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Okay, so now it’s time for the inevitable entry about accents. Canadians think Americans have accents, Americans think Canadians have accents, etc., etc., but in reality, we all have accents.
What has surprised me is how much has surprised me over the last 11 months in this regard. To begin with, I was astonished at how strong and stereotypical the Canadian accents sounded when I first moved to Cambridge. I could always recognize a Canadian accent, and I knew I would hear those accents when I arrived, I just didn’t realize how much listening to them would catch my ears off guard. The thing is, not all words spoken by Canadians sounded different to me. I could be listening to someone at work talking, and I would be lulled into a false sense that I was not in a foreign country, hours away from where I grew up, when suddenly, a word would hit my ears and startle me. Basically, any words that have an “o” followed by either a “u” or a double consonant really strike me.
Here is my best attempt at writing online what a Canadian sounds like to me, keeping in mind that most words sound the same in Michiganese as they do in Canadian, so the ones that sound different really stand out.
“So, Mary, I was thinking aBOUWt going OUWt to a movie toMOHro night. Do you want to go with me? SORE-EE, I should have asked you aBOUWt it sooner. I think it only costs eight DOEHlers. We can just meet up at my HOUWse, eh?”
I found the accent to be very distracting to me, especially during the first three months. I’d catch myself involuntarily smiling as if I was listening to a five-year-old say something cute. At that time, I don’t think I realized that the Canadians were noticing my accent just as much. The difference? The Canadians are generally way too polite to comment on your accent until they know you very well. (It took my hockey teammates about three months to feel comfortable making fun of my accent, and it’s taken my soccer teammates about eight months!)
This past spring, after I had been in Canada about seven months, I realized that I wasn’t actually hearing the Canadians’ accents as much anymore. I figured that I was just getting used to hearing it.
What I didn’t account for was what would happen to me when I visited Michigan this past June for the first time in several months. People I’ve known for many years and people I just met were telling me I had picked up a Canadian accent. Was it just people’s imaginations, influenced by the knowledge that I am living in Canada? Doesn’t matter, actually, because the most shocking revelation to me of all was noticing a Michigan accent when I listened to my friends talk!
You can’t imagine how disconcerting it is to listen to people you’ve known for years and suddenly hear them speaking with an accent. For now, there are only a very few words that my Michigan friends and relatives say that sound different to me, but I expect those will increase over time.
So, I really am in an interesting spot now. People in Michigan think I have a Canadian accent. Okay, fine. But, the Canadians still think I have a Michigan accent. Just today I was speaking with some Canadians during an all-day meeting at an insurance brokerage in Windsor. Towards the very end of the day, one of the participants blurted out, “Where are you FROM?” I chuckled and replied, “Well, I’m from Michigan.” And someone else at the meeting said to her, “Yeah, Michigan, couldn’t you tell?”
I must have my own bizarre hybrid accent. I guess that will make me unique. I do know I’ll get a lot more feedback about it when I’m in Michigan than in Canada as the Canadians aren’t as quick to call attention to someone’s accent. (If the roles were reversed in the meeting I attended today and a Canadian was presenting in a meeting full of Michiganders, it would have taken probably less than 30 seconds for someone to make a comment about the Canadian’s accent. It took the Canucks approximately six hours of listening to me present before they would comment on mine.)
When Sarah goes back to England, the English tell her she has an American accent. Of course, everyone in the US and Canada thinks she has a strong British accent. She always says that there must be some island in the middle of the Atlantic where people have the same accent as she does. If that’s the case, then there must be an island somewhere in the middle of Lake Huron where people sound like me!
Canada bashing has been becoming increasingly popular in the US lately due to the ongoing debate about what to do with the US healthcare system. The conservatives in the US have managed to track down every person they can find from Canada who has had a bad experience with the healthcare system in Canada.
I know I’ve addressed this topic in some previous posts (see here and here), but I wanted to revisit the subject in light of the distorted information being circulated in the US.
I don’t want anyone to think that I believe the Canadian healthcare system is that great, but I am starting to believe that, even though the US and Canadian system have different problems, there are actually more problems with the US system.
What I really can’t figure out is why the US government and media is spending so much time talking about Canada’s healthcare system. I don’t believe Obama plans to have the Canadian government administer a new US system. I also don’t believe that Obama’s plan includes remedies for the Canadian system. Really, Americans should be focusing on the problems with their own system.
My co-worker in Canada was telling me about her mother’s experience with breast cancer. Her mother went in for a routine mammogram. Within two days of the mammogram, she was called back to the hospital for other tests, including a biopsy. When the biopsy showed cancer, the lump and some lymph nodes were surgically removed within two weeks.
