Shari on Canada

Now that you have the basic story about Shari’s visit to Canada in December, I told you I’d share some of her impressions.  Here are a few things that Shari particularly noticed during her visit:

• There are a lot of open spaces in Calgary compared to the Cuernavaca/Mexico City area.  The streets are wide, the parking spots are wide, the yards are big.  Of course, she was visiting one of the largest (geographically) cities in North America, and it only has a million people – Calgary is unusually "spread out".
• As compared to our house, the hot water lasts forever – no rushing to get your shower done!  And you can even take baths (bath tubs are rare in Mexico).
• Things were very organized at the Calgary airport.  In Mexico City, you were supposed to "just know" that you had to fill out such-and-such a form.  And her departure gate was changed three times!  At the last change she had to cross the entire airport (a 20 minute walk/sprint) and got to the gate 15 minutes before departure – fortunately, the plane left late…
• You can put TP in the toilet in Canada (in Mexico there are issues with personal and city sewage systems – hence the little garbage cans beside each toilet).
• The feeling of cold weather was weird (it was around 0C/32F in Calgary), and so was the feeling of actually being able to warm up inside!
• You can speak English in Canada, which is handy because we speak it pretty well.  However, Shari noticed that Spanish kept coming out of her boca unintentionally – especially the "polite" words (Gracias, mande?, disculpe…).
• There is so much selection – so many different brands in the stores!  Of course, this needs to be qualified – we probably have a greater selection of many things in Cuernavaca (yogourt drinks, sweet breads, chili peppers), while they have a greater selection of certain things in Canada (maple syrup, mittens, Corner Gas DVDs).  But still, walking into a grocery store was overwhelming.  And going into Toys "R" Us — unbelievable.  Why do kids need all this STUFF??
• When you ask for water in Canada, sometimes people give you water right from the tap!