sensitive about "rights." So be careful that you never touch anyone innocently when you talk, or you'll risk sexual harrassment charges (!)

Be careful that you never identitfy anyone based on their personal characterisics (Oh, it's the bald guy over there.) because that can be grounds for dismissal at work.

Don't be surpised that everyone knows about something illegal but will never report it, since "no good deed goes unpunished." Most whistle blowers suffer dire consequences even though there are laws to protect them.

In many ways, I miss the Canadian culture because people are more polite, honest, helpful, straightforward, easy-going, welcoming and respectful. So pack up your Shreddies, Tim Horton's, and 222s because you can't buy them here. And be prepared for a bigger shock, because you'll be living with Americans, and they can be very different than Canadians, depending on which area of the country you live in.

(Okay, you can start stringing me up now.)

don't even get me started...you would think that here in Minnesota, how different could things be? BUT......things are very different, and my son, who moved to San Francisco 5 years ago for work, says the same thing. The one thing we both noticed that made us laugh is that everytime there are Canadians and Americans around talking together and someone mentions someone famous that is from Canada, it is inevitable that one of us will say *He (she) is Canadian, you know.....and many times someone (American) will say *no way* we had quite a challenge convincing someone here that Neil Young was actually Canadian...too funny...and yes Canadians as a rule are much more polite...but I love it here anyway...well except for the food...except I found *Trader Joe's* here in the cities...not Canadian, but a great place to buy groceries

I *want* to be Canadian...I plan on becoming a dual someday as well. My husband tells me I am so "Un-American" lol. I am fully aware of how some Americans can be...and this does NOT make me proud of my homeland. The times I've been to NS I've been treated so politely and with such respect, despite being from America. I cheer for the Canadian hockey teams, I love anything Canadian (lol, some might say I am biased b/c my beloved is Canadian...eh, maybe ). All the family I have in this world are back in NS...and they are his family. If I could have been the one to emigrate, I would have. My daughter's bio father would never have agreed to that though so my beloved came here for me...and for no other reason. Wow.

As for culture shock...the area where we live looks a lot like the area he came from, except for the shore. We're in the mountains of NE Georgia and some of the scenery looks a lot like the Annapolis Royal Valley. He hasn't had any trouble adjusting to life in the Deep South and he says he enjoys it here, except for the bloody summers here...all humidity and high temps.

i moved from the GTA to small town Louisiana. biggest thing i notice is the racism. i was shocked one day after chatting with a neighbour (who happens to be black) about dogs and afterwards the fellow one door over (who is white) asked me what business i had talking with 'her'. i must have looked like an idiot with my mouth hanging open. what does one say to that sort of stuff?! i was warned that it's not like at home, but i guess until i experienced it, i didn't realize.

the other thing i miss is having things close enough to walk to, but that's a big city, small city thing. of course, i'm still getting some things imported from home (timmy's coffee, smarties, shreddies & red river to name but a few)

can't wait to go home at the start of next month for a visit! i can finally get my hair done!

k

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the differences between Canada and the U.S. are no greater than the differences between a large American or Canadian city and small-town or rural areas in the U.S. and Canada. Not that there aren't differences, just that I could duplicate them by moving from Connecticut to Wyoming or from Vancouver to Grand Cache.

That includes the obesity problem. The racism problem. And even whether you hand someone a credit card or swipe it yourself. Or touch someone innocently. Or whether someone's going to get bent out of shape over generalizations. It really depends on the area.

My fiancé is from Alberta, and my old roommate and her boyfriend were from Toronto. They argued more than she and I did because they didn't agree on anything.

I was reading an article the other day and the author said something to the effect of " The differences between regions of the United States and Canada are greater than the differences between Canadian and American cultures" and it really made me stop and think a bit. If you think about it, it really does make sense. The west coast from Southern Cali all the way up to BC , then you have Texas to Calgary, the Midwest and the prairies.......... the differences between say the Great Lakes region of the US and the deep south or a major city and small town are like night and day at times from a cultural standpoint, but we don't differ a whole lot from Ontario.

