On Being Canadian, or
, eh!

Theme music: Un canadien errant

Are you Canadian and thinking about moving to the US?
Here are some coping tips I've found useful:

(I welcome submissions and/or feedback for any of these categories!)

• Buy a shortwave -- Alas, the house we live in is not well situated for radio reception. On a good day, you can Radio Canada International quite well, but reception tends to be better in the evening in Ithaca. If you are thinking of buying a shortwave, my advice would be:
  1. First, find out if RCI had their funding renewed this year...
  2. Enquire beforehand if you can return it if things don't work out.
  3. Buy an extension antenna. They're cheap at Radio Shack.
  4. You might want to buy a model that's also an alarm clock so you can wake up to the CBC news.
• Get a subscription to the Globe and Mail -- My definition of civilization involves the Globe and Mail and a cup of coffee. I now get the Saturday edition by mail (it usually arrives the following Thursday).
• Get a subscription to Macleans -- I never bothered with it until I left; now I devour it.
• Browse Canadian-themed web sites -- I frequent the following:
  • The Toronto Star, especially for their sports coverage.
  • The Globe and Mail
  • The CBC, especially their downloadable news and sports reports.
• The hockey-mad will want to investigate satellite TV -- either buying your own dish or getting one of those service deals. You may get decent covereage of the local team depending where you are. Plus, FOX and ESPN-2 cover some hockey games ... but it won't be what you're used to either in quality or quantity.
• Stock up on CanCon whenever you visit the old country -- you can get fiction books and music of some well-known Canadians here. Newspapers and non-fiction books can be very hard to come by, 'tho.

Terms Americans have never heard of

American terms I had never heard of

Warnings and Misc. Notes

• Despite what you friends may tell you, National Public Radio is a very poor substitute for the CBC.
• You can get President's Choice sutff in some areas. In western New York, Topps sells them.
• There is an abundance of very good beer put out by many microbreweries. You will not despair of beer if you decide to come! There is a lot more than Pabst Blue Ribbon and Schlitz to choose from.
• I find the on-line Toronto Star sports pages are just fine for hockey coverage. I also got a subscription to the Hockey News, but I find it's not really worth the extra money.