So, when you hear some disgruntled Canadian lady who had to wait for an important surgery, know that in most cases, when a medical procedure is urgently needed, that individual is seen to quickly in Canada. For every Canadian who has had to wait longer than she should have for proper medical treatment, there are probably hundreds of Americans who have postponed necessary treatments due to lack of funds or insurance.
When Sarah moved to the US from England, she got very tired of people telling her how horrible the English (socialized) healthcare system is. She wondered how these Michiganders, many of whom had never even left the state, knew so much about the system in the UK. Sarah’s philosophy then, and my adopted philosophy, is that no one should make any comments about another country’s healthcare system unless they have personally experienced it. I’m seriously doubting whether the congressman from Texas who called the Canadian system “a socialized piece of crap” has ever lived in Canada and been served by the Canadian system. Doubtful. (But somewhere along the line, someone at conservative politician school taught him how to scare others with the word “socialism.”)
Ask 100 Canadians what they think of their healthcare system, and a good percentage will complain about wait times. Another good percentage will talk about how it is one of the best things about living in Canada because it ensures that everyone receives equal treatment. Ask 100 Americans what they think about their healthcare system and my bet is that none of them will have any positive things to say.
Anyway, below is the full text of an e-mail I sent today to some of my friends and family in the US. It describes more of my own opinions about the healthcare system in Canada, as well as contains something written to me, unsolicited, by one of my friends here.
E-MAIL SENT BY MJB TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY IN U.S. ON JULY 21, 2009:
My fellow Americans,
In Canada, most of us get ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox news channels from the US, so we get a decent amount of exposure to the US news and US advertising.
I got this e-mail (below in italics) from one of my friends here in Canada, who is a police officer and has lived in Ontario her whole life. Her two-year-old daughter has some kind of brain condition that requires ongoing care. I was really surprised at how passionately she defended the system here and thought this might be useful information to you as you encounter "Canadian healthcare horror stories" that are propogated by the Republicans you know.
My own two cents are that
1) for every "Canadian healthcare horror story" there is AT LEAST one "US healthcare horror story" with varying plots and details. As you may know, when I went to the ER in Canada on Easter Sunday with a kidney stone, I received pain killers sooner than I did when I had been to the ER in Grand Rapids for the same thing a year earlier. I was also treated MUCH better in Canada by the hospital staff than I had been at Blodgett (Spectrum). The quality of care, from the medication administered to the follow-up tests ordered, was essentially identical. One other notable difference was that the total out-of-pocket cost for the kidney stone in Canada was less than a dollar (for my prescription painkillers). My cost for the same thing in the US a year earlier was over $350 (co-payments, coinsurance, deductibles, etc.) even though I had insurance through my employer.
2) I don't know what Obama plans to do with the healthcare system in the US, but the best thing about the Canadian system is that everyone gets the same healthcare regardless of their financial situation. If you are a wealthy Canadian, you cannot buy private healthcare treatment in Canada. You get what the regular working-class individual gets. It's very fair to everyone. Maybe that's why the Republicans hate it so much. (Some wealthy Canadians will leave the country to pay for healthcare elsewhere to avoid the wait lists, similar to how Richard Devos bought a heart transplant in England rather than wait on the list in the US.)
3) Just for fun, type "man dies in hospital waiting room" into a Yahoo search. Check out the results. You'll see results of stories from Seattle, North Carolina, New York City, Texas, Australia. There is a result with a story about a guy who dies while waiting in a Winnipeg hospital. Still, seems my odds of living are about proportionate with the population of each country, perhaps even better in Canada. All kinds of information is out there. Do the reasearch and consider the sources.
Anyway, here's what my friend had to say.
It seems the health care thing is a "hot topic" in the USA now. My understanding is that Obama wants to implement a similar style system to that of Canada. I saw an ad on TV that "bashed" our health care system (spoke about long wait times, inability to get a procedure done in a timely fashion etc). I was reminded of the birth of my daughter. I required an emergency C-section (therefore a longer hospital stay) and our daughter required Neonatal care at our local hospital. She was then transferred to Sick Kids hospital in Toronto for 5 days. She requires regular visits to three different doctors. I stress that this condition is relatively minor in the grand scheme of things and very manageable by medication. What if I were an "average family" making $10 an hour or less? Could I pay my bill? Should I then not have children because I can't afford the health care. What about ongoing doctor visits, how will I pay? This could be a life long condition. I walked away with a pat on the back and a "don't worry, everything will be fine". It will be too. I don't even think about the cost involved. I've essentially already paid.