My experiences between Michigan and areas of Canada Ive spent significant time have to do with the type of rude we're talking about. The type of rude Ive experienced in Canada was a sort of "ignorant" or passive rude i.e. people letting a door close in your face , cutting you off in traffic or in a store/mall, lack of "personal space" respect. It's that kind of rude behavior that makes you think " damn that was rude" but then leaves a person wondering " did they mean to do that?" Where I live, if a person was rude , you damn well know it as I think we're in an " in your face" kind of rude. In general I find Canadians just to dang nice to be blatantly rude.

Oh and as far as Nova Scotia is concerned , Ive heard, but have yet to experience it first hand, they are the NICEST people on the planet. This coming from my dad who has traveled extensively around the world and the US.Can't wait to find out first hand!!!!!!

My sentiments exactly!

I heartily agree! (And I'm not biased or anything! )

When people ask me what it's like living here in the US, I say it's different. And I say this after having lived in both urban and rural areas of Canada. There are things that I like, and things that really bug me.

My top differences are:

--we know lots about the US, and it's definitely not vice versa

--criticizing the government/politics is basically a sport in Canada (heck, some politicians make fun of themselves on This Hour Has 22 Minutes or Royal Canadian Air Farce, can you imagine that happening here? not bloody likely!), but criticizing the government/president here is basically treasonous!

--there's nothing here to rival the force of nature known as the hockey mullet

--and i won't go down the guns-in-the-house-obsession road....

I dunno, I'm not saying that Canada's perfect, because it isn't. All I know is that I am not sure if I will ever be settled here, because a lot of the American way of thinking/way of life just doesn't sit right with me.

(hmm, ok, 2nd go around - the first one decided to disappear into the ether just before I pushed send)

Environmental issues - everything is overpackaged in the stores; food stuffs come from a distance away - virtually nothing local and no farmer's markets to buy local produce; only recycling is for newspapers and we have to drive to a depot 5 miles away to drop them off - no blue boxes, green boxes, black boxes or whatever; in fact the hardware store didn't even know what a composter was when we asked for one.

Driving - in addition to parking lots on the interstate American drivers are rude; they don't use turn signals very often, they tail gate, they cut you off and they try to cram as many other vehicles through an orange light as they possibly can

Religion - I used to joke that there were donut shops on every corner in Ontario - well, here it is churches - and not just familiar churches but denominations I have never heard of. Churches have elaborate names such as "Church of the Harvest" "King's Vinyard" "CHurch of God of Prophecy" "Noah's Ark CHurch" "Church of his Blazing Glory", etc - 10 pages worth in the yellow pages. This, of course, may be more of a regional difference here in the South but the focus on religion is definitely a lot more public and less private than back in Canada

Medical costs - expect to pay for everything even with insurance: doctor's visits, women's health visits, chiropractor, xrays, etc. They will also do complete physical of all vitals regardless of what you are seeing the doctor forat every visit. Expect to deal directly with insurance companies yourself because they are slow, make many errors, and you will receive multiple demands for payments from the doctors before the insurance has been paid, while the insurance is being paid and after the insurance has been paid - all for different amounts. Of course, since you pay for tests and such you get to keep the originals or copies of all reports, including MRIs and XRays;

Spanish influenced food items on the grocery shelves - tacos, corn flour, canned chillies and beans of all shape and sizes; seeing Spanish language used where we are used to seeing French.

Mail delivery on Saturday and the mailman will collect mail at the house rather than having to deliver it to a postal box somewhere

Security - having to be a lot more aware of your surroundings at all time; experiencing suspicion from neighbours until they get to know you; being aware of cars and vehicles that are in your area

Politics and Elections - they NEVER STOP! There is ALWAYS someone running for something at some level of government or other. There are election signs and billboards for everything from dogcatcher to Senate all over the place and it never ends - and neither does voter apathy. A recent run off election for a magistrate here garnered less than 5% of the possible voter turnout. Eventually, you begin to tune it all out - which is what I think the Americans already do

Sign pollution - signs, signs, everywhere are signs - billboards, placards, jobs, selling stuff, every street corner is littered with signs; every highway intersection; every interstate has signs - they are everywhere!

Clear plastic bags and showing receipts - after shopping at many stores you have to show your receipt to a security employee as you leave and he/she slashes a red mark across it after checking it against your purchases

Cell phones - I think these grow out of people's ears or they are implanted shortly after birth. Everyone has a cell phone and they are always talking on them everywhere - driving, in the supermarket, on the street, at entertainment venues . . .

