Will I be marked down for spelling like an American? – Eliana M., Age 11
I was trying to figure out why all of my received emails from Ottawa were totally marked up with red lines…and then for like the 150th time since our move to Canada became official, I was reminded of what on the surface seems totally obvious: Canada is a different country!
I know. You already knew that. I did, too. But like a good American, I really didn’t take all that much time to unpack what that really meant until circumstances required me to. So, in recognition of all the new experiences emigration is providing me and my family, I want to introduce a new feature of my blog: “The Expat Files”.
Blog posts in “The Expat Files” will focus in on one family’s journey from America to Canada. I might zoom in on such hot-button issues as which “spellcheck” language I am supposed to click, porting your cell phone number, or why the only doctor who can submit our emigration exams is 300 miles away. I might zoom out how our experiences with socialized medicine, parliamentary democracy, and state-sponsored media inform what we believe to be true as American citizens. But, what I imagine I will mostly do, is share a bunch of completely embarrassing situations that reveal how little I know about things that I probably should, but don’t.
Hold that thought.
Two additional sub-features to “The Expat Files” will provide you with an opportunity to enhance your reading experience. I will include a curated musical playlist and a signature cocktail to accompany each post. [Thanks to Nancy Davis for the inspiration.] I can assure you that it is the same playlist I am listening to while writing…
Signature Playlist: For the first post, I offer up Spotify’s “Canadian Pop”. [Parents be warned that a few songs on the playlist are labeled with “explicit” lyrics.]
Signature Cocktail: Ginder Rum Shandy [Parents be warned that the drinking age in Ontario is 19, which is something I totally just looked up and belongs on the aforementioned list.]
I assure you that future editions of “The Expat Files” will focus in on specific events or issues worthy of going deeper than a Facebook update or a tweet. However, this inaugural edition comes after an embarrassment of embarrassments, so we’ll wrap up with a series of quick hits.
An Unedited List of Things Jon Has Learned, Realized or Mused
- Why can’t you choose your own car when you rent a car from National in Canada?
- Do I sing the Canadian national anthem? Do my children? Different rules for different contexts (stadiums or school assemblies)?
- Will the 11 Spanish proverbs I remember from Spanish 5 in high school help me learn French?
- Is Drake a national treasure?
- Is there such a thing as Canadian Fantasy Football?
- Will I start writing with English spellings of words? Should I?
- This seems like a particularly charged time for an American to transition to socialized medicine.
- I genuinely look forward to trying kosher poutine.
- It would be awesome if the Ottawa Senators won the Stanley Cup while we are in the process of moving to Ottawa. But it wouldn’t be ironic. Don’t you think? #AlanisMorrisette #Ironic
- We are totally psyched for learning a whole new geography through family road trips.
- I distinctly remember watching “The Terry Fox Story” on TV when I was eleven and at no point did it occur to me that it would inspire my future employer’s biggest fundraiser.
- It is pretty awesome watching Maytal and Eliana practice French on their iPads each day. This is going to be such a wonderful opportunity for them in so many ways.
We have less than two months left before the moving trucks arrive to pack us up. We have so much more to do both here and there. We have so much to learn and to unlearn. We are sad to leave what has been a wonderful seven years in Jacksonville. We are excited to begin what will surely be a wonderful new chapter in Ottawa.
You are welcome to join our adventure here in “The Expat Files”.