All I can say is, I pay taxes so that we can live a good, healthy life. I also pay taxes into that system because I believe everyone, no matter what your social status, background, etc deserves to be healthy. That is what our health care system allows for. It's truly something that is a gift. I hope it is successful in the USA. The conservative party here has been pushing for health care privatization for a while now. I swear I will fight that to my last breath!
This past weekend, I was in Michigan for a soccer tournament and staying in a hotel with in the Detroit area with some friends. I happened to be in the elevator talking with one of my friends when some other lady in the elevator looked at me and said, "Are you Canadian?" I started laughing and asked her why. She said, "Because you have an accent."
I'm not sure what other proof I need now that I am a real Canadian (well, I do--it's Canadian citizenship, another 2.5 years away), but in honor of this and in honor of my first Canada Day, I thought it would be appropriate to share ten of my favorite things about living in Ontario, Canada.
1) No smoking in restaurants, bars, or other public places. As someone allergic to cigarette smoke, this makes my life so much easier. I don't have to wait extra long for seating in the non-smoking section of restaurants. I don't have to have benadryl handy whenever I go out. I don't wake up the morning after going to the bar with my mouth feeling like I was licking ashtrays the night before.
2) Extra holidays. By my calculations, the Canadians have about three more holidays than Americans. Even though Canadians get only one day off for their Thanksgiving, Boxing Day, Good Friday, Family Day, and a random holiday in August more than equalize.
3) Poutine. Fries, gravy, and melted cheese. Who could want anything more?
4) Abundance of ethnic food. We didn't even have a Greek restaurant in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a sizeable town. Here in Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge, the dining options are endless. In addition, the grocery stores carry a wide variety of ethnic foods, especially sausages and breads.
5) Stress-free lawn maintenance. The Canadians don't think much of herbacides, and so most Canadian lawns are composed of dandelions, clover, other broad-leaf plants, and a few blades of grass here and there. No one has to stress about maintaining a healthy lawn because weed killers are hard to find, if not illegal. Every week, I get out the lawn mower and mow the weeds.
6) Natural beauty. Yes, Canada is beautiful. The landscape is gorgeous, even when driving through the rolling farmlands. I know that Ontario landscape is similar to Michigan, but at least the Canadians have the good sense to ban billboards along the major highways. The Canadians also seem to have set aside much more natural space for parks. Most of the parks where I live are not only gorgeous, but also very large.
7) Diversity. Everyone knows that Canada, particularly the metropolitan areas, are some of the most diverse in the world. I still am in awe of the lack of diversity training programs and seminars in the workplaces here. The reason they don't have them---because it's not an issue. Everyone here has grown up with people of all different races, colors, creeds, etc., and so no one needs to tell them to respect or appreciate others' differences--they already do. Of course, there are always exceptions, but the difference between respect for others' differences here and in the US is staggering. That's why they say that Canada is a mosaic--people maintain their identities but still make up the larger communities. The US is a melting pot. People try to maintain their differences, but there is a lot of pressure to assimilate and blend in.
8) Produce labels. When shopping at a store or even a farmers' market, signs or labels must indicate the source country of all produce. It's great to be able to avoid garlic (or any produce) from China and to see how much produce sold in Canada is actually grown in the US. However, the Canadians seem to have the greenhouse thing down and really grow a majority of their produce, even in the winter. The farmers' markets throughout the summer are fabulous.
9) Adult recreational sports. Playing sports has always been an important part of my life and always will be. I am amazed and overjoyed at the vast opportunities here to play in recreational sports leagues. You can find an adult league for almost any sport you'd want to play--cricket, lacrosse, baseball, basketball, soccer, and of course, hockey. Just to make a comparison, Grand Rapids and its suburbs is about the same size, population-wise, as Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge. In Grand Rapids, we had a hard time even getting four teams for an adult women's outdoor soccer league. The league I play in here has 48 adult women's teams divided among four divisions.
10) The healthcare peace of mind. First let me say that all the bad things you've heard about Canadian healthcare are true (primarily the long wait times). However, all of the horrible things you've heard about the US healthcare system are true as well. I do know that Canadians have a longer life expectancy than Americans, so the health system can't be that bad. And though I know I'll have to wait longer when I go to the ER or if I need surgery, I'm also pretty confident that if my situation is urgent, it will be addressed with expediency. Most importantly, there is quite a bit of peace of mind involved in knowing that I won't ever be denied healthcare because I can't pay for it. I also know that I can have a procedure done or visit an ER without having to worry about how long it will take me to pay off the resulting medical bills. Maybe this peace of mind helps explain why Canadians live longer.
Happy Canada Day
