I've been meaning to do this for a while--create a blog specifically devoted to my life in
Canada. After all, when I moved from
Central Pennsylvania to
Pittsburgh, I transitioned from
Bothered and Bewildered in Blogtucky to
Montag's on Fire. So now that I've been in Canada for 2-1/2 years and now have become a permanent resident, it feels like it's overdue to create this separate space to discuss all my "Canadian class" experiences (a little immigration humo(u)r).
My first step is to gather together past posts from
Canada Day 2015 (the day I officially moved--although the immigration and moving process began several weeks before that day) to the present, ones that had a mainly Canadian focus and were originally published to
Montag's on Fire. So far, I'm discovering that there are not as many from the early days of my immigration as I had imagined.
I think this is because I was simply too busy
working, something I continue to do a lot of in Canada, like every other immigrant, regardless of class, age, or culture.
* * *
Not to stereotype too much, but it holds true: the native-born seem laidback and lazy to me while it's the immigrants who keep things moving in the Canadian economy. It seems the same in
America and
Europe as well, so it's not a peculiarly Canadian phenomenon, just maybe a
Western one. You can rest and relax when your present feels settled and your future seems secure. Otherwise, you gotta keep moving, striving, and (hopefully) succeeding.
Having said that, there are things that do feel especially Canadian about this phenomenon, or better said, socially democratic. On a recent visit, my friend
the Archivist was the one to use the word "laidback" to describe Canadians. Me, I use terms like "lazy" and "spoiled" and
"Bernie Sanders-esque." I'd like to think that Canadians have no idea how easy they have it, but in fact they do because they some can be quite smug about their lives when comparing themselves to their American cousins. Part of me is a little resentful of this (OK, OK,
more than a little resentful)--I'm working my ass off at 56, and they're sitting pretty thanks to social welfare and unionization at 26, 36, and 46. And no matter what I do over the next decade, I suspect they'll still end up better situated for retirement than me.
Nonetheless, I feel like I've had more exposure to life in different places than my native-born Canadian colleagues have had--or at least exposure to life on a different scale. American life can be big, global; Canadian life feels small. The people I tend to get along with best here (although I've done a crap job of making friends) are the ones who've spent some time in the
U.S. or in other countries or those who even just moved from one province to another or went to a university other than the Big One in
Toronto.
For better or for worse, living in
Washington, D.C., in my 20s had a profound influence on me. I still expect the culture and people of big cities to be dynamic, powerful, global in perspective, and passionate. I perhaps unfairly held
San Antonio to the same standard and was often disappointed. Although now I appreciate and long for San Antonio more than I used to--it was at least culturally aware of
Mexico and had its own unique
Tex-Mex culture. Pittsburgh was an even bigger disappointment, not living up to my perhaps ridiculous, youthfully idealistic standards. Maybe one day I'll come to appreciate it better, too. Oddly, I felt a certain yearning for
Pennsylvania when the
Philadelphia Eagles recently won the
Super Bowl, of all things. And at least I had friends in Pittsburgh. But then I worked a lot less in Pittsburgh. Whether it was because I was lazy, spoiled, or Bernie Sanders-esque, I could not say.
* * *
To supplement the slim pickin's of this blog, over time I may add musings from my Facebook posts and tweets, where I probably have expressed myself and my relationship with Canada more fully. It's far easier to write a punchy post or trenchant tweet than an essay on a blog. So those who know me best have a better record of my on-the-surface feelings about Canada. However, they lack the depth of my feelings available from my blog.
Lucky you, dear reader.
In the meantime, I'll continue to add my own personal "Canadiana" from various sources and provide new posts as time allows. I'll still keep up Montag's on Fire--which has become a tad too much Resistance-focused of late (I'm working on that)--but my so-called life in Canada deserves some recognition and introspection all on its own. Let's hope I can do so through this space.
