he's sometimes funny.

Erik is taking a course for his new job as a case worker. The school providing the course is from somewhere in the US and part of the course is participating in an online forum. I guess each student had to provide a little self introduction and the following is a bit of Erik's...

"I suppose I should introduce myself; I apologize for the delay. I first came to Canada in 2003 to participate in a one year program at Columbia Bible College and, for reasons which do not need to be explored at this juncture, I have been in Canada ever since. If you’ve ever seen the show “Due South” you may recognize the reference in the previous sentence. If you haven’t seen the show, I suggest you do if you get the chance one day.

In fact, I will explore why I stayed in Canada at this juncture. I decided to complete a BA in Youth ministry, met a beautiful Dutch girl, and got married. Now I live in Kelowna, BC and work at the Kelowna Gospel Mission as a case manager while my wife completes a nursing program at the University of British Columbia Okanagan campus. Originally I am from Stanwood, Washington, a wonderfully small town between Seattle and Bellingham.

I enjoy reading but nothing current. I like the classics; most recently I’ve been on a bit of a Dostoyevsky kick, and of course somehow I always seem to be re-reading C.S. Lewis. I grew up watching M*A*S*H and it still reigns supreme in my favorites to this day along with such obscurities as Due South, Red Dwarf, and Monty Python. I play guitar and have been learning the bass guitar lately as well.

The transition to Canada was actually surprisingly easy. Although there are a few individuals from my home town that continue to remind me that Canada is socialist, which of course is wrong, and the States is Capitalist, which of course is correct. Despite this, there are few differences in the culture. Here are some interesting tidbits which I have learned in the course of my stay here:

1. Centre, Theatre, Colour, and Behaviour are not spelling mistakes; they are real words.

 

2. The summers here are actually very nice. It is not cold all year round. In my town it actually gets up to 40+ degrees Celsius, which is around 100 degrees Fahrenheit

3. The equation from Celsius to Fahrenheit is somewhere in the vicinity of: (Cx2)+32=F

4. “Aboot” only happens in locations east of New Brunswick.

5. The words Pasta, Mazda, and Mario are pronounced “Pas-tuh”, “Maz-duh”, and “May-rio”, which makes me cringe every time I hear it."

An individual in the opposite situation (from Canada living in the States) responded and said something less funny than Erik to which he replied...

"Everything is good up here as far as I can tell. Alberta still pays people to live there, BC is in major debt and as of today without a Premiere. Ontario still cheers for the Maple Leafs, which is unfortunate... see how well I've adjusted. ;)"