ABCs of My Canadian Life!
A....
- Arabic... what some of the street signs were in when Jacob and I came up here to hunt for apartments.
- Apartments... are called "suites" up here... they aren't any classier, trust me!
- Air Miles... an incentive program in Canada where certain businesses participate in a "club card" sort of deal... you make a purchase at their business, you swipe your free air miles card and you collect airline mileage (and/or points toward other prizes)... I don't really understand how the airline benefits from this, but I have a card (that I think I've used once)!
- "Aboot"... ok, so, for the most part Vancouver-Canadians don't really say this... they DO correctly pronounce it "about". However, they do have a bit of an accent when it comes to certain vowels. Process for instance is pronouced "PRO-cess" and resources is pronouced "re-ZOR-ces".
- Buggy... shopping cart. I know they call them this in the southern regions of the US, too, but I was somewhat taken by surprise when I heard this phrase up here!
- Burgled... this is what happens when someone break into your house and robs you... you've been burgled! =)
- Burnaby Mountain... the mountain that my school is on in the municipality of Burnaby, BC.
- BC Liquor... government run liquor stores up here in BC... can't just buy your wine at the grocery story anymore!
- Canucks... Vancouver's NHL team. I love hockey! =)
- Clan... my schools "mascot"... I was not too keen on this when I first heard about all the "clan activities"...
- Day trips.... we've taken a number of these since we've been up here and have a few more to do before we leave! There is just so much to see in a very short distance from our home. So far we've made it to Bowen Island for hiking and dinner, and Whistler to explore the village there and check out the site of next winter's Olympic games.
- "Eh?".... no matter what Canadians may say, this is NOT a stereotype! lol... the really do use this phrase, maybe not as frequently as the movies may show, but you DO hear it!
- Fraser Valley... another name for the area that I live in (you can get pretty detailed when
trying to describe my geographic area!). We are on the banks of the Fraser River and it can be absolutely GORGEOUS! Especially when it's sunny and the snow-capped mountain peaks are reflecting off the water (like it was today!) - Facebook... I've become somewhat addicted since moving up here... EVERYONE seems to be using it up here!
- French... it's everywhere and pretty cool! I think my French is getting a little better just from trying to decipher things in the supermarket without turning the package around to the English side! =)
- Garbarator... this is what "normal" people in the U.S. refer to a "garbage disposal"! =) Canadians have some funny words! Apparently these are illegal in in certain parts of Eastern Canada... though they get sold on the black market and only the rich have them in their homes! lol!
- Google Maps... my best friend when trying to figure out where I'm going in this big city! I love the "search nearby" function and the "directions via public transit".
- Granville Island Marketplace... kind of like Pike's Market in Seattle, this public market has all kinds of fruits, vegetables, flowers, crafts, musicians, etc. You can also take water cab rides from different shore lines in order to get there.
- Granville Street... the center of the night life in Vancouver. It's amazing how many people are still walking around down there at all hours of the night, all days of the week!
- Hong-couver... the somewhat derogatory nick-name given to Vancouver after the large immigration wave of Asian folks during the 80s and 90s.
- Hydro... what electricity is called up here, as in, "rent includes wi-fi, garbage, and hydro"
- The "Interior" all that space that's not on the coast of BC... pretty much no-man's-land from what I can figure. Small town sort of situation... think eastern Oregon for those of you able to pick up on that reference.
- The Island... Vancouver Island, home of the capital, Victoria, BC.
- Jolly Macs... the pub across the street. They have some pretty good chicken wings! (It's kind of our Thursday night ritual... work out at the gym, then gorge ourselves on 25 cent chicken wings).
- Kraft Dinner... Mac and Cheese, I guess they're trying to class that up too!
- Loonie... One Canadian Dollar coin. Named after a breed of duck apparently.
- Lower Mainland... BC is VERY large, and the lower mainland refers to the tiny little area in the southwestern corner which encompasses the greater Vancouver area.
- Municipality... instead of having suburban towns, they have "municipalities". They have their own city limits/police force/politicians/bylaws/etc., yet they don't have total independence from the Greater Vancouver Metro area.