There were others that I noticed as well but these were the biggies for me:-). Oh, that and being called Miss Kathryn by everyone - that is kind of nice, actually:-). Of course, that is definitely a Southern thing.

oh, and I forgot this one:

Americans are way more publicly patriotic. Between the t-shirts, bumper stickers/car magnets, flags, red white and blue election signs, etc etc, the sentiment "I'm proud to be American" is in your face a lot more than it is in Canada. I'm not saying it's wrong to be proud of your country, because I am very proud to be Canadian, but I just often wonder.... who are you all trying to convince?

ok - another difference for me as well - Military - here everyone knows someone who is in the military or who has a family member in the military or is a veteran or on active service themselves. Many people have seen action in war or 'police actions'. In Canada, our veterans and military acquaintances are more often our grandfathers and great grandfathers rather than our brothers and sisters.

Humour - Canadian humour is often self-deprecating, laugh at yourself kind and don't take anything - especially politicians - too seriously; American humour is more often the in your face slapstick or practical joke - and there is nothing self-deprecating about it. Americans are not very good at laughing at themselves; Canadians are among the best in the world - sometimes you want to tease an American - but you know you don't dare.

You forgot cheese. There's cheese on everything here, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you don't want cheese on your bacon and egg sandwich, they don't know how to ring it up because the cash register is only programmed for cheese.

Then there are medical conditions. Everyone here can tell you their cholestrol count, blood pressure, and a host of other things, including the prescription drugs they take. Guess they never realized that if they cut out the cheese, they could stop paying for Lipitor!

Good observations I am smiling because my fiance and I have had this same discussion and he has made many of these points too. I spent the last 6 years living in Georgia (have now moved back up North to New England area where I am from). Have to say that the Spanish thing is more prevalent in the South and in other areas where there is a high Latino population. Here in Northern NH, close to the Quebec border, we do have a fair amount of things with French labels.

My fiance is used to grocery shopping nearly every day, buying fresh produce, etc. for the evening's meal. I, on the other hand, HATE having to go to the grocery store every evening after work; I would rather shop once a week. Have to say though, if I had lived in Vancouver and had access to greengrocer's and butcher shops rather than having to trek through a huge grocery store, I might like to shop daily too!

Miss Kathryn & Cassie hit it on the head for me. Add to it that I'm in Texas, the church and patriotic-ness is tripled, quite the shock for me.

Coming from big, bad downtown Toronto I'm used to all shades of people. All this time I thought we only had 2 black people here until I was told they live "over there", meaning north of the McDonalds, I guess people don't mix too much here.

Now that I'm working I've noticed the differences more. It may just be my line of work (411 operator) but (most/some) Americans are just plain ol' rude. I have people literally yell at me because I ask them to repeat or spell something, they seem to ignore the fact that they mumble, talk like they have marbles in their mouths, say "unh" instead of yes or no or pronounce it with letters that aren't even in the word. Manners seem to be unheard of.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL..........repeat themselves?Why would they have to? They dont have the accent..WE DO! Just ask 'em

I loved all these posts because they are so true. I thought I was going to lose my mind with regard to the lack of recycling here in the U.S. Imagine my excitement when I found out there is regular recycling in our new neighbourhood! Yippeee!

