The Canadian differences

Having now lived in Canada for almost a month and a half, I have noticed more and more things that are different to home. Here's a few of the biggest ones:

Roads

Obviously the main difference between Canadian and British roads is that in Canada you drive on the right. But that doesn't really bother me since most of Europe also drives on the right.

The one thing I really can't get my head around is the four-way stop system they have over here - an intersection where cars coming from every direction have to come to a complete stop before proceeding. A place I come across these is driving through Tremblant village: it's a pretty quiet road, cars are going slowly anyway, and there are about four intersections along the main road where you have to stop because there are one or two small side roads joining. In the UK it would be a stop or give way for the side road and traffic on the main road would keep going. I guess making everyone stop every few minutes helps to control speed but it seems a bit unnecessary.

The other place where you get four-way stop intersections is on bigger roads which are busy with traffic most of the time. I believe the person who arrives first has priority and if two cars arrive together then the car on the right goes first. I'm sure it would just take some getting used to but it all seems very complicated and confusing to me with cars cutting across the middle, turning different ways from every direction. The British roundabout system seems far more logical!

Eggs

You wouldn't think that an egg would vary much from country to country but I've noticed a surprising number of differences. First off, when I go to buy eggs at home, the majority of eggs are free-range. Supermarket-own brand eggs are free range and the ones that are not are the value ones that come in clear plastic boxes and look like they're poor quality. Eggs are pretty cheap and you don't have to go out of your way to find the free-range ones.

Here in Canada, it's a whole different story. Even the cheapest eggs are far more expensive than they are in the UK and if you want free-range then you have to be prepared to increase your budget significantly. Most of the boxes available are eggs from cage-reared hens and you really have to look closely to find some that are free-range. The only free-range eggs I have found are the expensive, branded boxes so it's obvious why many people would not bother to buy these.

Another difference I've been surprised by is the storage of eggs in supermarkets. In Europe eggs are generally stored on the shelves by the baking products but in Canada they are kept in the refrigerated section with the dairy products. Having done some brief research on the subject, it seems to be because of the different methods for preventing salmonella used in North America and Europe.

Cheese

Like eggs, cheese is also an expensive food in Canada. Much like in the UK, when you go to the cheese aisle of a Quebec supermarket the first cheese you see is cheddar. But this cheddar isn't like British cheddar. For one thing, it's squishy which makes it taste more processed. It seems to be near impossible to find a hard, crumbly cheddar over here. An English friend told me he had managed to find one hard cheddar in a shop in Montreal and it had cost about $10 for a small block. However, that's not to say it's not still tasty - I've enjoyed all the cheese I've had here, it just isn't the cheddar I know.

Coffee

I haven't drunk enough Canadian coffee to know if this is a general Canadian thing or if it's just the places I've been to but the coffee seems to come pre-sweetened. I wouldn't normally add sugar so it makes for a much unhealthier drink than it would've been had I ordered the same thing at home. The drinks are always sweeter than I would like them to be and I find they tend to have a slightly artificial taste.

Most of the drinks I've tried here are from Tim Hortons, the most famous Canadian coffee chain there is. I once ordered an iced cappuccino which comes with whipped cream on the top and I don't know what they put on it but I'm sure it wasn't cream. It was more like foam with sweetener added. Would not recommend!

It's not just coffee either. Smoothies and other fruity drinks I have also found to be much too sweet and often with the taste of artificial flavourings. Based on the limited range of drinks I've tried here, the UK is winning so far.

Toilets

Public toilets, or washrooms as they call them here, are very different to the UK. The best thing is, in the places I've been at least, there are plenty of them and they are always free (unlike Europe where they can be very hard to find and you often have to pay). In Canada there are usually big gaps under the doors and walls of the stalls which is not common at home. It took a minute to grow accustomed to seeing the feet of the people next to me!

Cash

This is the first time I've used Canadian dollars, or dollars of any kind for that matter, and they take a bit of getting used to. I like the fact that the one-cent pieces have been withdrawn so the smallest coin is 5 cents. It means your wallet doesn't become weighed down with worthless copper like it does in the UK.

I struggle with working out the value of the coins every time I go to pay for something. Notes are fine - different values are different colours and the number's written big, same as British banknotes. In the UK, coins are easy because we have different sizes and shapes and colours: bronze coins are worth less than silver; silver coins are worth less than gold ones; smaller bronze coins are worth less than bigger ones, etc. It's logical; it makes sense.

The fact that there are fewer Canadian coins helps a little - 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, $1, $2 - but all the coins under $1 are round and silver. 25¢ is the biggest, 5¢ is slightly smaller but not enough smaller that I can tell it's a 5¢ piece without reading the tiny number on it. 10¢ for some reason is the smallest. Seems completely illogical to me but I'm gradually starting to get used it.

Sports

This is a pretty widely known difference between North America and the UK so not exactly something that surprised me but the difference in sports popularity is very obvious. Every day I see people wearing "Toronto Raptors" (basketball) or "Blue Jays" (baseball) shirts. Football (soccer) isn't really followed or discussed but if there's a game of basketball on then the whole town's talking about it and the bars are packed.

Ice hockey is also a huge deal in Canada of course so even in the summer in Tremblant there are tournaments every now and then. There's no ice (since it's about 25°C) but they play on a sort of plastic matting, still using a puck and ice hockey sticks.

Not exactly a sport, but outdoor yoga is a massive thing here. There are even yoga lessons on paddle boards in the middle of the lake. Walk through the resort in the morning and there's likely to be a class going on in the main square, in the park outside the church or really in any public space at all. I found it a bit surprising at first when I suddenly came across a big group of people lying on the concrete with their legs in the air.

#canada #northamerica #travel #culture