Current Location: Toronto CANADA
Hi Everyone
Well I am back in Canada and I suddenly have a brand new appreciation for smooth pavement and clean streets. Its not like I have not seen sidewalks and streets in disrepair before, god knows there is enough of that in Kuala Lumpur and Cairo, two places I have been before, but I guess I just didn't expect that in the US. Some of you may think I am making a real big deal out of this and ... I guess ... you're right, but seriously, I have proof!!!
WTF!!!!!!!
But anyway, enough of that. I am now back in Toronto and surprise surprise, its cold! It was snowing today, beautiful to look at but absolutely horrible to go walk out in and even worse to shovel or drive in. HOWEVER, minutes after the snow starts falling, plows are out all around the city cleaning it up, in contrast to some of the snowstorms that hit the north eastern sea board of the US while I was away. The city government of Toronto works well, infrastructure is well maintained, services run (somewhat bureaucratically but at least they run) and the city makes an effort to look nice. There are official city tree planters who plant trees on sidewalks every year, there are gardeners who look after plants in parks and on islands in the middle of the road. These are things I think some Canadians take for granted but I think add a lot to Canadian cities and make them a whole lot more livable and visitable. It is also very clean, a standard of cleanliness that, as far as I know, is only surpassed by the Germans and the Swiss. Crime is low too, and the bad neighbourhoods here are pretty tame compared to the bad neighbourhoods in comparable cities in the US.
One thing I have noticed about Canadians is that, despite being reputable as very friendly, they are not quite as hospitable and open as Americans tend to be. Now I know I am generalizing a lot here but Americans (perhaps New Yorkers aside) are always VERY welcoming and genuinely kind and curious towards newcomers and foreigners. Canadians are more reserved, while they can be very friendly, they can be very reluctant to open themselves out too much to other people. I think this is a trait of Canadians that we are a very reserved group of people, not as social or heart-on-sleeve wearing as our Southern neighbours. Again, I am generalizing here, there are plenty of Canadians who of the heart-on-sleeve wearing variety and plenty of Americans who are not, but it seems to be normal and expected down south but not here. Canadians can be rather suspicious when someone is being unusually friendly towards them.
A funny thing, that you will rarely here a Canadian admit, is that Canadian identity is very much shaped by our the United States, or rather, what the United States is not! Canadian culture is often a counter to what American culture is, often to ensure that we Canadians see ourselves as different to the Americans. Of course this in fact does make us different, but not because we are different (we share a common History, and a large number of Canadians have their ancestral roots in the United States before the revolution) but because we want to be different. One unfortunate by product of this is our current status in the international diplomatic arena. The United States was always a side taker in international affairs, Canada had the role to play as mediator, often between the US and whomever they had a current grudge against. This was a Canada I liked and the international diplomatic circle appreciated, we could always be relied upon to be level headed and not take sides, to get sides to talk and prevent war. Recently, under Barack Obama, the United States has begun to take a more leading role as mediator and, as always it seems, Canada has reacted and become the side taker. I believe this lead directly to Canada being excluded from the Security Council recently when we usually figure on it as a regular. Hopefully this will change after an election and the Conservative government of Stephen Harper is removed, we shall wait and see.
As far as countries go though, Canada has been one of my favourites so far to live in. I have been here for 5 years so far and the positives for me outweigh the negatives. Canada is certainly not for people who hate the cold, hate any kind of government funded social programs (healthcare, social welfare), love automatic weapons pistols and other firearms and believe they have a right to have them (seriously?) or people who have a distaste for the ordinary. Canada is safe, secure, clean and ordered, what could be more DULL and BORING!!!!!!!
Canadians do drive well though :)
I think that will be it from me today, thanks for reading and please comment (no one commented on my last blog, I nearly cried ... )
Next week I think I will give a talk about my first big venture overseas by myself, my trip to France in 2003. Until then ...
A la prochaine
Tristan
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