WORZALA'S WEDNESDAY WORD 1-3-07
Today's Wednesday Word is "bay" as in "I was up in Thunder Bay for three days last week, and yee-haw is it... ehhh."
Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada is a lovely little town not much bigger than my own. Located a mere stone's throw away from Lake Superior, it is the biggest city in... well it was the biggest city we saw for 4 hours after leaving Duluth, Minnesota and the ONLY city we saw after we crossed the Canadian border. As such it was the only Canadian experience we had other than an overly intense Canadian border guard (which I'll cover next time), and I have to say I was very underwhelmed by it all.
Now, this was my first time in Canada, so maybe I only had the stereotypes to go on, but I really think Thunder Bay could have tried harder to make me feel like I was in another country. There was no giant Canadian flag taunting me with its red maple leaf, there was no pack of caribou grazing the middle of the highway, there was no giant sign saying "Hey, remember when you tried to invade us in 1812? Yeah, how'd that work out for you?". It was like I had spent all the time driving just to reach a slightly colder part of Minnesota. Sure, the father of the bride made fun of our American money and their Applebee's menu's said "Enjoy our Flavour" but that was about it.
Yeah, you heard me correctly, Applebees. That's where we ate. Smack dab in the heart of Canadia and am I chowing down on Flapjacks with real maple syrup? No. Am I dining on fine Canadian trout? No. Am I digging in to a thick, tender baby seal sirloin? No! I'm eating at frickin' Applebees because Canada apparently has no "ethnic" dish. Unless, that is, you count Chinese food. My teachers never informed me that Canada was founded by Chinese immigrants fleeing the California railroads, but that must be the case as there was a Chinese restaurant every block in downtown Thunder Bay. I've been to Chinatowns with fewer Chinese restaurants. I've been to towns in China with fewer Chinese restaurants.
What gives Canada? Where were the roaming bands of hockey players? Where was the flannel? Where were the Mounties asking me "What's all this aboot, eh?" I drove almost 10 hours for this Canada, and you couldn't show me a dog sled team or an Inuit or something? Your pool was even measured in Feet! I didn't memorize a metric conversion chart for nothing Great White North! You come to Wisconsin and you best believe we'll show you dairy cows until your head spins. You go to a restaurant and you're going to see fried cheese on the menu. You walk around the towns and you're going to see people wearing Packers clothing, even to weddings. Why? Because that's what you want to see when you visit somewhere else. You don't want it to be "just like home", you want it to be a bizarre, fish out of water experience that you know your friends will never believe when you tell them.
Shame on you Canada. No wonder England still bosses you around.
Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada is a lovely little town not much bigger than my own. Located a mere stone's throw away from Lake Superior, it is the biggest city in... well it was the biggest city we saw for 4 hours after leaving Duluth, Minnesota and the ONLY city we saw after we crossed the Canadian border. As such it was the only Canadian experience we had other than an overly intense Canadian border guard (which I'll cover next time), and I have to say I was very underwhelmed by it all.
Now, this was my first time in Canada, so maybe I only had the stereotypes to go on, but I really think Thunder Bay could have tried harder to make me feel like I was in another country. There was no giant Canadian flag taunting me with its red maple leaf, there was no pack of caribou grazing the middle of the highway, there was no giant sign saying "Hey, remember when you tried to invade us in 1812? Yeah, how'd that work out for you?". It was like I had spent all the time driving just to reach a slightly colder part of Minnesota. Sure, the father of the bride made fun of our American money and their Applebee's menu's said "Enjoy our Flavour" but that was about it.
Yeah, you heard me correctly, Applebees. That's where we ate. Smack dab in the heart of Canadia and am I chowing down on Flapjacks with real maple syrup? No. Am I dining on fine Canadian trout? No. Am I digging in to a thick, tender baby seal sirloin? No! I'm eating at frickin' Applebees because Canada apparently has no "ethnic" dish. Unless, that is, you count Chinese food. My teachers never informed me that Canada was founded by Chinese immigrants fleeing the California railroads, but that must be the case as there was a Chinese restaurant every block in downtown Thunder Bay. I've been to Chinatowns with fewer Chinese restaurants. I've been to towns in China with fewer Chinese restaurants.
What gives Canada? Where were the roaming bands of hockey players? Where was the flannel? Where were the Mounties asking me "What's all this aboot, eh?" I drove almost 10 hours for this Canada, and you couldn't show me a dog sled team or an Inuit or something? Your pool was even measured in Feet! I didn't memorize a metric conversion chart for nothing Great White North! You come to Wisconsin and you best believe we'll show you dairy cows until your head spins. You go to a restaurant and you're going to see fried cheese on the menu. You walk around the towns and you're going to see people wearing Packers clothing, even to weddings. Why? Because that's what you want to see when you visit somewhere else. You don't want it to be "just like home", you want it to be a bizarre, fish out of water experience that you know your friends will never believe when you tell them.
Shame on you Canada. No wonder England still bosses you around.
Labels: Worzala's Wednesday Word
posted by Matt Worzala at
2:04 PM
1 Comments:
If you want Canada you've got to go to Sudbury, or even South Porcupine, eh. (BTW, South Porcupine is just outside of Timmins...you don't want to know where North Porcupine is...)
Also, did you know that once you get west of Ottowa there are more native chinese speakers than french speakers?
Dave (closet canadophile)
By
Dave, at 9:32 PM
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