Wednesday, November 01, 2006
O Canada, Part Un
Well, it's been 4 days in the tundra. Here are my observations so far:
1. It's really fricking cold here! Why do people choose to live here? There are warmer cities people!
2. It's really not that cute of a city. Kind of grungy and industrial, and not in a good way.
3. They try really hard to be international with signage, meaning no words. It doesn't work that well. There is one that I can only translate into "watch out for guy bowling across the street."
4. They don't have one dollar bills. Only coins. Oh yea, and they call them Loonies. And they have two dollar coins which they lovingly call Toonies. (not sure of the spelling, but you get the idea.) They also use the term "bucks".
5. They copy American things all the time, but try to change it slightly to make it their own. For example, stoplights. Same exact thing except rotated 90 degrees.
6. Their street names try really hard to be rugged and outdoorsy. Deerfoot Trail, Blackfoot Trail, Bow Trail, Crowchild Trail, Spruce Meadows Trail. The only streets or avenues are numbered ones.
7. A lot of the guys wear their shirts unbuttoned one button too many, often paired with big studded belt buckles.
8. Everywhere is hiring. McDonalds pays $14/hour.
9. They have never heard of US Bank here. (yep, I can't get any money!) And you can't use your debit/visa card anywhere. I think mastercard might be ok, but not visa.
1. It's really fricking cold here! Why do people choose to live here? There are warmer cities people!
2. It's really not that cute of a city. Kind of grungy and industrial, and not in a good way.
3. They try really hard to be international with signage, meaning no words. It doesn't work that well. There is one that I can only translate into "watch out for guy bowling across the street."
4. They don't have one dollar bills. Only coins. Oh yea, and they call them Loonies. And they have two dollar coins which they lovingly call Toonies. (not sure of the spelling, but you get the idea.) They also use the term "bucks".
5. They copy American things all the time, but try to change it slightly to make it their own. For example, stoplights. Same exact thing except rotated 90 degrees.
6. Their street names try really hard to be rugged and outdoorsy. Deerfoot Trail, Blackfoot Trail, Bow Trail, Crowchild Trail, Spruce Meadows Trail. The only streets or avenues are numbered ones.
7. A lot of the guys wear their shirts unbuttoned one button too many, often paired with big studded belt buckles.
8. Everywhere is hiring. McDonalds pays $14/hour.
9. They have never heard of US Bank here. (yep, I can't get any money!) And you can't use your debit/visa card anywhere. I think mastercard might be ok, but not visa.
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Where in Canada are you, anyway? I had a friend spend about 6 weeks in Montreal and though it was cold (especially since she is a native Portlander) she thought it was great.
I was in Calgary. (Alberta if you're wondering) I had to go for some training from one of our major manufacturers. The company told us what hotel to stay in, I think so it was close to the factory. Plus everything was snow covered and really damn cold. I don't think I got the best impression of the town.
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