Canadiana

American culture is pervasive in many different places around the world, and Canada is no exception. So, when we were in Canada over the past few weeks (British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan), I decided to actively learn more about things that Canadians hold dear to their cultural identity.

While this list is by no means comprehensive, here are some of those things:

Red Rose Tea -- There's nothing too distinctive (to me) about the flavor, but the brand is very established.

Nanaimo Bar -- This delicious treat has a cookie-ish base, a yummy, custard-y middle, and a solid chocolate top. Appropriately, I ate my first one in Nanaimo, British Columbia!

Tim Hortons -- If "America runs on Dunkin'," then Canada is super-charged by Tim Hortons. It's common to see lines all the way to the door early in the morning, even at some of the locations which have recently popped up in the States. (And yes, it's incredibly good!)

French and English -- Because both English and French are official languages in Canada, its common to see both written out.

Various candy bars -- These three candy bars (Wunderbar, After Eight, and Coffee Crisp) are some of the ones found in Canada. Of the three, I don't really have a favorite, but I had definitely heard the Canadians in the band talk about Coffee Crisp before I had tried it.

As you probably know, Canadians also pronounce certain words differently than we do in the States. This is probably my favorite cultural distinction because different word pronunciations can often be hilarious. In the following sentence, the words demonstrating this have actually come up in conversations we've had.

"While Mario ate his pasta, the sun shone brightly on his mauve llama, who was out and about during drama class. Sorry."