December 8, 2011

This is awesome for so many reasons. Obviously, it’s something near and dear to my heart (I have  a cousin who married a french Canadian Mountie). Similarly, I also appreciate it for the sheer nostalgia value that it possesses. 

These heritage moments are so hilarious and I think that actually watching these moments on TV is one of the few cross-cultural shared experiences that I’ve been able to identify as being really ‘Canadian’ for people in my peer group who were raised in Canada.  “But I need these baskets back!”  Anyone?

Anyway, I just wanted to post this because it’s something that we as Canadians really should celebrate (“it” being cheesy, poorly written TV spots).  But in all seriousness, as the debate really heats up in Australia and the United State, I hope that at least some people in those countries can feel inspired and validated by the standards Canada has set in terms of marriage equality.   Hopefully one day the people of Australia can watch a one minute spot featuring a gay surfer being surprised by a gay kangaroo farmer down on one knee.

November 12, 2011
Poutine is a wonderful and blessed thing that is truly lacking in my life at the moment.  I miss all the wonderful, unhealthy, messiness that is poutine.  There are a few spots in Seoul where you can find it (I’d personally recommend Yaletown in Sinchon) but I have a feeling it’ll taste even better on Canadian soil.  If I was flown home right now, eating poutine would be privileged above all other activities.  My apologies to my friends and family for that last comment, but honestly I’d walk over most of you to get to a quality plate of poutine right now (this may be influenced by the fact that I haven’t eaten in almost 2 and a half hours [can you imagine?]. This post is an Oh, Canada post.  As a Canadian, I think our nation has many things to celebrate; universal healthcare, marriage equality, subsidized post secondary education just to name a few.  Similarly, there are many things about Canada that, living abroad, I really miss.  There are some more poignant qualities of Canadian life that I miss and hope to one day have the courage to write about. However, for now I’d like to stick to something near and dear to my heart: unhealthy food, my obsession with food, and all the Jennifer Anniston spinsteresque qualities that accompany said obsession with most things deep fried.

Poutine is a wonderful and blessed thing that is truly lacking in my life at the moment.  I miss all the wonderful, unhealthy, messiness that is poutine.  There are a few spots in Seoul where you can find it (I’d personally recommend Yaletown in Sinchon) but I have a feeling it’ll taste even better on Canadian soil.  If I was flown home right now, eating poutine would be privileged above all other activities.  My apologies to my friends and family for that last comment, but honestly I’d walk over most of you to get to a quality plate of poutine right now (this may be influenced by the fact that I haven’t eaten in almost 2 and a half hours [can you imagine?].

This post is an Oh, Canada post.  As a Canadian, I think our nation has many things to celebrate; universal healthcare, marriage equality, subsidized post secondary education just to name a few.  Similarly, there are many things about Canada that, living abroad, I really miss.  There are some more poignant qualities of Canadian life that I miss and hope to one day have the courage to write about. However, for now I’d like to stick to something near and dear to my heart: unhealthy food, my obsession with food, and all the Jennifer Anniston spinsteresque qualities that accompany said obsession with most things deep fried.

November 3, 2011 • 4 notes
I’ve been reading some articles lately debating the merits of keeping our national animal the beaver.  First, Senator Nicole Eaton suggested that we change it to the polar bear, and now there’s an article in the Huffington Post where the author suggests the Canada Goose is a more appropriate symbol of his suggested aspirations for our great nation; monogomous (???), loyal, brave, and hard to intimidate. I’m gonna have to strongly disagree with both suggestions.  In my opinion, we should keep it the beaver.  Living abroad has really made my level of patriotism increase…perhaps even to a chauvinistic level.  As a result I am currently almost blindly proud of all things Canadiana.  One thing I’m really proud of about the Canadian people is our modesty (see: irony).  In all seriousness though, I think one great attribute of most (there are certainly some acceptions) Canadian people is that we don’t take ourselves too seriously.  This is precisely why I think we need to keep the beaver our national animal:  we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously.   Canada is a land full of brilliant comedians, sprawling wilderness, and poorly chosen town names (try explaining to someone that you’re from the Dublin that’s near Stratford and pretty close to London and then say that you’re not from the UK). We need to celebrate both our achievements and our flaws to maintain our balanced, accessible, generally jovial national personality. Maybe this ability to laugh at ourselves comes from our humble roots.  Our country was explored not because of war, not due to some divine religious right, or some quest for fairer sea travels…but to make hats!  Not just any hats either, but hats out of Beaver pelts.  I therefore think it’s only fitting that our national animal remind us of our humble roots and all the amazing qualities of Canadians that may or may not be a result of these roots, rather than prescribed (and I’ll say it, obnoxiously American sounding) aspirations.  Let’s keep Canada a comedic, clever, industrious, and proud country that I think is very well represented by the low brow double entendre joke about the beaver that I’m almost avoiding making right now.

I’ve been reading some articles lately debating the merits of keeping our national animal the beaver.  First, Senator Nicole Eaton suggested that we change it to the polar bear, and now there’s an article in the Huffington Post where the author suggests the Canada Goose is a more appropriate symbol of his suggested aspirations for our great nation; monogomous (???), loyal, brave, and hard to intimidate.

I’m gonna have to strongly disagree with both suggestions.  In my opinion, we should keep it the beaver.  Living abroad has really made my level of patriotism increase…perhaps even to a chauvinistic level.  As a result I am currently almost blindly proud of all things Canadiana.  One thing I’m really proud of about the Canadian people is our modesty (see: irony).  In all seriousness though, I think one great attribute of most (there are certainly some acceptions) Canadian people is that we don’t take ourselves too seriously.  This is precisely why I think we need to keep the beaver our national animal:  we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously.   Canada is a land full of brilliant comedians, sprawling wilderness, and poorly chosen town names (try explaining to someone that you’re from the Dublin that’s near Stratford and pretty close to London and then say that you’re not from the UK). We need to celebrate both our achievements and our flaws to maintain our balanced, accessible, generally jovial national personality.

Maybe this ability to laugh at ourselves comes from our humble roots.  Our country was explored not because of war, not due to some divine religious right, or some quest for fairer sea travels…but to make hats!  Not just any hats either, but hats out of Beaver pelts.  I therefore think it’s only fitting that our national animal remind us of our humble roots and all the amazing qualities of Canadians that may or may not be a result of these roots, rather than prescribed (and I’ll say it, obnoxiously American sounding) aspirations.  Let’s keep Canada a comedic, clever, industrious, and proud country that I think is very well represented by the low brow double entendre joke about the beaver that I’m almost avoiding making right now.