I think Canadians are funny, and while I'm still observing and learning I thought I would share a few observations that I find humorous so far. (Yes of course these are generalizations and are not meant to be in anyway demeaning - just observations!)
First, Canadians are rule followers, which I think I've mentioned before. I think my favorite illustration of this is that when walking around town, they never disobey street lights. In New York, everyone waits for the cars to pass and then crosses the road regardless of what the lights tell you to do which makes sense since you walk so much you'd never get anywhere otherwise. But here where you also walk a lot (of course less than NYC), if the light says don't cross, NO ONE and I mean NO ONE will cross the street no matter how dead the street or the traffic is. Funny what they will do however is cross in the middle of the street, not at a light, when the traffic has ceased - I guess this way they aren't actually disobeying a light?
First, Canadians are rule followers, which I think I've mentioned before. I think my favorite illustration of this is that when walking around town, they never disobey street lights. In New York, everyone waits for the cars to pass and then crosses the road regardless of what the lights tell you to do which makes sense since you walk so much you'd never get anywhere otherwise. But here where you also walk a lot (of course less than NYC), if the light says don't cross, NO ONE and I mean NO ONE will cross the street no matter how dead the street or the traffic is. Funny what they will do however is cross in the middle of the street, not at a light, when the traffic has ceased - I guess this way they aren't actually disobeying a light?
Canadians seem a bit hyper family-friendly, which as I mentioned earlier I think is a really nice contrast to the US where work-life balance remains less valued. There is even a holiday called Family Day for goodness sakes. But sometimes for an outsider this can get quite annoying as beyond certain emergencies it seems you should be able to balance your family life with other commitments and not be given special privileges (basically this is me complaining because I haven't figured out how to work the system yet, I'm sure I'll think it is great once I have). A funny example: In August the electricity went out in our building which was really annoying as it was hot and the air and refrigerators didn't work. Our landlord called the electrician who was too busy to come so she called the electric company and they weren't going to come either until she told them she had a pregnant woman in one of the units (flat out lie) who needed the air/refrigeration. No joke, the company was here within an hour to fix the issue which was specific to our building. If you want to get anything done or get out of having to do something, just claim some crisis with your kids or pregnant wife and you're good to go. No questions asked!
Canadians constantly talk and joke about sexual subjects, much more than you're used to doing even with your closest friends. This can get a bit uncomfortable when you just meet someone new and they make some random sexual inference (they aren't hitting on you), but you'll get used to it.
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