Preparing for Canada (in ways you might not expect)

So, we leave in 1 week.  Sure, we need to pack, take care of financial responsibilities, find places to stay, make sure the van is in shape, find someone to watch the house, and so on and so on.  But there are other things we need to do to prepare for a trip to Canada.  (Didn’t know about this trip?  Read this newsletter)

For example, one thing one must do to prepare for a visit to a foreign country is learn about the culture.  This is going to be especially interesting for our two little Mexican kids, one of whom doesn’t really remember Canada at all.

For example, how do you greet people in Canada?  What about table manners?  How do you … drive??  (Gotta be honest – I’m a little nervous to drive in Canada)

We’ve had some discussions with Hannah and Nathanael.  They think some Canadian customs are pretty funny, but we must teach them.

In Canada, do people ride up on top of trucks like this one?  Can’t remember.  I don’t imagine they have VW bug taxis either, right?
For example, in Canada you can drink water right out of the tap!  In Canada, you take your shoes off when you go into someone’s house.  And in Canada you *gasp* throw your toilet paper into the toilet!

In Canada, don’t ask for the chilis to be passed, because there might not be any.  In Canada, you might want to be a little more diligent with the bug repellent.  There are some interesting bugs there.  They bite, and they’re BIG.  Oh, and in Canada, please don’t call anyone "fat".

Nathanael was pretty excited the other day to find a dandelion.  Boy is he in for a surprise.

If you’re two hours late to a birthday party in Canada, you will not be plenty early for the piñata.  In fact, you might miss the party.

I found it interesting a few months ago reading about "reverse culture shock" in Duane Elmer’s Cross-Cultural Connections.  He explained some of the things missionaries go through returning to one culture after being away.

In the book, he lists re-entry issues for people who have had a short term stay (1 week – 1 month), medium term stay (2-6 months), long term stay (6 months – 2 years), and very long term stay (over 2 years).  Interesting that, after two and a half years we fit into the longest term category already.

Now of course we’re in a unique situation since we’ll be travelling all summer and not settling down to life in Canada.  Still, it will be interesting being tourists in the True North.  (I won’t explain everything Elmer says about reverse culture shock – you kinda have to read the book.  Good book, though).

So please have patience as we teach our children, and try to recall a few things ourselves.  Things just don’t look the same anymore.