Skip to main content

Silly Canadians…

There are not many cultural differences between Canadians and people in the U.S., but there are a few.  Among other things, our reputation for mild-manneredness is indeed warranted, and I always feel very out of place on the streets of New York, where apparently it is NOT the custom apologize if someone else bumps into you.

I have said many times that I fear the changes it will take to turn me into an Israeli… and then an Israeli driver.

There’s another cultural difference which I have observed many times on past visits to the U.S. but completely forgot, and forgot to warn my kids about.

Canadians are nice, kinda-Britishy people of tidy habits, and sometimes we feel a need to visit the bathroom, or, often, the washroom.  The toilet is the thing you find in the middle of that room, the thing which is most unmentioned if you have any couth whatsoever.

In the US, apparently, “toilet” is the whole thing – room, stall, appliance.  I tried it a couple of times when asking directions, because I got sick of being stared at while people process my request (just as I have sometimes been known to say “napkin” instead of serviette, or “pants” instead of trousers, just to be understood).

But I still forgot to warn the children.

So when YM excused himself from the office of the yeshiva we visited, he went off in bold Canadian style to find the washroom.  There was actually a toilet (in a bathroom) just a few feet from where we were sitting, but the students helpfully escorted him way the heck and around (like Uncle Moishy:  “up, up, down, down, right, left and all around!”)… to the place where they take their showers.

Which left me waiting and swearing under my breath, staring into the empty bathroom, and wondering where the HECK he’d gone for about ten minutes while the Rosh Yeshiva waited for us in his car and I ran out every two minutes to give him an update (“still can’t find him”).

In case you’re wondering – I know you’re wondering – I refuse to call people who live in the U.S. “Americans” for the simple reason that Canadians, Mexicans, and for that matter, Chileans are ALSO Americans.  Not that residents of the U.S. would ever admit it.  In my head, I call them “United Statesians.”

Comments

  1. well done... united statians is their real name

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love your comments!

Popular posts from this blog

לימודי קודש/Limudei Kodesh Copywork & Activity Printables

Welcome to my Limudei Kodesh / Jewish Studies copywork and activity printables page.  As of June 2013, I am slowly but surely moving all my printables over to 4shared because Google Docs / Drive is just too flaky for me. What you’ll find here: Weekly Parsha Copywork More Parsha Activities More Chumash / Tanach Activities Yom Tov Copywork & Activities Tefillah Copywork Pirkei Avos / Pirkei Avot Jewish Preschool Resources Other printables! For General Studies printables and activities, including Hebrew-English science resources and more, click here . For Miscellaneous homeschool helps and printables, click here . If you use any of my worksheets, activities or printables, please leave a comment or email me at Jay3fer “at” gmail “dot” com, to link to your blog, to tell me what you’re doing with it, or just to say hi!  If you want to use them in a school, camp or co-op setting, please email me (remove the X’s) for rates. If you just want to say Thank You, here’s a

Hebrew/ עברית & English General Studies Printables

For Jewish Studies, including weekly parsha resources and copywork, click here . If you use any of my worksheets, activities or printables, please leave a comment or email me at Jay3fer “at” gmail “dot” com, to link to your blog, to tell me what you’re doing with it, or just to say hi!  If you want to use them in a school, camp or co-op setting, please email me (remove the X’s) for rates. If you enjoy these resources, please consider buying my weekly parsha book, The Family Torah :  the story of the Torah, written to be read aloud – or any of my other wonderful Jewish books for kids and families . English Worksheets & Printables: (For Hebrew, click here ) Science :  Plants, Animals, Human Body Math   Ambleside :  Composers, Artists History Geography Language & Literature     Science General Poems for Elemental Science .  Original Poems written by ME, because the ones that came with Elemental Science were so awful.  Three pages are included:  one page with two po

It's Heart Month: 3 days left to save lives!

Dear Friends & Family: Hi, everybody! Sorry I can’t stop by in person... you're a bit out of my area.  :-) We’re out walking up and down on our street on this beautiful afternoon to raise money for Heart & Stroke.  This cause is important to me (I won't say it's close to my heart , because that would be tacky!).  I hope you'll join me by donating online. Growing up, I watched as every single one of my grandparents' lives were shortened by heart disease and strokes, and my father had a defibrillator that saved his life on more than one occasion.  Heart disease and stroke kill 1 in 3 Canadians and are the #1 killer of women. Please click this link to be redirected to my main page at the Heart & Stroke website: http://tinyurl.com/AtlasHeart Thus ends my personal appeal.  Official information follows.  :-))) ----- Heart disease and stroke is the #1 killer of women - taking more women's lives than all forms of cancer combined. But no one is immune. Th