Had an interesting conversation with a couple of coworkers about what it's like to be American in Canada, and vice versa. Since I've got duo citizenship and have lived on both sides of the border, I know that for me, it's pretty damn annoying sometimes.
I remember being in some poli-sci discussion class as an undergrad where people were talking about American foreign policy or something, and then before you knew it, everyone started trashing Americans. And I felt like a retard and I remember sitting there thinking, 'okay, so now is probably not the best time to interject and say that not all Americans are stupid and ignorant - in fact, look at me! I'm American!' Um, no.
If you're an American living in Canada, the last thing you want to do is to bring that up, especially when people are in the middle of a trashing session. Sure, they themselves are thinking and acting with the same ignorance they accuse Americans of having, but who wants to be the lone devil's advocate in the middle of that? Actually, I have interrupted to say something before. What usually happens is they all stop talking suddenly and then look at me with this, "what? you're American?!" kind of look. And then they'll say, "oh, but that doesn't count. You're the exception to the rule." And it's like, okay, I'm not going to bother.
On the flip side, being a Canadian in the States is annoying in a different kind of way because as soon as someone hears that you're Canadian, all of the stupid questions come out: "oh, so do you say 'aboot' and 'eh' all the time? do you like hockey and maple syrup and live in igloos?" And then I'm so over the conversation. First off, I don't say, 'aboot'. I live on the west coast and over here, we say 'about'. But even if I said, 'aboot', like they do on the east coast, so what? It's regional, and is it any stranger than people from Minnesota or one of those states?
So I don't really bother to mention either thing. If I'm in the states, then I'm American. Over here, I'm Canadian. End of story. But really, it's like anything else. If you're from a certain place and you go somewhere different, you'll notice differences, large and small. I noticed that in California, most people say, "uh huh" instead of "you're welcome" when you thank them. They also drink sodas whereas I drink pop. And they prefer chili and cheese on their fries, while I like gravy. Beanies to them are toques to me, and so on and so on. It's all small things and I think it's pretty interesting.
But still, when people ask where I'm from - it depends where I am at that moment. If I have the energy to endure igloo questions, then I'll be Canadian. If I'm not in the mood, then I'm American. But really, who cares? The only time I'm interested is when I hear a UK accent of any sort. hehe - but that's another post.
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