Canajan, eh?

Holly, for what it's worth I designate you as an honorary Canajan. However, in order to pass the official test, you'll have to know a few things:

(a) it's coloUr, not color. And any -or ending, you should probably stick in a "u" before just to be safe. If you're called on it, you can just pretend to be British.

(b) you will have to learn celsius temperatures. We have been metric here since 1976. The only reason I put fahrenheit on my blog is because I look it up on the internet because I'm trying to be American-friendly.

(c) you will have to adjust to paying a lot more for has than you do now.

(d) if you want the list of the Canadian prime ministers, just contact me before the test.


And - here's another example of our upcoming Toronto underground - Museum station!



This is the subway station I had to use when going to law school (when I couldn't rollerblade there!) - and let me tell you, it was far more grim then.

And - you can tell the Ogre that pretty much everyone in Canada speaks English. Certainly, pretty much everyone in Montreal speaks English. As for Toronto... anglophone central. I can teach you all the French you need to know. I managed to get by in Paris speaking only French to everyone but JJ and his son... and funnily enough, I got this weird feedback from almost everyone that "are you from Ireland"? In french!!! Imagine... a greek-canadian with a bunch of scoto-brits in France being asked by French people in French, "Are you irish?". Sigh.

It's a weird thing - you've never heard my voice. Most new people I meet here ask me if I'm from down east, meaning Atlantic Canada, meaning a quasi-irish accent. This has happened from the time I came to Toronto... well before I was involved with the corrupt Scottish/Irish JJ. I really don't get it. My first language was Greek, my second (at 3 or so) English and I never met an honest-to-god Irish person until my 20s when I moved to Toronto. Nor have I ever been to the east coast of Canada.

You know what? I've never met you either, but I imagine that you and I both sound the same when we talk. It's the 49th dimesion, after all :-). I should actually get you to phone me and test this theory...

I love that you want to be Canajan. It's still the best identity in North America, I think, despite all my bitching. :-)


Cheers,

Kristina