Helvete
09-24-2007, 10:54 AM
Canada, a final thought.
So, my time in Canada is at an end. I am writing this having been back less than a week from the country after over 2 months here. I've in fact spent more time with the Army in Canada than I have in Germany, and the longest I've been in any country apart from my own. Well, after this time I have a few thoughts about the things I like and dislike about Canada.
Toilets, okay. What's the deal with your stupid toilets? The actual stalls are crappy, there is like a 2 foot gap at the bottom which leaves me feeling very exposed, and when I stand my head easily looks over the top. Barely any privacy at all. In the UK and Europe as far as I have seen, there is only like a 6 inch gap at the bottom and the walls go well above head height. And if that wasn't enough, why is there so much water in the bowl? My balls are almost floating in the water. This also means that you can't pad out the toilet with tissue to stop splashback. Normally a handful of paper in a UK toilet with be adequate cushioning, but for some reason, Canadian toilets are like pools.
The French, I like how all the products, roadsigns and basically any public information is bilingual. French is a cool language and it's a good way to pick up some French. Okay, I may only be able to tell you the "valeur nutritive" of a can of coke and maybe that entry is prohibited without authorisation, but I like it.
The weather, great. Bad. Great. Bad. Great...I thought the UK was bad for changeable weather. But Canada has got this one wrapped, you can have real hot temperatures in the day and what felt like close to freezing during the night. And then the next day can be cold and rainy all day, only to be followed by a day which is like the height of summer. I was even told that one day back in the 90s, it went from 30c temperatures to snow in the night.
People. Canadians are generally pretty cool, eh? For sure. Like most countries there are some nice people, very friendly and polite mostly. They certainly were quite tolerant of us soldiers when many of our kind had been absolute assholes. We were mostly judged on an individual basis rather than lumped together all as one. And you guys certainly like to say 'for sure'and 'eh' a lot. Oh, and we went to the club on the other side of town, about the only place in the city which isn't populated with soldiers all week. It was pretty cool to be the only soldiers there, but kinda dangerous when it comes to closing time and everyone wants to fight. Problem being, where we are normally mob-handed on 'our' side of town, we are totally outnumbered on the other side of town. Some goofy fucking weedball wanted to fight us because he thought we were staring at him. Luckily for him, me being the diplomat that I am, I managed to talk some sense into him before my very pissed off friends stomped his ass. The canadian police certainly don't hold back when shit goes down, and I wasn't wanted all of us arrested. And the fact that with the amount of drunk ass Canadians around fighting enough with each other, it would have given them all an excuse to kick some British soldiers asses. Then we got a ride from some guy in his car high on extacy who took us to where the cab place was, and then there was this kid on his BMX at like 4 in the morning selling drugs and shit, my friend wanted some crack, but I had to tell the kid that we didn't really actually want some.
Can't think of anything else right now, but there was loads. Overall, Canada is cool, I could definately live there.
So, my time in Canada is at an end. I am writing this having been back less than a week from the country after over 2 months here. I've in fact spent more time with the Army in Canada than I have in Germany, and the longest I've been in any country apart from my own. Well, after this time I have a few thoughts about the things I like and dislike about Canada.
Toilets, okay. What's the deal with your stupid toilets? The actual stalls are crappy, there is like a 2 foot gap at the bottom which leaves me feeling very exposed, and when I stand my head easily looks over the top. Barely any privacy at all. In the UK and Europe as far as I have seen, there is only like a 6 inch gap at the bottom and the walls go well above head height. And if that wasn't enough, why is there so much water in the bowl? My balls are almost floating in the water. This also means that you can't pad out the toilet with tissue to stop splashback. Normally a handful of paper in a UK toilet with be adequate cushioning, but for some reason, Canadian toilets are like pools.
The French, I like how all the products, roadsigns and basically any public information is bilingual. French is a cool language and it's a good way to pick up some French. Okay, I may only be able to tell you the "valeur nutritive" of a can of coke and maybe that entry is prohibited without authorisation, but I like it.
The weather, great. Bad. Great. Bad. Great...I thought the UK was bad for changeable weather. But Canada has got this one wrapped, you can have real hot temperatures in the day and what felt like close to freezing during the night. And then the next day can be cold and rainy all day, only to be followed by a day which is like the height of summer. I was even told that one day back in the 90s, it went from 30c temperatures to snow in the night.
People. Canadians are generally pretty cool, eh? For sure. Like most countries there are some nice people, very friendly and polite mostly. They certainly were quite tolerant of us soldiers when many of our kind had been absolute assholes. We were mostly judged on an individual basis rather than lumped together all as one. And you guys certainly like to say 'for sure'and 'eh' a lot. Oh, and we went to the club on the other side of town, about the only place in the city which isn't populated with soldiers all week. It was pretty cool to be the only soldiers there, but kinda dangerous when it comes to closing time and everyone wants to fight. Problem being, where we are normally mob-handed on 'our' side of town, we are totally outnumbered on the other side of town. Some goofy fucking weedball wanted to fight us because he thought we were staring at him. Luckily for him, me being the diplomat that I am, I managed to talk some sense into him before my very pissed off friends stomped his ass. The canadian police certainly don't hold back when shit goes down, and I wasn't wanted all of us arrested. And the fact that with the amount of drunk ass Canadians around fighting enough with each other, it would have given them all an excuse to kick some British soldiers asses. Then we got a ride from some guy in his car high on extacy who took us to where the cab place was, and then there was this kid on his BMX at like 4 in the morning selling drugs and shit, my friend wanted some crack, but I had to tell the kid that we didn't really actually want some.
Can't think of anything else right now, but there was loads. Overall, Canada is cool, I could definately live there.