The Nightmare Before Christmas

Why Americans need Thanksgiving in November: A min-thesis on the Holiday Season in Canada and the U.S.

I have been experiencing quite a seasonal shock these past 10 days. It has come in the form of wreathes, bows, bells, twinkly lights... yes, it is Christmas in Toronto or at least the retailers think it is. How did this all arise???

Well lets start at the beginning. On November 1st at approximately 11:15 am Rich and I began the search for that wonderful post-Halloween phenomenon that is half-priced Halloween candy. After scrounging through several pharmacies we were disheartened to find that they hadn't had time to mark down the candy. So the candy was still marked at full price. However, they did have time to put out their Christmas decorations and merchandise!!! I felt a sudden wave of holiday confusion washing over me. How is this possible? My mind was still celebrating Halloween and indeed I am sure that my stomach hadn't finished digesting the Pumpkin Ale or the Halloween treats from the night before, yet here I was faced with "Jingle Bells" and Santa Clause.

All of this mix up led me to a new thesis (since graduate life seems to be all about forming theses). The American tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving serves a much more important purpose than we perhaps realize. Suddenly faced with a world where Thanksgiving falls in October and not in November during that nice spot in between Halloween and Christmas, I realized that Thanksgiving is the perfect transition into Christmas. Thanksgiving maintains the lovely autumnal themes that I love but replaces the spooky with the more merry and familial which is blends nicely into the Christmas spirit. There is no dissonance between the eerie atmosphere of ghosts and blood and the cheery ambiance of snow and holly. Instead of stuffing our faces with candy we move towards the tradition of stuffing our faces with more substantial things like turkey and potatoes which we continue to do during Christmastime.

The other benefit of Thanksgiving is having a delimitation on the Christmas shopping season. While I agree that less than a month is a bit of a crunch in some cases to fit in all the caroling, gifting, and baking, two months of Christmas shopping is insane and unnecessary. Who wants two months of pressure to find that perfect gift? Dad always said, "work expands to the amount of time allotted" and I think this maxim is definitely applicable here. Eventually in your Christmas shopping when you have 2 out of the 25 days left you just say, forget it my aunt's best friend's sister doesn't actually need a gift. And that is probably all for the better because I bet your aunt's best friend's sister doesn't really want whatever gift you might've thought up to give her.

Beyond the retail anxiety caused by two months of Christmas shopping opportunities, my Canadian friends have shed light on another downside of not having Thanksgiving in November: depression. From several different Canadians on several different occasions I have heard that November is the worst month of the year. One friend told me that she always worries about Seasonal Affective Disorder in November. At first I didn't really understand. I love November and I think of it as a nice finish to the fall. When I thought about this more I realized why no one in Toronto likes November. The days are longer, snow is looming in the forecast, and instead of Thanksgiving there is only commercialized, pseud0-Christmas. Psychologically it is nice to have a holiday based all around good food and family during this growingly dark and cold month and the Canadians' November blues attest to this fact.

I would like to note, though, that there is one reason why I would imagine the early appearance of Christmas decorations in Toronto to be pragmatic. As I was walking down one of the restaurant-lined streets in my neighborhood this week wondering why everyone was putting out wreaths and lights, it occurred to me that many of the outdoor decorations would have to be put up before it gets cold and snowy or else Christmas decorating would turn into a much more hazardous ordeal. But besides this practical point, I still see no reason to inflate the giant Santa Clause blow-up thing any time before November 27.

Maybe all this is just me clinging to my American upbringing and my love for tradition, but I genuinely think that Canadian citizens would benefit from a mid-November Thanksgiving to help ease the pain of the onslaught of winter and to act as a good buffer between Halloween and Christmas. One thing is for sure, even if I am restricted to being within the Canadian borders for Turkey Day, I am not going to be giving up my mashed potatoes and gravy any time soon!

Numbers

Now everyone knows that Canada does numbers differently than we do in the U.S. It seems like not a big deal but recently I've run into a big shock that has motivated me to discuss the "numbers" here in Canada.

