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Foreigner's Perspective on Canada and the US
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Vanica



Joined: 31 Aug 2006
Posts: 368
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 12:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks, Tiger Beer. I met a Canadian whose mum has moved to Harlingen and they both love it. But when the organisation that sends ABA lawyers to the detention centre called, the interviewer told me it was ''very rural'' and difficult to live in. I wish transport were easier in the US so I could visit more places, but maybe the lack of infrastructure is what makes the country so much cheaper than Canada or many countries in Europe.
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cam



Joined: 22 Jan 2003
Posts: 124
Location: Maine, USA

PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Vanica,

Quote:
Construction standards are not always so great in North America.


What are you basing this statement on? Do you have any idea about construction?

Having read your comments in this post I think you should return to your homeland. Things are surly better there than in North America!
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johnslat



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:15 pm    Post subject: Love it or Leave it Reply with quote

Dear cam,
You apparently didn't notice it, but Vanica's home IS in North America, Montreal, Canada, to be exact.
(Note: North America includes Canada, the USA and Mexico)

and regarding this in your post:

"Things are surly better there . ."

actually, you seem to be surly, rather than Montreal.

Her opinion is presumably based on personal experience - most opinions are.
But "Love North American Construction or Leave the Continent" seems, to me, a bit harsh.

Regards,
John
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Vanica



Joined: 31 Aug 2006
Posts: 368
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you, John. Luckily, I saw your message first and I am very appreciative. Considering all the lawsuits concerning housing quality that Americans bring against other Americans, I was surprised that someone would have been offended by my comment. Let me thank you again for standing up for me.

When the bathroom ceiling fell down on us with a big kaboom one morning in Montreal, the concierge, police, and housing authority all said, Well, what do you want us to do about it? So no lawsuits here in Canada, but the same thin walls. We moved out and last week the building burned down. The newspaper said it was a 'heritage' building and that firefighters had had a difficult time to control the blaze because of the sturdy construction. It's all relative, I guess.

By the way, people sue in the US, but what happens in English Canada? Just whine? (That's what I saw on an anglophone Canadian comedy show.) In Quebec, the lawyers are all young women, as are the police, doctors and dentists. The policewomen favour pony-tails.
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johnslat



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:29 pm    Post subject: Blueprints? What blueprints? Reply with quote

Dear Vanica,
Ah yes - the USA is a litigious land (In fact, I may get sued for even making that statement.)
But if you want to see really "jury-rigged", "seat-of-the-pants", "rule-of-thumb", "we don' need no stinkin' blueprints" construction (Though why would you?), then the Middle East would be hard to beat,
The only building code of there is the code of silence.
Regards,
John
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Vanica



Joined: 31 Aug 2006
Posts: 368
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 2:34 pm    Post subject: Re: Blueprints? What blueprints? Reply with quote

I have had both very good experiences with lawyers in US (sueing Texaco for pollution in Amazon) and very bad (I was injured but intimidated by opposing lawyers). In Canada, I don't like the lack of integrity and laissez-faire attitude, but enjoy the peace and quiet.

A comedy writer in NYC (he has a lot of free time on his hands at the moment) entertained me by phone with a monologue about how the Americans and the Saudis are so alike. I'm sorry I don't have the fluency or talent to recount what he said, it began with that they both have fundamentalists.

It is going to start snowing again today. My daughter is getting used to putting on a snowsuit in the morning, and she might miss the cold if and when we move away. Also there are no bugs here, except for a few weeks in July when they come out en masse.
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cam



Joined: 22 Jan 2003
Posts: 124
Location: Maine, USA

PostPosted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 3:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
You apparently didn't notice it, but Vanica's home IS in North America, Montreal, Canada, to be exact.
(Note: North America includes Canada, the USA and Mexico)


Thanks John. I really had no idea that Mexico was in North America. I guess I need to brush up on my geography.

Quote:
and regarding this in your post:

"Things are surly better there . ."

actually, you seem to be surly, rather than Montreal.


I also need to improve my editing..... maybe if I post more often on Dave's I'll get better.
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johnslat



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

PostPosted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 7:50 pm    Post subject: Where in the world? Reply with quote

Dear cam,
Thank you for replying to my (sometimes possibly a little sarcastic) post in such a gracious manner.
Sorry for the "surly" dig - it wasn't fair. We all make typos here. If you ever read scot47's posts, you'll see that typos can be a way of life. However, we almost always somehow manage to figure out what he really meant to write.
In fact, were he to ever put up a typo-less post (admittedly a highly unlikely scenario), we'd all be totally confused.
And I'll make a confession. Know when I "discovered" Mexico was in North America? About six months ago, when I was teaching Head Start here in Santa Fe. I suppose I might have been taught it at some earlier point, but if you'd asked me, say, a year ago, I'm pretty sure I would have located it in "Central America."
But then, in addition to some construction difficulties (only an opinion), some of us here in the USA wouldn't even be able to locate the USA on a map. Hard to believe, right? The National Geographic gave a quiz to 18 to 24 year olds in the USA (to take the quiz, go to the following link):

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/roper2006/

Here are a few results:

"The survey asked 56 geographic and current events questions of young people in nine countries and scored the results with traditional grades. The surveyed Americans got a D, with an average of 23 correct answers.