- Mounty... you may picture a police officer dressed in red on a horse... but apparently they only dress like that for special occasions! The "mounties" are actually the officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)... kinda like our state police... only they work on a nation-wide level.
- Nanaimo Beach... one of the many beaches along the coast of the lower mainland. However, for you Oregonians, beaches are like they are back home... more like, the city ends and then there's water. lol
- Olympics... Whistler, BC (about 1.5 hours from Vancouver) is going to be the home of the 2010 winter Olympic games. Thus, the entire Vancouver area is going through a big, city-wide remodel. Roads are torn up, condos are being built EVERYWHERE, additional security measures are going into place in public areas... they are scrambling. If any of you reading this were in Eugene during the year or so leading up to the Olympic trials this past summer, picture that and multiply it by a couple dozen!
- Pub... a bar, just sounds a little classier. =)
- Prime Minister... The Canadian "president", currently Stephen Harper
- Poutine... this is the true "Canadian" food as it originated in Canada... french fries, gravy, cheese curds... I haven't had the guts to try this yet (something about gravy on french fries doesn't appeal to me), but it's a pretty big deal here in Canada!
- Parks... Surrey is the known as the "City of Parks". We live across the street from one park, we are a 30 minute walk from an "urban forest" (Green Timbers) and a 15 minute drive to another one!
- Queen... technically, Canada is still under British "rule" and so Queen Elizabeth is also the Queen of Canada... however this appears to be simply a tradition, and not really much of an actuality as Canada has it's own government headed by the Prime Minister (though the queen has a "representative" in the Canadian government known as the Governor General).
- Russell Peters... my new favorite Canadian comedian (not that I think I really had an old one...)
- RCMP... the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (see "mounty" above)
- Rasher... a strip of bacon.
- Superstore... The name of the grocery store we use. It's kind of a combination between a Winco (somewhat discounted foods, and you bag your stuff) and a Fred Meyer (has clothes and household supplies and stuff in it as well).
- Surrey... this is the municipality that I live in. It is the largest one in the area, and also, unfortunately, the one with the worst rep. One person I met compared Surrey to their version of 8 mile. I have to argue though that the entire municipality is not THA
T bad (there are certain areas, but shouldn't be generalized). - Skytrain... one of the forms of transit that I take to school every day. Two different lines, 33 stops throughout the Vancouver Metro area.
- Simon Fraser University... my school.
- Sunflower Oil... no idea exactly what it is, but it's right next to canola oil and vegetable oil! =)
- Stanely Park... An beautiful "island" park in Vancouver... love it! (The banner picture for my blog was taken there as well).
- Toonie... the $1 coin is called a "loonie"... this shows the level of creativity used by Canadians when naming their $2 coin! =)
- Telus... my cell provider. Plans in BC suck! Though, they don't rely on their cells as much as people in the US. Most Canadians still actually have landlines. I've been told this lack of sufficient cell plans is because Canada has so much open space with so few people living in large areas that cell reception is limited to the bigger cities. You would never see this in Canada (thanks Lauren... stealing this pic! I love it!)
- Universities... the Vancouver Metro area has an incredible amount of colleges and universities (I just google mapped it and came up with over 9,000 results... I'm not saying they are ALL colleges, however, I got as far as page 23 and they were still legit...). There is a store front down the street from us that you can tell USED to say something-or-college... now it's the "Premier Bathrooms"!
- Vancouver... the biggest city in the province and the third largest metropolitan area in the country with over 2 million people.
- White Spot... popular restaurant chain up here in BC. It's pretty good, though it's one of the few places that Jacob and I are unable to compare to something more familiar back home.
- Washroom... the general term for "bathroom", and what they are all labeled up here.
- X-Ray... What I have to go throw every time I take a bus over the border.
- Yam fries... When Davis restaurant back home opened one of their draws was there yam fries, and many places didn't offer them. Up here however, they are on almost every restaurant menu and generally offered as a substitution for normal fries.
- Zed... the last "letter" of the alphabet.
Ok... I could keep going and going... but I think I should probably end this now! lol... don't even know if anyone will finish reading it at this point!
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