DITTO!!! Cassie, I couldn't agree with you more..........well, except for Nova Scotians being the 'nicest' seeing as I'm from the greatest province in Canada........NEWFOUNDLAND....... heehee...just kidding because as we know all of the Martimes is the greatest in Canada. Speaking of which........I'm tired of hearing Americans pronouning 'Newfoundland' like 'New Fin Land' or 'New Fin Lund'......when I heard Larry King last year speaking with Paul & Heather McCartney talking about the seal hunt........don't get me started........I almost has a connipsion (not sure of the spelling.....lol) but you would think the media would at least pronounce it correct. The 'Americans' talk about their 'New Fin Land' dogs.......sorry......there ain't no such animal. And when I tell them politely that all they have to say is ..... UNDERSTAND NEWFOUNDLAND......it will flow right off their tongues..........no sir, they still can't get it!! When I'm not sure of pronouncing something, I'll ask if I'm saying it correct........like 'Maryland'........is it 'Mary Land' or Marylin???
And as for sense of humour.......well, I'm not sure they have any.............before I get lynched.......this is for the majority, not 'all'
And I also agree with whether I will ever settle in the States due to being the 'out sider' and not that readily accepted!! I've tried being funny with flipant remarks but I think that's a bad thing here and I'm just giving up and waiting for the day that we can retire back 'home'. And for the record, my husband totally agrees, he loves the people and life in Newfoundland and we would both dearly love to live there. I've tried putting my name in for volunteering at the school back in September and even went and introduced my self at the school for the Fall session, even though I was told by the principal that help was really needed. I kept calling but no response!! But having said that, I got an email from him yesterday asking if I could come in (he must know I'm out of town....lol.........I know I'm getting cynical!!!!lol
As we speak, I'm in 'New Fin Land' on an extending Christmas vacation. My hubby went back last week due to work and I'm staying for a few more weeks til my youngest daughter arrives from Alberta with our newest Grand Baby. Then hubby will come back for me. He is the greatest and I love him more every day.
Hope every one started out the New Year healthy and happy and more to come............{{{{HUGS}}}}

If we're mispronouncing 'Newfoundland', so is, ime, everyone outside of Newfoundland, as my Canadian friends say it the same way I do.

Except it isn't real cheese. It's "American cheese" aka processed "cheese food". I REALLY miss the great unpasturized cheeses available in Vancouver, which are illegal here.

gosh, so many things that i didn't think of, but are so right.

canadian postal workers would go, well postal if they had to work saturday's, carry a shoe box to the door etc.

hockey mullets are called nascar mullets around here.

no recycling. we have paper and can recycling, but we have to drop off, which i do. hubby says they only take pop cans, but i've been putting soup cans in anyhoo. i cringe when i have to toss out recycleable stuff and try to make purchases accordingly.

their humour is different, but most of my friends appreciate corner gas as much as i do.

k

I am an ameican having grown up in New Egland but have traveled much in the states and Canada often. You are right about the regionalization here in US. I have always found the midwesterners to be the most friendy. Especially compared to a New Englander ora Nw Yorke. I have always found the nEw Yorke to be the rudiest, pushist of all maericans.

When I have been in Canada it always amase me how clean and neat the cities were and how everyone dressed up when they went out even to the store. I never saw a woman 280 lbs with tight elastic pants and sneakers. God i could get sick walking in the grocery store here in the states.

Hilarous!

I just recently came back from a trip to Chicago that lasted two months, so here is my two cents:

Number 1, there is a definate personal space issue! Maybe because I'm from Montreal, where its normal to greet someone you just met with two kisses. Either way, I can't help but laugh to myself whenever some gives one of those ackward hugs, you know, the one where its almost resembles an air huge. So, note to all, kisses are replaced by formal hand shackes.

Number 2, bagels looks like a donount. Huge, dougey, and a non-existing whole in the middle. Having been raised on MLT donunts all my life, I think the donount situation is going to be the worst! They are horrible - point finale. Oh ya, in US Costco calls what is supposed to be a french bread, which its not, an "Artisan bread".

Number 3, "Americian Cheese" officially exists. Don't laugh, its true. When asked if I would like Americian cheese in my sandwich, I looked blankly from my Fiance to the waitress and asked what is kind of cheese was that. She looked back at me and said "its Americian". I replied, "well, since I am not Americian, I still don't know what you are talking about. Are we talking about Kraft singles?". At this point, my fiance was laughing and as I was attempting to solve the Divinci Code of Cheese. In the end, I took the Americian cheese as form of experiment, and I the only thing I can say about it is that its orange and tasteless. I really think its a velveta/kraft immitation cheese.

Number 4, "Canadian bacon" also officially exists. This was also a funny realization, after I given the option of regular bacon and/or Canadian bacon. I felt so un-Canadian at the time because I was like, what the hell is Canadian bacon? I know Im from Quebec, but are we really THAT different from the rest of the Canada?

