I'm sitting in a Second Cup coffee shop in the suburbs of Toronto, drinking yet another variation of the cappuccino. When my mom had told me that there will be coffee-shops 'nearby', I didn't think she meant a 20 minute drive, on the other side of the highway. How do Canadians get around without cars?
Since I've left Europe, I've been bracing myself for a reverse cultural shock, I hear those are quite nasty and can be depressing. So I went on a good ol' road trip with my mom to New England. What great decision making skills - there's no better way of killing time for an out-of-practice driver than a 12 hour drive on the American freeway. Needless to say, I'm now quite confident of my driving skills.
Naturally, my mom (like all Chinese mothers), tried to get me motivated academically and apply to go to Harvard. I realized that after my yearlong escapade in Europe that I despise conformity, the thought of joining a cult such as a brand-name school was not that appealing to me.
Nevertheless, I loved almost everything about New England. The people here exhibited the best characteristics of the North American stereotype. I can't remember a single time that I've made eye-contact with someone and didn't get a smile back, customer service reps seem to genuinely care about how your day is and the people are probably quite happy as they reproduce A LOT. Yes, I have a theory that the happiness scale of a place can be reflected in the number of kids that I see.
This kind of atmosphere is exactly the environment that I would want my kids to grow up in. Another goal in life added to the list - move to New England at some point.
Other than that I've made the following hilarious conclusions:
1. A fitting room in any store in a North American suburb will probably be bigger than any room that I can rent in Hong Kong.
2. The 'All U.S. Citizens' lane at the customs now takes Canadians as well.
3. There are so many Canadian businesses going global that it's hard to figure out which side of the border you're on. I walked into a TD bank in Harvard to get quarters for parking.
4. Tim Hortons needs to improve their standardization manual because the Americans cannot follow it. For those who don't know about Tim Hortons, it is only the best casual dining restaurant ever.
Anyway, off to get some work done! Happy fall everyone!
Since I've left Europe, I've been bracing myself for a reverse cultural shock, I hear those are quite nasty and can be depressing. So I went on a good ol' road trip with my mom to New England. What great decision making skills - there's no better way of killing time for an out-of-practice driver than a 12 hour drive on the American freeway. Needless to say, I'm now quite confident of my driving skills.
Naturally, my mom (like all Chinese mothers), tried to get me motivated academically and apply to go to Harvard. I realized that after my yearlong escapade in Europe that I despise conformity, the thought of joining a cult such as a brand-name school was not that appealing to me.
Nevertheless, I loved almost everything about New England. The people here exhibited the best characteristics of the North American stereotype. I can't remember a single time that I've made eye-contact with someone and didn't get a smile back, customer service reps seem to genuinely care about how your day is and the people are probably quite happy as they reproduce A LOT. Yes, I have a theory that the happiness scale of a place can be reflected in the number of kids that I see.
This kind of atmosphere is exactly the environment that I would want my kids to grow up in. Another goal in life added to the list - move to New England at some point.
Other than that I've made the following hilarious conclusions:
1. A fitting room in any store in a North American suburb will probably be bigger than any room that I can rent in Hong Kong.
2. The 'All U.S. Citizens' lane at the customs now takes Canadians as well.
3. There are so many Canadian businesses going global that it's hard to figure out which side of the border you're on. I walked into a TD bank in Harvard to get quarters for parking.
4. Tim Hortons needs to improve their standardization manual because the Americans cannot follow it. For those who don't know about Tim Hortons, it is only the best casual dining restaurant ever.
Anyway, off to get some work done! Happy fall everyone!
Hurray for Tim Hortons! Can't wait till I get my hands on a double double :D
ReplyDeleteWait until you see the new menu! It's gone overboard!
DeleteWahhh! There's a new menu?! I can't wait to see! :D
DeleteLove your blog and this post! Hope all is well in Canada :) x
ReplyDelete