When I moved to Canada exactly six years ago, I was a bit insufferable. In fact, in general, six years ago I was pretty insufferable. Sure, I like many things about my recently-graduated self, but being open to change and new ideas were not my strong points. I had it all figured out, you know. Four years of Undergraduate education and I knew all I needed to know about life. Canada was supposed to be temporary, anyway. A short stop in my life as Doron and I prepared to move back to the States post-haste!
But as with most things in life, it didn’t really work like that. Doron had a good job and the immigration process is daunting, expensive, and difficult. Add two kids to the mix and it started to seem like we were never going to leave Canada! I petulantly fought against Canada, I’ll admit. Part of it was the false advertisement I’d gotten over 25 years. When I’d been told Canadians are all uber friendly, and always apologize, and basically were liberal Southerners or Midwesterners, Toronto was a shock to me. It was cold, unfriendly, and I found myself feeling very isolated. I missed my friends. I missed my culture. I missed people who would smile and say ‘hi’ to you even if they didn’t know you.
The ‘Toronto Years’ were hard on me. Though, I even grew to appreciate parts of Toronto as well. There are friendly people in T.dot. They just don't seem to live in the Bathurst/Steeles area. :P And I’ll also admit, the Toronto area would have probably been a lot more exciting to me if I were 21. But at 25, I was already feeling the need to settle down and start a family. That said, I know I was annoying about comparing everything to the United States. I missed home, and while I still think the USA is a much better fit for me, I wasted about three years of my time in Canada trying to get it to live up to my standard.
But at the same time, I learned so much from Canada and the Canadians I met. I’ll take those lessons with me. There are simply some things Canada does better. For one, their voters are less likely to be married to a team..oops…I mean, Party. Canadian Political debate, while often more boring, is generally focused on actual issues rather than entertainment style sensationalism. That said, their political ads are ridiculous, but in the most amazing way. I could watch Canadian attack ads all day. Canadian news media, while still biased, is immensely more professional. Conversation is dignified, intelligent, and without hysterics…usually. Small town Canada, like Bradford where I moved two years ago, is very much like the kind, warm, neighborly Midwest and South that I’m used to. People care about each other and will take hours to locate a family pet gone missing or come together to make sure families who lost their homes in a fire have necessities met.
My mindset has changed, too. No more do I feel the need to ardently assert America’s superiority over Canada. I still think the United States is the best place to live on the planet. I still get frustrated with the misbranding of my home country by Canadians and Canadian media. But my mind is more open now. I can see things more clearly and less nationalistically. There are a lot of great things about many countries and there are a lot of shitty things about every country, including my beloved United States of America. At the end of the day, Canada is great, just not my home. I'm happy to be returning to the United States, but I appreciate all that Canada has done for us. It is the place our family and it will always have a special place in my heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment