My question exactly!

Just watched a cute and funny documentary called "Being Canadian" written and hosted by Canadian writer and director Robert Cohen, featuring an array of Canadian-born celebrities, such as Mike Myers, Martin Short, Rush, Bare Naked Ladies, Alannis Morissette, Dan Akroyd, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, William Shatner and many more. 


The host and his guests examine the same questions that have intrigued me since my arrival. Actual segment titles include:


*Why do we have such an inferiority complex?

*Why is Canadian TV so bad? (Followed by examples of really, really bad TV. Can we talk about The Beachcombers?)

*What's with the Love-Hate Relationship with the US? (Best response -Jan Brady's lament: 'Marcia Marcia Marcia!')

*Why are Canadians so nice? (Followed by a "Canadian Content" segment featuring all the Canadian celebs saying "sorry" and confessionals describing times they've said 'sorry' to inanimate objects such as Catherine O'Hara relating how she says 'sorry' to her keyboard when she makes a typo.)

*Maybe we're NOT so nice. (Apparently "sorry" can be the passive-aggressive equivalent of US Southerners' "bless your heart")

*What the Hell is "Canadian food"? (Not one respondent mentions poutine or pea meal.)


Worth a watch - btw, none of these questions really get answered. 


There is an interesting pattern to the questions, though, and the film begins with the title-slide statement:

All of this is, sadly, true.

BTW, About SW Ontario being a Photographer's Candy Store

Just a few - I'm shooting too often to keep up.

All taken within a mile of where I now sit….

Can We Talk About Food? The first of many…..

OK, a few of the small adjustments were easy, like learning that a grilled ham, egg and onion sammich is simply called a "western" for some reason (no cheese, please, and NO ketchup, thank you.)

Some are a little harder to take - like restaurants that close early if they're slow, well ahead of their posted closing time. Since we like to eat late, a couple of ruined date nights taught us to call ahead.

Some are baffling, like the ubiquitous Canadian chain, Boston Pizza. Can someone explain why a restaurant that started in Edmonton is named after a faraway US city known for seafood?

Fun Fact - though they have expanded into the US as "Boston's Gourmet Pizza, with locations across the country, guess which American city does not have any? 

Right - If you're in Boston and hankering for "Boston Pizza," the nearest US location is near Philly, but the closest is actually in Quebec. Bring your passport.

If this all sounds like I'm being a typical ugly American - unfairly critical, dismissive, and looking for familiar US comforts while abroad, let me just end on this note:

Regular poutine - french fries topped with melty cheese curds and brown gravy - is freakin' great, even at food trucks or fast-food joints like Harvey's.  However - 

The 18-Hour Brisket Poutine at Beertown Public House in Waterloo - poutine topped with shredded house-smoked brisket and truffle aoili - is like someone went to heaven and brought back take-out. Paired with local craft-brewed KW Cider - perfection.

What's most different?

The biggest adjustment has so far hasn't been US-vs-Canada, so much as City-vs-Country. I was born in Washington DC, and have lived in or near a city all my life - either DC or Baltimore. I'm definitely a city mouse.

Since the move, most of the area around me looks like this:

For a photographer, it's a candy store. 

For a self-employed person trying to run a 

creative-services business, it's a….  challenge.