CANADIAN PEOPLE

Well, I'm going to talk a little bit about canadian people (under my viewpoint). I know, I have to tell some things since I came here after Christmas time, but it'll be later, when I get pictures...
First of all, canadians are veeeeery nice, they're sooooo nice that it's too nice to be true. Do u know what i mean? For example, you go to a bar, and you can get tired of the nice waitress. She'll be coming all the time asking you if everything is ok, if you are ok or you need anything else.. (In fact, they want you to ask for another drink, that's what you're thinking, I know). The tips, other important thing, you are "prosecuted" if you don't leave a tip. It's "by law" that you have to leave a tip of at least the 7% of the bill. When I got Canada, in Toronto's airport, I went to the only bar in which you could smoke (smoking is another story, I'll tell you later). I was very surprised , and lost in traslation. The waitress was all the time coming to ask me: are you ok? And me: yes, thank you (I was thinking: is my face strange, do I look like sick or something, why is she asking me if I'm ok? ) . Finally, after several times asking me the same, she came and explained me that I couldn't be all the evening in a bar ordering only one thing. I was sooooo surprised that I only asked her for the bill. I paid and left the bar. (If you're treated like that in Spain, I know, you never return to that place). Well, that moment was when I understood that the phrase " are you ok?" doesn't mean "are you ok?" but "do you want anything else?".
But then, after 2 hours more waiting for my flight, I had to go again (I needed to smoke, stupid habit) so I went. When I was going to pay, she explained me that I had to pay the tips and that I didn't pay it the time before. I was like: what the hell are the tips????? Ok, the tips are what we call in Spain "propina" and what we never ever pay unless the service was too good!
Well, i didn't understand what the tips were, so I just paid the amount he said to me, thinking that I had been fooled. Two months after that, I discovered what the tips were, jejejeje.


The smoking thing! it's very funny , because if you smoke in Canada, it's a veeeeery bad thing. It's forbidden to smoke in every place, even in your house. You can only smoke outside, what is not too good considering the cold weather in the winter time, like - X degrees, (whatever under 0 is cold for us, spaniards). If you wanna buy tobacco, you have to be rich, it's like $12. So, better don't smoke so you will be considered "different". Nobody smokes, nobody smokes, but I had the experience of leaving a table in a summer bar (outside) for a while to go "outside outside" (that's stupid , you can't smoke in the table but you can 2 metres away), and I saw how almost everybody left the table to smoke as me. So, all of them were wishing to smoke, but it's not allowed by the social custom... Ughs!


The food, that's annoying. You have to live it to believe it. The fisrt time I went to buy groceries to a store (like alcampo or carrefour there) I was sooo confused... I couldn't find, for example, tuna in oil, it was only tuna in water!!!! yes, in water.. All the conserved food in cans were in water instead of oil. You can't buy olive oil unless you're rich. Vegetables are like twice or three times more in price than there, and the same worse. They look like drawn vegetables, with such a great colour...
They're used to eat all the precooked food, hamburges, pizzas... Not real food for me.
There're not restaurants if you wanna go out for lunch or dinner as we like so much. Only burgers, pubs (in which you only can drink beer, forgot the "copas" of course), chinese (oriental in general) restaurants and so on. There's no what we know as a restaurant with a menu like there.
Other interesting and funny habit of canadians, they remove their shoes when they get whatever place: their houses, whoever house they're invited to, the workplace, the airplane,.... As soon as they arrive, they remove their shoes. I still remember the first "party" in a house I was invited.I arrived and I was the only one person who didn't remove her shoes.. It' s like bad education to do that, but I was not used to that yet...
Well, I think that it's the opposite in Spain, if you get someone else's house, you should at least ask if you want to remove your shoes. Otherwise you'll look like mean, isn't it?


What more?.... Oh, of course, canadians never ever in their lifes demonstrate any affection when they're "in public", I mean, when there are other people around. If you didn't see your daughter for a long time and you go to the airport when she arrives, you'll not demonstrate how much you were wishing to see her... You'll never kiss your boyfriend/girfriend/wife/husband.. in public, and so on.
But, after all, they're good, I like canadians (I don't want to make canadians enemies..). It's just a different culture and different people, but they're great!


I forgot to mention other tipical characteristics of a canadian: they are veeeery confident, I mean, they trust everybody and you can trust a lot. For example, one day I forgot my tobacco outside my house (if something like this happens to you in Spain, just forget about your tobacco - or whatever- because you'll never see it again). However, here you'll find your tobacco inside your house the next day as it happened.. Great!
And I told you sooner that they're veeery nice. This is an example: your roomates or neighbours, whoever who has a car, will drive you to buy groceries if you don't have a car, even if he/she doesn't have to buy anything. He/she will just drive you, wait for you to finish your shopping and , furthermore, they will thank you..
In general they thank you for giving you a hand, they will thank you for eating the cake they did, and so on..

Last thing (for now): If you're invited to a house, you HAVE TO bring anything. Beer, fruits, cakes, whatever, but bring something. Otherwise..... bad for you!