It was two years ago today that we crossed the border and became pseudo-Canadians! Many times since then people have asked, “Do you like it?” “What do you miss?” “What have you learned?” or some variation. So I thought that maybe today would be a good opportunity to just list some of my answers!
What have I learned:
You know that joke about Canadians being nice? It isn’t a joke! They really are nice people! I keep having this fear that one day there will be a knock on my office door and a Royal Canadian Mountie (yes they are real!) will be standing there saying, “Mr. Flowers, I am very sorry to bother you sir, but and I am so terribly sorry to tell you this, but you are going to have to leave Canada, because, well, you are just not nice enough!”
I have learned to say, “Sorry,” to stop for pedestrians on the road, to let people in in traffic, to wait, to be, dare I say it, nice! (Well, I am trying!)
I have learned that the history I learned is not really history. It is the Southern American version! One of the things we hear often is the story of the “Marauding Americans!” I have stopped trying to correct that error, because I am not sure it is an error!
I have learned that Canada is BIG! No, I mean really BIG!! It is so big that they just start making up names for places! (At least that is what I am accusing them of, of trying to see how much this American will believe!) Like Nunavut! (If you are like me you’ve never heard of it, even though it is the largest territory/province in Canada, which happens to be the 2nd largest country in the world! Imagine never having heard of Texas!) A place way up north where the only way to get supplies are by plane or boat, and the last boat arrives the end of October!
Living in the Annapolis Valley I have learned about apples! We have apples here! All kinds of apples! Yes, we have your red delicious and macintosh and honey crisp, and galas, but we also have Gravensteins (great for cooking,) Jonagold (maybe my favorite,) Sarah Apple (I accused them of just making up names because I dated Sarah Apple in High School!) In the spring when the apple blossoms are blooming there are few places more beautiful! We even have a festival to celebrate!
Speaking of seasons, did you know there are 5 of them? In Charleston I knew there was summer and those 4 days of winter and spring, but here there are 5! Spring—a glorious time of beauty; summer—when people think that it gets hot; autumn—O MY GOSH!!!!; Winter—it is Canada; and Mud season which no one likes!
Perhaps the biggest surprise for me is that I believe winter is becoming my favorite season! Yes, it is cold! No, I mean really really cold! Not Yellowknife cold, but cold! But when the landscape is covered with snow and the sky is a gorgeous blue…..there is not much that can beat it!
And speaking of cold, before we crossed the border we made a stop at LL Bean! We always do! It isn’t as much fun as it is necessity! Anita had a friend who advised her that living here is like sports. As long as you have the right equipment you are fine! I have 4 different coats, wearing a different one depending on the cold! (I haven’t even pulled out the “Winter” coat yet. See, I am becoming Canadian!)
I have learned that you can have conversations without animosity. Canadians don’t agree on everything—except hockey, and even then we have our teams! We do agree on the Raptors and Bianca Andreescu! Climate change is a generally accepted fact. Not by everyone, but we see the effects. We see the permafrost melting, rising tides, less snowfall, more wildfires. There is disagreement about what to do, but there isn’t rabid refusal to accept the evidence.
We had an election this year, so you would think that would bring out the worst! The entire campaign lasted 50 days and while many thought it was antagonistic I wanted to say that I have seen more vicious campaigns for Soil and Water Commission! We have had scandals that nearly brought down the Trudeau government that Americans would have seen as “that’s the way things are! Get used to it!” There is a fear of the discord seen in the US and Great Britain making its way here, but so far the niceness prevails. For how long? That is the question!
But I have also learned that even though we are in another country we can’t escape the US. (CBC is broadcasting the impeachment vote live today!) The US is the huge rock thrown into the pond. There are ripples!
I can’t remember how many times I have been asked if we moved to escape Donald Trump So many times that I got a “Trump Refugee Program” t-shirt! I never knew how much the rest of the world looked to the US for a sense of stability. Now??? It is like a child whose parents are fighting before the divorce! It has the rest of the word nervous, wondering who is in charge, wondering who we are suppose to follow. It has taught me to appreciate the way the US was once viewed, and hope that it might be once again
There are so many things we have learned and love about Canada, but yes, there are things that I miss. Note I said things. Of course we miss people. But things? Yes!
I miss Duke’s Mayonnaise! No revelation if you have followed this blog. We have had friends bring it with them on their visits. Loved ones have shipped it to us. And the truth is, that Amazon will bring it to us—for $48 a jar! Yeah, I miss Dukes!
Same for other items. Paul Prudhomme’s Seafood Magic? $35.00 a jar. Nope! Not going to happen!
There are other items we can find on the store shelves. They look exactly alike, (excpet that on one side they are in French!) but the taste….just a bit different! A-1 Steak Sauce, Campbell’s Tomato Soup are a couple that come to mind!
I miss shrimp and grits, oysters, country ham, really good tomato sandwiches. I miss Sunday lunch at Ali Baba’s, pizza on the beach, Chick fil A, and good Mexican food! (Non-existent here!)
I miss the Eastern Time Zone! Two years ago it was possible for me to stay awake to see the end of an evening football game. But no more! I was able to stay awake to see Drew Brees break the touchdown record, (and Anita woke me up for his 4th touchdown pass) but the end of the game? HAHAHAHA! And let’s not even talk about the Oscars, or even New Year’s Eve! We are going with London Time this year!
So yeah! After two years we have learned a lot. There is so much that we love about being here. We are now eligible to apply for Permanent Residency. That is the same as a Green Card in the US which is the next step towards Canadian citizenship. Which leads to THE question that comes from family and friends:
Are you going to stay in Canada?
The simple answer is we don’t know!
4 years ago if you had asked if we would move from Charleston I would have said no. But life got in the way. And God sent a wonderful alternative. And here we are!
My dear friend Hardy Clemons said that I should always plan on being where I am forever. The prophet Jeremiah put it this way. “Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce.”
Well, we have a wonderful house in Wolfville. We have a vineyard (well, a couple grape vines) in the backyard. We know the Farm Markets we like. So we are here. Grateful to God for this good and wonderful place, filled with such incredible people!
4 years from now??? When we were in Bali we learned that a lot of ministers end up there when they retire. I think they go to thaw out, so who knows! We just look forward to the adventure!
