Wednesday, January 10, 2007
My Canadian Adventure
I’ve been up here in Canada on a work assignment for several months and it has been a fun adventure to say the least. I've got to say that Kathy Shaidle has it good up here in Toronto. Beyond learning and adding new business skills to my résumé I’ve met a lot of great people, visited many beautiful areas, and have had wonderful (and not so wonderful) experiences of the country; Some of the not-so-wonderful experiences is to remember to use your credit card when renting a vehicle in Canada, they don’t use debit cards up here. I’ve come away with some wisdom that I would like to share with my avid readers if you were ever to travel up north.
1. Don’t respond to a French-speaking Canadian Customs Agent with ‘No hablá español’.
2. Don’t refer to a Canadian Customs Agent as a ‘Canuck’ (or a Canucki for that matter).
3. Don’t explain to the Canadian Customs Agent what the ‘F’ in N.A.F.T.A. is defined as when they ask you to pay for a ‘work visa’ in order to ‘work freely in Canada’. They’ll take offense to that.
4. Don’t refer to Canadian money as ‘pesos’. Especially when asking “how many Canadian pesos will it be for the free work visa”.
5. Don’t ask the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police), when they’re interrogating you for your ‘F’ explanation, “where is your horse”.
6. Don’t take pictures of Canadian Airport Police as they intimidate passengers that are complaining about a flight that was cancelled after it was delayed for 13 ½ hours at midnight on Christmas Eve. Apparently it’s illegal to take photographs of them beating up on passengers at the gate.
7. Don’t refer to Indian food such as Chicken Curry wrapped in Nan bread as a “very spicy chicken burrito”.
8. Don’t ask the Sikh luggage security personal at the airport to “stop yapping and start checking my baggage”; they just might throw their turban at you.
9. Remember to check to see if you are carrying cash-money BEFORE ordering coffee and donuts at Tim Horton’s.
10. And lastly, remember when ordering ‘Canadian beer’ in Canada, they just call it ‘beer’.
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7 comments:
And how many of those did you say ...?
You're so getting deported!! :)
Tito,
Why did you feel the need to leave the great country of Tejas? You should come home before they corrupt you....
Rebecca
P.S. Didn't you learn anything from South Park..."Just Blame Canada!"
Now you are Canadianized! You can stay if you like! You've learned all our secrets.
Bill,
I pleade the 5th.
Kat,
Almost, but I pulled through and behaved myself.
Paramedicgirl,
I like Canada very much. The people are very friendly and the weather has been gorgeous (yay Global Warming!)