There's no cordial. Anywhere. I know! Anyone who knows me, knows of my addiction to fruit cup cordial. I don't do tea or coffee and only have the odd energy drink because I always had my cordial and thermo. It was the first thing I drank in the morning, and drank it all through my work day. It's my thing and I loved it. But apparently Canada, and all of the US, doesn't stock cordial. When I asked people about it they'd give me a very questioning look and ask if I was after Lime cordial, the only type anyone has. I've requested cordial for Christmas, birthdays, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day and Halloween. If you'd like to send me some cordial, let me know and I'll send you our address. And then I'll kiss you.
There's no standy-up toothpaste in Canada. I've looked in every supermarket we've been to in Vancouver. I know this isn't a huge thing, but it's one of those little things we liked to use, to pay a little extra for the convenience and tidiness. This crisis was averted during our trip to Seattle were I managed to find some and bought three. Woooo!
Walking on the right side of the street. After a month we're getting used to it now, but it's scary stepping onto the street and being surprised to see a car coming at you on the wrong side! I've been trying to pay particular attention to getting my right and wrong sides in order since we'll be driving sometime in the next couple of months (thanks to Mumsie and her offer of the use of one of her cars for the next year!). French and English on every product. From baked beans to conditioner and bus schedules, every label in Vancouver is dual-language. Which is awesome for learning the language, but confusing when you're trying to work out if it's a french word or just an english word we're not familiar with.
Tipping. We love tipping for a job well done, but it's expected here that you tip 15% for almost every service. So it feels like an obligation instead of a reward. The compulsory tipping also means you have to make sure you include it in your calculations for every meal, so you always have to be aware of how much money you've got and how much it's really going to cost you. And if you don't tip at least 10% for every meal etc, you get dirty looks, which I think is quite a bit shit cos it means we end up over-tipping just to avoid anyone spitting in our next meal. We get that the minimum wage here is low ($8/hr), but staff shouldn't have to rely on us paying tips to be able to pay their rent. I might take this whole wage thing up with the B.C. government...And in addition to the above, we're also still getting used to all the add-ons on every bill or receipt. For example, we bought our new camera recently and the price tag said $789. But when we took it to the till they added PST (provincial service tax) and GST and we ended up paying more than $850. And it's the same with groceries and clothes and take-out. Tax is always added at the end, so the price you see isn't actually the price you're going to pay and you never really know what you're going to pay until you get the bill. Why can't they just add the tax into the price they list?? Surely that would be way easier?
The homeless and the crazies. We knew to expect this, Shan had warned me, but there really are a lot of homeless people in Vancouver. For the most part they're harmless and they just get about with their trollies, collecting cans and bottles for recycling, but it's been a bit scary at times. Like the time we were in a bathroom in a mall and a lady started yelling - "F*ck you! F*ck you! I'm gonna STAB you next time Wendy, you f*king sl*t!" She just mumbled to herself and left but seriously, she could have easily have stabbed anyone right then she was so off her face. And then there was the time we were walking in East Van and this lady walking towards us started screaming at the air around her, telling her invisible friend to "f*ck off you f*ckin' faggot and leave me alone!" That was nice... In Brisbane, the worst you come across are drunks asking for cash. It's the drugged up ones that scare me cos you know they're not seeing or thinking clearly. And unfortunately, there's quite a few of those here.
The positives still outweigh the negatives massively, and we're totally loving being here. Everyday we wake up excited about what the day might bring. We've got plans to go to a Wine Festival in the Okanagan in the next few weeks and we're busy applying for jobs so we can relax and start planning for fun things like our wedding and the babies. So if anyone knows anyone in Vancouver who can offer me a PR job and Shan something great in a law office, that would be super. Call me! *call me signal with right hand*
Whoa! There was no tax where you lived before? I want to move there... Actually in American (which may differ from Canada,) Waiters/Servers only make $2.13/hour which is why 15% tipping is standard. It's below the minimum wage but still legal because tips are claimed as part of the actual income.
ReplyDeleteWe have standy up toothpaste here though.