Number 5, Margarine is yellow. In Quebec, the diary industry doesn't allow margarine to look like butter because they felt that it would hurt their sales because Quebecer's would not be able to recongize the difference between butter and margarine if they were both yellow. I know, talk about a lack of faith in our collective intellegence.

Number 6, Americians have really, really, really perfected the concept of a SALE! Coming from a girl who loves to shop, AMEN! I think I could stand living away from home and country just for this reason alone. Honestly, 70% off an iteam that has little to no taxes on it anyways! Love it. And of course, there is always TJ MAXX and Marshalls if you need some retail therapy.

Number 7, portion sizes. In two months, I got so used to large portions that when I came home and went to a dinner party, I thought my hostest was trying to starve me and/or was giving me the hint that I gained too much weight during my trip to the US!

Thats about it for now, but Im sure there is more burried in my sub-conscious. Till then.

ok, the cheese issue - American cheese is kind of a fake really mild cheddar that has no taste, and yeah, it is orange. In fact, in the stores if you are looking for a real old sharp cheddar - forget it - it doesn't exist. What is sold as extra sharp cheddar tastes like a medium cheddar - definitely NOT old - and definitely has no bite. The prices of cheese, however, is a lot more reasonable - maybe because it isn't good cheese VBG. I refuse to eat cheese products and cheese slices no matter how hard up I am - that doesn't even taste like food!

Canadian bacon refers to sliced ham that is fried like bacon - and isn't that great, either. What many Americans mean by Canadian bacon, though, is peamale bacon that is coated in cornmeal ,sliced, panfried and tastes wonderful! It doesn't exist in the States either and I miss it. I just wish they wouldn't refer to that mediocre sliced ham as Canadian bacon, though.

Yeah, portion size - yipes! I used to get large coffees with double cream back in Canada and that would be perfect - the equivalent of 16 ozs. Here that is a medium -and there are at least 2 sizes larger than that! Heck, the largest size would require a pint of cream! And don't get me started on American coffee - it is bitter and oily and I really realized how bitter it was when a friend sent me a can of Timmie's - oh, that was heaven! I like Starbucks but I have to ask for their mild because their strong is just too bitter.

Amen sister! I get counted double because my grandmother's family is originally from Newfoundland.

My husband and family pronounces it New-found-lund, which aggravates me, and he knows it LOL

And American cheese isn't cheese But I am becoming fond of pepper jack.

american cheese sucks

I don't like all this bashing of American Coffee. If you could only try Wawa coffee(Philadelphia area, South Jersey, etc). My future father in-law likes it better than Tim's. He said, "So when I come to visit, I can get this fresh brewed, right?", instead of out of the bag I brought him. Now Wawa(and I know, it's an Indian tribe's word for Canada Goose), is just a convenienve store, but it kicks butt. I like Tim's but for the atmosphere of the store. I don't like that their medium isn't much bigger than their small.

Well, cool - there IS good American coffee then - the only trouble is it apparently is only in Philadelphia and not here in Georgia:-)! Actually, I have found Dunkin Donut's coffee isn't that bad either - especially the flavoured kind - so that is generally what I use to sustain myself between Timmie fixes (VBG). I agree - I don't like that Tim Horton's medium isn't much bigger than their small either - which is why I always went with their large. I guess there is also an extra large at Timmie's too, right? Anyway, GENERALLY speaking, MOST American coffee is too bitter for my taste. How's that? better?

Agreeing with most of this!

I moved from Toronto to a relatively small town in northern California (any other fellow Canadians living in or near Petaluma?!), and I also feel that most of the differences I'm experiencing is due to big city vs small town since California is a lot like Canada in terms of its idealogies.

I completely agree with the ruder drivers (and lack of turn signals!) and the higher medical costs. Even though I'm covered by my husband's medical insurance, I was surprised to find out that most things are not 100% covered. What's with the embedded cell phones, btw? That said, the same trend's happening in Toronto too.

I'm loving the Saturday mail delivery here, but feel a bit out of place with the Mexican majority. Planning on taking a short Spanish course later in the spring though! Should be similar to French, eh?

Recycling's not bad here in northern California. We DO have blue and green boxes. Or, rather, they have huge bins here. They also have huge grey bins for garbage.