Every morning when I flip on the radio it is obvious. I am definitely in a different country. Is it the funny accent you ask? Is it that they play strange music? Nope. None of the above. The answer is the weather. As you probably know, temperature is done in Celsius here. Every morning when I hear the weather for the day I find myself thinking "hmm 6 degrees Celsius, what is that?" As long as it is between -5 and 10 degrees Celsius I have a generally good idea of how cold/warm it is since that was the usual temperature range I encountered in Russia. Fortunately, my computer has a nice littler temperature converter too that I take advantage of when I am not sure.

Then there are the other Metric system measurements. I have to forget oz and pounds and miles, throw them away. Poor things. Here we all think in litres (yes spelled "litRE') and kilograms and kilometers. I know, it makes more sense and all but I still have a hard time figuring out just how far away something when given to me in kilometers.

Finally, the big shock for me this week came in class. My first french paper was returned to me on Thursday and right in the middle in red pen was a big 78. I was pretty much devastated as this class is an undergraduate class and I spent a fair amount of time on the paper. I really began to panic and the string of usual doubts surrounding graduate school came threading through my thoughts: "maybe I'm not good enough, maybe this is too hard, maybe I should've taken some time off..." While talking with Rich about my disappointment, he thought to look up the grading scale for the University. To my surprise a 78 in Canada is actually a B+! The Canadian grading scale is completely different than the U.S grading scale. 100-80 is an A, 79-60 is a B, etc. So while I now have to adjust to the way I think about grades and numbers, I am very relieved!

Grocery shopping

I love to grocery shop. I actually just love grocery stores. Admittedly, I sometimes do wander around grocery stores just for fun.

I've always found when moving to a new place that the grocery stores are vastly different wherever you go. Of course one would expect to find an aisle of pickled beets, cabbage, eggs, and so on in Russia and crispy baguettes and brie in France, but what was I to expect moving to Canada?

After scouting out the grocery scene for a month or so here I've come to report on some of the things I've found.

Where I shop:

I do my grocery duty at a nice little establishment called "No Frills." And believe me it really is no frills. This is most definitely the cheapest place to get your basic kitchen needs. Sometimes they don't have celery, sometimes they don't have chicken breast, but always they have low prices. As you probably know, being a student isn't living in the lap of luxury and therefore this budget-friendly place around the corner is my grocery of choice.

Other (fancy) places:

Of course we have the Whole Foods here on Bloor (our big glitzy shopping street) but we also have a couple of nice places near me just in case I have to have the organic bok choy or my fall favorite, the elusive butternut squash soup. For these things, the grocer "Pusateris" is really nice and usually has any odd organic, vegetarian, vegan thing that I could think to want. If I am feeling meaty-er then there is an amazing-looking butcher next door that I have yet to try. Rich and I went in a couple weeks ago and were amazed at the variety of nice marinades and fancy selections they had. We've already agreed that some day we'll have a special dinner that includes something from this place. And finally, a very nice shop which is also adjacent to the butcher is the cheese shop. No, it does not smell! Or at least not too much. The people behind the counter here are extremely friendly and very knowledgeable about cheese. (Who ever knew cheese was so complicated?) Another bonus is the free cheese samples all over.

A couple differences I have noticed here in the grocery stores (mostly in the dairy aisle):

• Milk. Milk is sold in cartons as we see in the States but also in bags. I am not sure how these work actually. I always eye these things and wonder how these rolly-polly bags of milk could ever get from the grocery store back home without popping and making a huge mess. And then there is the whole challenge of what to do once you've gotten it home. How do you drink milk out of a bag?
• Dairy prices in general. Dairy is unfortunately not subsidized by the government here and it always ends up being the most expensive thing I buy. 2 liters of milk (approx. 1/2 gallon), for example, costs me $4.50. Wow!
• New brands. Wonderful brands such as "No Name" and "President's Choice" are usually my off-brand favorites. I was a little perturbed today when buying pumpkin puree to find that the trusted "Libby's" brand was nowhere to be seen. Oh well... guess I gotta cut loose some time and try something new!
• Eggs. I always found it strange in Russia that you could buy eggs that weren't refrigerated. You could also buy eggs in a plastic bag which I thought was even stranger. But here in Canada I've come across the same non-refrigerated egg scenario. Maybe it is just a habit that I formed growing up in the U.S but for some reason non-refrigerated eggs seems like a bad idea to me. Fortunately, Canada is all about choice which means that I can choose between the non-refrigerated and refrigerated varieties of eggs.
• Grocery bags. Grocery bags cost extra here. Actually, all shopping bags do. It seems that it is a Canadian law the all stores must charge 5 cents for each bag. I actually really like this law. It is of course environmentally friendly and I get to show off my cool reusable bags from H.E.B and West Side Market (Rich's awesome grocery store) .

