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Topic: Hello Canada  (Read 11179 times)

Sherman Tank

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Hello Canada
I'm just visiting Canada for the first time and so far, as an American who lived in England for several years, the experience has been really strange. I feel like I'm in some alternate timeline North America where the American Revolution never happened. Everything's the same except there's pictures of the Queen on clips and every one is being incredibly, suspiciously helpful.  Seriously, the airport customs agent who stamped my passport was a beautiful brunette who actually looked happy to see someone who needed their passport stamped.

Oh, and there are still payphones here.

Isfahan

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Hello Canada #1
based on this description I imagine an American visiting Canada for the first time is like a rescue pet being adopted

I've technically visited Canada before, but it was for high-school ski trips near Quebec City, so I'm not even sure that counts.
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Boots Raingear

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Hello Canada #2
Oh hi there!
Sherman Tank

Sherman Tank

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Hello Canada #3
So maybe it's because I live in the shitty donut capital of the USA (southern California), but Tim Horton's chocolate glazed donuts are really, really goddamned good.

Sherman Tank

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Hello Canada #4
Also, how is poutine not a thing in the United States? Oh my God aside from mini-tacos it is the perfect drunk food.
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Hello Canada #5
Also, how is poutine not a thing in the United States? Oh my God aside from mini-tacos it is the perfect drunk food.
Big Ole Pear Shaped Sherman Tank, April 14, 2016, 10:48:48 pm
Come to picturesque upstate New York, where Mountain Dew and a bag of Bugles is a balanced breakfast, and every diner in town will serve you up hot fresh poutine like it's going out of style

(Note: quality of poutine varies excessively from diner to diner)

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Hello Canada #6
Also, how is poutine not a thing in the United States? Oh my God aside from mini-tacos it is the perfect drunk food.
Big Ole Pear Shaped Sherman Tank, April 14, 2016, 10:48:48 pm

yeah we got poutine in spades here in the land of ports

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Hello Canada #7
Also, how is poutine not a thing in the United States? Oh my God aside from mini-tacos it is the perfect drunk food.
Big Ole Pear Shaped Sherman Tank, April 14, 2016, 10:48:48 pm

yeah we got poutine in spades here in the land of ports
jack chick, April 15, 2016, 11:43:40 am

It really depends on the hipness of your region.  Out here in the rust belt, we also get poutine-like dishes, but usually they're called Hangover Fries and the emphasis is more on the gravy (and usually meat fixins) than cheese curds.  Granted, we do have some bomb-ass donuts over here with out any frou-frou bullshit and they actually cost what donuts are supposed to cost ( > $1).

Lemon

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Hello Canada #8
Yup, there's plenny of good poutine in the US but only in certain areas. I feel like I have a lot of conversations about poutine these days.

Also, Boots is gonna fucking hate you when he sees you said something nice about Tim Horton's.

Victor Laszlo

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Hello Canada #9
My first time in Canada, the customs/immigration folks were stereotypically polite on our way in.  We were an eclectic group, two Americans two Australians and a Brazilian.  Canada was very welcoming.  We got on the bus to go into town and the Brazilian guy for some reason had a Canadian $20 bill which he dutifully slid into the automatic fare box thing and then stood there, waiting for change.  The bus driver pointed out the sign that says no change is to be given, which was of course upsetting.  It was a 45 minute ride into the city.  The bus driver had us sit in the front of the bus, and every time somebody got on at a stop, he stopped them from putting their fare into the box and asked them to hand it to my friend, explaining that he had accidentally overpaid.  100% of the bus riders did this without hesitation, and by the time we got to Victoria Paolo had all of his money back.  No bus driver I've ever encountered in the US would have gone to that much trouble to get a foreign guy his money back.

Then, while wandering the city, the Aussies ran out of cigarettes.  I don't recall the specifics, but apparently the types of businesses that you buy cigarettes in is different in Canada?  We struck out at a couple of places and were standing on a street corner trying to figure out where to go when someone crossed the street to get to us, and said "Excuse me, do you all need to buy cigarettes?"  She then helpfully pointed out the two closest businesses to buy them.  She actually crossed the street to help strangers buy cigarettes.  Who does that?

Everyone we met was friendly and welcoming, like disturbingly so, even the San Francisco-level amount of panhandlers in Victoria BC in 1999.  One panhandler gave us directions after we declined to give her any money.    Then it was time to go home.  Canadian customs on the way out somehow became convinced that we had made the trip to smuggle cigarettes back to the US, and spent fifteen minutes loudly repeating variants of "yeah right, where did you hide all the cigarettes?" at us.  We spent the ferry ride back to Friday Harbor talking about how disconcertingly polite and helpful everyone was, and also drinking beer.  We were a little drunk when we finally got off the boat, but honestly it still felt just like home when the US immigration official at the dock grabbed her gun while cursing at us to stay behind the line until she told us to cross it.

Also, Boots is gonna fucking hate you when he sees you said something nice about Tim Horton's
So we're on our own for poutine pretzels then? Just kidding, I love you, Boots!
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Sherman Tank

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Hello Canada #10
Also, Boots is gonna fucking hate you when he sees you said something nice about Tim Horton's.
Lemon, April 15, 2016, 07:46:21 pm

In fairness to him, everything I tried from there besides this one kind of donut was pretty bad.

Boots Raingear

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Hello Canada #11
I decided to keep it to myself. I'm growing as a person.

But seriously, those donuts are just as garbage as the rest of their menu.

Sherman Tank

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Hello Canada #12
I'm back in San Diego now.

My biggest takeaway was that nobody said "Eh" in my presence, and only one person had anything vaguely resembling a stereotypical accent (he said "about" in that funny Canadian way).

Boots Raingear

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Hello Canada #13
Yeah, you would have needed to venture more towards rural Ontario to get that.

Find somebody who ends their sentences with "eh" and you've found somebody who's lost a cousin to a snowmobile accident.
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Hello Canada #14
I wish I could visit Canada :(