I'm also feeling a bit like a 'tard for not remembering how to swipe my own credit card Oh! And you can't get stamps in just any drugstore or grocery store around here... you often have to weigh your own mail packages and fill in your own custom forms here as well.

I feel relatively safe here -- we often don't lock our doors during the day. My husband thinks my family (back home in Toronto) is paranoid because we have a house alarm system

The showing receipt thing I've only experienced at Costco

There are cool "turnabouts" here and lots more bike lanes. BUT, the highway -- "freeway" -- system sucks a lot. Often it's two lanes (even on the 101!) and the signage sucks for entrance ramps. Because there's no snow in the city, there are neat reflectors embedded into the roads and here in Petaluma, they even have flashing lights lining some sidewalks

PS

Also... not sure if this is a big city vs small town thing, but people around here don't seem to care much for public libraries. There is only ONE library in this entire town and it's making me miss the Toronto Public Library system a lot!

Religion, politics, food, tolerance and world knowledge. Insane amounts of the first two, bad or senseless differences in the third, and horrifying lack of the last two.

I'm going to avoid the potentially incendiary nature of the first two. I tend to rant.

There are no farmers' markets in south Texas. There is no such thing as "in season" for anything. The only cheese I can find that doesn't taste like wax costs wayyyyy too much for casual nibbling. There is no sausage that doesn't taste bland and greasy except for chorizo, which tastes hot and greasy. I can't find the cuts of beef I want to roast. The flour isn't made from the same wheat so it doesn't work the same way. EVERYTHING has high fructose corn syrup in it and is disgustingly sweet. There are days I would kill for a chunk of Tavistock cheddar, some Polish sausage and some crackers that aren't as sweet as cookies. I freak out when it's fall but the pork and ham don't go down in price. Or it's summer but the fruit and veggies are the same prices as winter and they come from Mexico or California! I know there are farms here... where the he!! is the food going?

People are just not willing to let others be different. It's like if someone believes differently than you, or lives differently, etc., it's a threat. There's no such thing as "live and let live" down here.

The world begins and ends at the US borders. And for a lot of Texans, it begins and ends at the borders of Texas. The abysmal ignorance of other countries is disturbing. No wonder they all think it's the best place in the world cuz they know nothing of any other one! Forget about international news on tv or in the papers. I'm no world traveller, but I make some people here look like cavedwellers.

So how come I live here? My mate is here. I've learned to love Tex-Mex food, wine is cheaper and we're 2 and a half hours from the Gulf of Mexico so weekend trips to the beach are easy. There's no snow! We actually get a tax refund every year. I love mariachi music. I still get a kick out of seeing highway signs for places I used to know from song lyrics and movies, like El Paso and Abilene. Did I mention there's no snow?

here in the LA area there are quite a few public libraries.....

and about all the differences, like a few people mentioned I think a lot of it depends on where you live in the US and if you moved from a big city to a small town or vica-versa....

I forgot to mention the libraries. The San Antonio library system is absolutely wonderful, except that they don't recognize my library school diploma and therefore aren't interested in my experience, either. On the plus side, the US Postal Service rocks! Canada Post could learn a lot from them.
I went from small town Ontario to a city of a million plus, so the things I didn't mention are the ones that I think are size related: traffic, crime, litter, etc. I hated living in Toronto, too.

Snow? What is that?
We haven't had "real" snow this year in Montreal. You'd think it's spring...

I wouldn't be suprised if we didn't have any snow at all next year.

The grass was green when I left Montreal during the Holidays...

The Daffodils have sprung on PEI, there are grasshoppers in St. Stephen, and no animals have hibernated yet. It's a crazy winter. We had 2 inches of snow in 2 hrs yesterday then 2 inches of rain. A right mess!

Been super mild here in DC. Meg keeps hoping for a Snow day!! Nothign here has really shocked me, except for no Tim Hortons and knew that prior,lol Drivers are idiots in every country, just more so here ,lol For the most part people have been ok,haven't had too many problems. Did I mention no tim hortons? lol

Oh yeah, that high fructose corn syrup thing really bugs me - come on, they even put it in half and half cream! Yikes - I spend so much time now reading labels trying to find stuff that doesn't have it - ridiculous. No wonder so many people here are obese (and I have gained 15 pounds since I arrived - not happy about that!) Yeah, I think USPS rocks too - except that you can't get stamps anywhere else except at the post office and the lines are often out the door.

Iknow Costco sells stamps. And soem banking machines (wachovia) disperse stamps as well. USPS is much faster than Canada post. Once Canada gets there first gas powered vehicle and puts awy the dog teams, I'm sure service will improve.

We can buy packages of stamps at the grocery stores. How about lotteries where you are? It just freaks me out that all the TX lotteries are income taxable and none of them are actually for the amount of prize advertised! They're all annuity payouts, with the option of taking approx half in a bulk payment instead.

I could either laugh or cry over the points made in this topic (My headline would read "Liberal Canadian Atheist Follows Her Man to Texas, massacre photos on pg 2!") and since I'm more tempted to cry, I'll stick with the humorous stuff.

Up here in Waterloo, I feel like a giant tub of lard lumbering past all the slim Asian girls so prevalent at my university. Then I went to Kentucky. In the Walmart parking lot, I had an epiphany; I am slim! Sleek! Slender! I only have a chin and a half!: I am a Seal swimming among the Walruses!

And I'll be in Lubbock. The culture shock may send me over the edge. When he came to see me I took him to Pride in Toronto because it was the most fun thing happening at the time; when I go there I may actually be witness to people making homophobic comments out loud in public without getting collared by the police. My head spins at the thought.

And I forgot to mention: I don't drive. Yikes!

Oh... and you can also buy alcohol in drugstores and grocery stores around here. Mind-boggling

USPS is cool. During the Christmas season, they made extra rounds with a GOLF CART around our neighbourhood. Guess they borrowed them from the nearby golf club.

I miss the snow!!! My parents back home in T.O. told me that their snowblower's been collecting dust. Thankfully, I'm around a 3 hrs' drive away from Tahoe (good skiing/snowboarding!)... and an hr's drive away from the ocean.

The sales tax system here is more complex as well. Different cities have different sales taxes, but they're all lower than Ontario's GST + PST

Loyalty card programs...

Is it just here in northern California, or do stores in the U.S. ram their loyalty card programs down your throats? If you don't use your store cards, you miss out on all the discounts and sometimes have to pay twice or three times as much. Back in Canada, loyalty cards were all about collecting points towards gifts or air miles!

Thanks Kathryn!

My shock with Canada post came when I went to mail a large envelope from Ontario to Alberta for my fiancee. $10 for something that would've cost $3 from the States!!! For the next hour I thought "$10?!?!?!?, until I had to say it out loud.

You can't buy booze on a Sunday in some states, but they have 'DRIVE-THRU' LIQUOR STORES.

Drinking + Sunday = Bad. Drinking + Driving = Alllright!

Unfortunately, not just Northern California. I have had loyalty cards to stores everywhere I have lived .... DC, West Virginia, Southern Cali, Georgia and now New Hampshire. And you never get anything really good from them .... just the ability to buy a second high fructose corn syrup and preservative laden box of junk food at half the price of the first one. Really wish we could get air miles!!!

Pretty much need those damn loyalty cards to get the discounts! But i Belive some stores in Canada, such as safeway are the same.

And of course let's not forget the *extra discount* when you use your Bay card......I said it many times a day, when I worked there, and now I am substituting the word *Macy's* for *Bay* Please, someone get me out of retail

Well on this topic mine would be a culture shock going back into Canada as I've lived here in the US for almost a decade. One thing that really annoys me (not sure if it's still that way) is that I can't seem to use my Visa Debit card to buy things at fast food places, the beer store etc. It has to be either a real visa credit card or a specific Canadian bank card or something. I would always stand there telling them it's a Visa see VISA. I guess that was a few years back I would have that problem. Now they seem to rezlize that our cards don't work over there and now when I go back I get informed "I'm sorry, our machines aren't designed to read the debit Visa cards at all".

I'm sure there's other shocks I can't quite think of, other then the language and names of stores that I have long forgotten or never knew existed in Canada that seems to be a big thing over there and when someone says it I'm like huh what the hell is that? Oh it's the biggest chain store in Canada, oh ok, didn't know ha ha. They sometimes look at me like I'm from another planet...