Alright, enough distraction for now. Back to the books! I hope everyone is doing well. Grandma, I hope you are recovering alright after the surgery. I am thinking about you!

Canadian Bacon

In addition to hot dogs and wine (below). Another note from the weekend...

Rich and I rented a movie called Canadian Bacon this weekend which is a hilarious movie filmed by Michael Moore, starring John Candy. The ludicrous premise is the US has just finished the Cold War and is looking for a new country to blame its problems on. Thus we instigate a conflict with Canada. The movie was great comic relief after experiencing some of the cultural differences of this country. One of which, the "French-English" issue, seems to always be on everyone's mind (and written all over my groceries, government forms, and on street signs). The scene below is almost too close to the truth here...

The truth via Canadian Bacon.

Enjoy!

Hot Dogs and Wine

A post-birthday post. Rich and Kristina's adventure in Toronto food and drink...

During Rich's visit for my birthday, we found two things in Canada to be quite different from in the US: hot dogs and wine. No, not together. Canadians might do some strange things but certainly I've not seen anyone make the paring of hot dogs with wine. These two very opposite victuals, not surprisingly, generated two very opposite culinary experiences for us, here in Toronto.

First we'll start with the less than good: wine. The sale of alcohol is controlled very strictly by the government here and taxed highly. This means that the only people that you can actually buy alcohol from is the government. (Seems kinda strange to me since I always think of the government of trying to prohibit drinking, but okay.) There are a few places near me "The Beer Store" (basically the only place you can get a variety of beer) and "The Wine Rack" (which only sells kitschy, gimmicky wine). Rich and I discovered another general seller this weekend where they have a very limited variety of wines from France, Australia, and Italy and where you can buy actual liquor. The beer choices were dismally small; I guess we'd have to go to "The Beer Store" to get a good variety. In the end, it seems that I won't be doing much cultivating of my wine palette while in Canada unless it is by means of wine brought over the border from the States.

The good half of this post is the bit about hot dogs. Hot dogs in Toronto are more than just your off the grill piece of "maybe meat" with some bland mustard and ketchup slathered on top. Hot dogs are an experience, a world of choice, a taste bud sensation. Before you even order a hot dog from a street vendor you know this isn't your normal experience. You are first faced with the decision beef, chicken, polish sausage, or even veggie dog. Then you wait while your meat (or faux meat, if you so desire) is cooked up right before you along with a toasted bun. Once you've been handed the dog, though, is when the real fun begins. A variety of condiments awaits you from sauerkraut to green olives, ketchup to bbq sauce. There are so many possible combinations of flavors to add, I'd be surprised if you ever ate the same hot dog twice in Toronto! My approach to the condiment options was an attempt to decide what flavors would best compliment each other while Rich tried to see how everything tasted all together. In the end, most of what we had put on top of our dogs was on the ground or on our faces. I guess turning 23 doesn't mean that I've stopped eating like a little kid.

A technical note... I am still waiting on internet and crossing my fingers that it will come in today. That is another saga similar to the cellphone one but I'm sure we've all dealt with unreliable cable guys so I'll leave that up to the imagination.

Cellphone saga

Communication between Canada and the US is harder than you'd think.