Quote:
Thirty-four percent of the young Americans knew that the island used on last season Survivor show was located in the South Pacific, but only 30 percent could locate the state of New Jersey on a map.

Quote:
Only 71 percent of the surveyed Americans could locate the Pacific Ocean on the map, the world's largest body of water.

Quote:
Only 89 percent of the Americans surveyed could find their own country on the map.

Kind of scary, isn't it? So don't feel too bad; it's all relative. Compared to some of these test-takers, we're both geographical geniuses.

Regards,
John
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rusmeister



Joined: 15 Jun 2006
Posts: 867
Location: Russia

PostPosted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If it's any comfort, i's not that people are as stupid as all of these reports make them out - it's that our school system is designed to achieve different results from those we think it's designed to, and it is quite successful at achieving them.

No nation can maintain its status quo if it turns out a large number of truly educated people. The huge industrial society we live in needs large numbers of (what I would call) poorly educated people, most of whom are narrow specialists, good at doing only a couple of things (never mind work that requires little to no training) in a "workplace" (rather than creating their own workplaces, upsetting the existing corporations stranglehold over truly free enterprise). Also, large numbers of highly educated (in a real sense) people might set about really changing the government (and I don't mean by simply voting). Real learning creates too much instability for a status quo.

So schools turn out people with diplomas, reassure them that they ARE educated and that they do live in a "democracy" and "have a voice" (the media seem most especially frantic about reassuring us of this) everybody keeps quiet and reads "Dilbert" and watches the Simpsons (which provide outlets for dissatisfaction, like letting off a little steam).
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Vanica



Joined: 31 Aug 2006
Posts: 368
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Vanica wrote:
there are an awful lot of engineers in their late 30s and early 40s, making them class-wise a highly heterogeneous bunch.


Homogeneous! That's what I meant to say. I wonder if it was a Freudian slip. Reminds me of my first days in Montreal, seeing a case of Homo milk.
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Vanica



Joined: 31 Aug 2006
Posts: 368
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

rusmeister wrote:
No nation can maintain its status quo if it turns out a large number of truly educated people. The huge industrial society we live in needs large numbers of (what I would call) poorly educated people....Real learning creates too much instability for a status quo.


That's funny you should say that from Russia, because I always think we had a superior education compared to Canada and the US. We are such a bunch of critical thinkers, overanalysing everything into the night, every night. Maybe things have changed since 1989.
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rusmeister



Joined: 15 Jun 2006
Posts: 867
Location: Russia

PostPosted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Vanica wrote:
rusmeister wrote:
No nation can maintain its status quo if it turns out a large number of truly educated people. The huge industrial society we live in needs large numbers of (what I would call) poorly educated people....Real learning creates too much instability for a status quo.


That's funny you should say that from Russia, because I always think we had a superior education compared to Canada and the US. We are such a bunch of critical thinkers, overanalysing everything into the night, every night. Maybe things have changed since 1989.


Ah, but that's part of the point! The Soviet Union DID change its status quo. Russia is now rapidly learning to not make the same 'mistake'.
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johnslat



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

PostPosted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:05 am    Post subject: Cause and effect Reply with quote

Dear Vanice,
Ah, but doesn't "overanalyzing" lead to inaction - not to mention too much vodka?
Or maybe it's the vodka that leads to overanalyzing and inaction.

Hmmm, I'll have to analyze that further.

Regards,
John
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Vanica



Joined: 31 Aug 2006
Posts: 368
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 2:22 pm    Post subject: Re: Cause and effect Reply with quote

johnslat wrote:
Dear Vanice


Wow, you used the vocative!!

But it's not vodka (or rakija or sljivovica), it's medicine!
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Vanica



Joined: 31 Aug 2006
Posts: 368
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 2:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="rusmeisterAh, but that's part of the point! The Soviet Union DID change its status quo. Russia is now rapidly learning to not make the same 'mistake'.[/quote]

We had a very strong, strict and specialised education, one had the feeling of being continually evaluated for some hidden talent that would be discovered and exploited for the collective good. Athletic ability, science and maths, in my case foreign languages. But we did come out with good critical thinking skills, and a great deal of cynicism.

A recent immigrant from Italy told me, 'Here (in Canada) people trust the State.' We were completely the opposite, we were on guard about everything.
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