Raindrops on roses...

Claire's List of Things That Are Nice About Canada

1.  Everyone is so friendly.  I mean, really.  It sounds like a stereotype, but I've not yet had a single interaction with someone in the customer service field who wasn't smiling and nice to me, and it reminded me of how shocked I was when I first moved to the States to discover that shouting at someone behind a counter was a viable method for getting things done.  In Canada, everyone is just nice, and then things happen.

2.  When you see a lady walking along the street muttering to herself and eating Neapolitan ice cream right out of the container, your first thought isn't, "Nuts-a-rama!" but rather, "Neapolitan ice cream, yummy."  Homeless crazy people here aren't scary.

3.  In a similar vein, Canadian candy.  Cadbury's!  Kinder eggs!  Licorice allsorts!  Just who DID but the caramel in the Caramilk bar?

4.  Ketchup chips.  All-dressed chips. 

5.  Tim Horton's.  God only knows, living in the States, you have to drive for MILES to find a donut store, or buy the slightly squashed ones from the supermarket.  Here, I am never more than a block from Timmy's, where I can get my favorite Boston Cream and a coffee-flavored beverage at any time of day or night, thanks to the 24-hour drive throughs (for those times in the middle of the night where you awake in the dark, alone and scared, and decide that a brownie iced cap and a toasted coconut donut are the only things to assuage your pain)

6.  Canadian money!  It's so pretty and shiny.  And there are pictures of people playing hockey and Mounties and stuff (hahaha, I said "Mountie").  Also, it's worth more than the American dollar right now.  I just deposited an American check into my Canadian bank account, and only got 94$ for the 100$ that was written on the front.

7.  Finally being able to say "eh" and not have anyone laugh at me.

8.  Socialized medicine, because let's face it, this is what everyone likes Canada for, right?  (But, hey, Americans, you know it's only free because everyone pays approximately 40-55% income tax, right?)  But on the other han, my mother lost her prescription plan when she turned 65, but the government put her on a special one that means she only pays $6.11 to fill any prescription, regardless of actual cost of the drugs.  Which is pretty awesome.

9.  Being able to make jokes about Newfies again.  Being able to make jokes about Quebecois again.