Yesterday I discovered this downfall of being an international student in Canada. I have known for a while that obtaining a reasonable phone plan for calling to the US would be difficult but I had no idea all that this entailed. Over the course of the afternoon the process was elucidated for me (kind of). In short, to obtain a cell plan here you must have Canadian credit. Having lived my entire life in the States, I don't have credit in Canada. Logically, one would just run an American credit check on me. Alas, it seemed impossible to run a US credit check on me, although I do have credit in the US. After two hours standing in the cellphone store with a sales representative on the phone to various customer service numbers they were able to manually sell me a phone (I'm not sure exactly what that means except that she had to write out my contract by hand in a form). In the end I opted for a plan that is for calling within Canada locally. To make calls to the US it seems simpler, cheaper, and safer (monetarily) to use a calling card. I did spring a bit of cash for a monthly text allowance to the US however. I am nervous a bit about this cellphone thing because I know that they slap you with fees at every turn. For example, my "free" phone had a $100 warranty attached to it. But I guess I will just have to be meticulous with my calling this month, see what the bill looks like, and make adjustments as necessary.

I was also attempting to get internet from this company yesterday but after the long process of just obtaining a cellphone the store was past closing time. So I have to wait until Tuesday to even order my internet. Until then I am getting well acquainted with the baristas at the cool little coffee shop around the corner called Java Jive and enjoying my nicer-than-necessary, semi-free phone.

Contact information

Just a quick message to give you all my new contact information.

My home address (if you want to write me or send me packages!)

138 Wellesley St. E Apt #14

Toronto, ON, Canada M4Y 1J1

The weird number-letter thing at the end is my postal code (zip code). It took me a while to remember the weird number and letter combination and I am not sure why the Canadian system is not numbers like the U.S. I guess I'll have to do a little more research on that one and report back.

My phone number in Toronto is (416) 801-6181. I have a very limited phone plan but I believe incoming calls from the U.S are free for me. Check your plan though before you call me because calls to Canada may be quite far from free for you!

I have a saga to recount about how I obtained this phone but that is for another time!

Fast food: Pizza Pizza

A few items of business before I begin. If you would like to have an e-mail sent to you when I update here please leave me a message with your e-mail. Also, I have set up this account so you can comment without having a blogger account yourself. Please remember if you comment to sign your name so I know who you are! Thank you!

Yesterday, after a long day of unpacking and after running around town trying to drop off the U-Haul (I think both Rich and I have sworn that company off for good) we decided to indulge in some local pizza. So we headed to a pizza place called "Pizza Pizza." We had a while to wait for the pizza, and since there was not much else to do during the wait, I surveyed the Canadian fast food terrain. A few things that struck me while sitting in the neon, polished up restaurant:

• On the wall there hung a poster with a cartoon of a half-naked woman water skiing with some sort of slogan in French scrawled across it.
• You could buy dipping sauce for your pizza! Flavors like ranch, honey mustard, and thai sauces were just a few of the options available.
• And the most shocking of all... they sold pizza value meals which all came with your choice of a slice of pizza, a drink, dipping sauce, and FRENCH FRIES!

The french fries- pizza combination is shocking perhaps because it is Canada where I expect everything to be relatively healthy and clean. If this same thing were to occur in the States I'd just shake my head and think, what a shame this country's eating habits are. I suppose this is the first of many new cultural "enlightenments."

Thats all for now! Back to unpacking..

Canada IS a foreign country

I am writing here mostly at the suggestion of my mom. I have up until now kept a blog for every one of my "international adventures" but I always thought to myself, who really considers Canada an foreign country? I laughed when I was first sent information about being an international student and thought it was quite funny when I was introduced as the new student "all the way from the United States" to the Comp Lit department. What I have found out over the course of this month, however, is that I was wrong. Dead wrong.

Canada is not an extension of the US by any means. Even in a logistical, cell-phone-ing, banking, moving-to-another-place aspect Canada is posing the exact same challenges you would expect when moving to England, Australia, South Africa... wherever. After coming to this realization (with the help of mom) I have decided to occasionally blog here about my adventure in this not-so-obviously foreign country.

I'll mostly be including little stories, lists, and perhaps a few pictures here and there. I won't be writing here on a daily basis but perhaps more on a weekly or biweekly schedule depending on how busy I get with school and life in general. I hope you enjoy!