Top Ten Maritimes Things that Took Some Getting-Used-To
10.) The Metric System - Only a little bit, though. It's when I'm on the road to someplace distant, and the highway sign says something like, "Miramichi 100." I still reflexively divide by sixty and think, "Just over an hour and a half." Nope--try an hour or less if you're doing 110 clicks on a four-lane.
9.) Homebrewing/Homevintning - La Crosse, WI was lucky to keep one homebrewing shop open. Moncton (equivalently sized), by my count, has four. You can buy kits/supplies at the Co-op where we do our grocery shopping. (For various reasons, commericially-made booze tends to be very expensive. 'nuff said.)
8.) "Sir John A." - Canada's first Prime Minister, which sort of makes him the George Washington of the country. Except that America's first President is carved in ivory and put on a marble pedestal, and Canada's first PM has a beer named after him. (In the latter case, for good reason.)
7.) Politics (sort of) - There are three brand-name political parties instead of two, which mixes it up a bit. (Elizabeth May of the Green Party is both vocal and competent, which tends to disguise the fact that she's the only member of her party in Parliament.) But Liberals are red; Conservatives blue, which takes some mental re-wiring when yard-signs sprout up at election time. (The New Democratic Party, or NDP, is orange, which is totally outside the pale.)
6.) Atlantic Time Zone - Two hours difference for most of my family. (Oddly, if I'd moved to certain parts of Newfoundland-Labrador, I'd be two and a half hours ahead.)
5.) Saltwater - It's stupid, I know. I've been a "river rat" most of my life. Nineteen years in Eau Claire on the Chippewa. Four and change in Red Wing, MN on the west side of the Mississippi. Then ten living on a glorified sandbar in the Mississippi itself (French Island, WI). But after 2.5+ years of having the Northumberland Strait about three football fields off my yard, I still occasionally have a blinding flash of the obvious and start giggling, "Dude, that's the ocean." Dork. (Not to mention there's that whole thing with clam-shacks and lobster-rolls being ubiquitous.)
4.) Thanksgiving - Second Monday in October, not fourth Thursday in November. Has ambushed me Every. Single. Year. (so far).
3.) Colloquial French - Intellectually, I knew that the Parisian French taught in American high schools is not necessarily what you'll hear on the street--even in Paris. Maritime Francophones have a different dialect ("Acadian") than Francophones in Quebec. And then there's there's my area, which has a patois known as "Chiac," a French-English-Mi'kmaq mashup. Still, it has its colourful points--sweet corn is "blé dinde," which translates as "turkey wheat." (Loves it!)
2.) Wildlife - When your neighbour calls to ask, "Did you guys know that you had a moose in the backyard this morning"? (Comment dit-on en français <<wat>>?)
1.) Hurricane Season - Well. Yes. Intellectually, I knew this was going to be a thing. Our electrical system even came with a hookup for a generator, for pete's sake. That's totally not the same as realising that Hurricane Sandy might be dropping by for awhile. o_O
In my defence, there are a few things that I've been able to mentally assimilate fairly readily:
- Garbage disposal - The different way garbage is separated here (green sacks = compostables; blue = everything else that's not toxic) was kind of a no-brainer. When folks here complain about that, I horrify them with tales of separating out newspaper, cardboard, aluminum cans, bi-metal cans, etc.
- Weather - When we first moved here, local folks seemed to assume that winters would be a wee bit of a shock, what with coming from a more southerly region. Um, nooooo. On balance, it's been less cold, more snow. I'll take it, thanks. (Ice storms need not apply, though.)
- Place-names - There's a bit more emphasis on famous historical people here. (I mean, Queen Victoria's Dad has a whole province named after him, fer cryin' in yer Molson's.) But apart from quibbling over whether a place-name is "Native American" or "First Nation," it's pretty much a wash. Dead Presidents, dead Royal/noble people--same difference.
- Anglicised spelling - At once point in my college career, I started doing this as an affectation, just because I thought that it looked cooler on paper. So doing it again is just neuron "muscle memory" kicking in. That being said, I still don't go the fully Monty and use phrases like "at hospital," or "at University," even having a British neighbour.
- Hockey - C'mon, after living in a state where people wear styrofoam cheese-wedges on their heads, I am soooo not in a position to comment on the CBC segregating their "Sports" news and their "Hockey" news. Just sayin'.
