Canadian Blindsides

Okay, as most of you know, I'm now living in Toronto. My husband was born to Canadian parents in the US so he has the benefit of dual-citizenship. For reasons within and out of our control he was unemployed this summer and decided to take advantage of being a Canuck and started job searching here. He landed a good job and has been living here for a couple months without me. I was finally able to join him the Sunday after Thanksgiving (American) and am very happy to be here. However, my hubby has family who live in Canada and has therefore been exposed to Canadian "traditions" while I have not. (Now if we were to go to Korea I would definitely have the upper hand!)

Living in Canada is often just like living in the US, but there are little things that are done differently and it totally catches me off guard. Here is a list of some of those little differences that I've encountered so far:

1. Words spelled the "British" way. Ex. "colour", "favourite", "jewellry"
2. Everything gives the option of operating in English or French. Being from Texas and Colorado I'm used to Spanish being on everything.
3. I'm an immigrant! Weird.
4. Milk sold in bags instead of jugs.
5. A distinction between debit cards and credit cards. On the same note, not being able to swipe your card while the checker is still scanning items. Annoying.
6. No nationwide free long-distance calling on cell phones. Calling outside Toronto costs me 37 cents a minute! And forget calling the US, I'd have to sell our first-born, which is yet to even be conceived.
7. Fees for checking and savings accounts based on the number of transactions you anticipate making a month. (Checking my balance constitutes as a transaction!)
8. Poutin. (Okay, I already knew about cheese-gravy fries but I didn't anticipate falling in love. Seriously, sounds gross but sooooo yummy!)
9. Ranch dressing is just different.
10. Advance green. This still throws me off to no end. I don't encounter it in the city as they have turn arrows. For those who are wondering, advance green is when a green light flashes on a normal traffic light. It indicates that you can turn left. They use it instead of a green turn arrow.

There will be more I'm sure and I'm sure I've even forgotten a few. I'll keep y'all posted.