First Impressions Of Canada (From A German)
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- Опубліковано 30 лип 2024
- Lisa - being the German - and me - being the Canadian - talk about our home countries a lot! After Lisa moved over to Canada, she started noticing quite a few differences compared to Germany! So, here are a few of our thoughts!
What do you think? What did we get right? What did we miss? Let us know below!
You can read our whole blog post on travelling to Canada for the first time here: www.penguinandpia.com/en/trav...
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The fact that we measure distance in hours pretty much says it all in terms of country size...
Right like that’s kind of common sense. Canada is way bigger than Germany
In Texas (2nd largest state) they do that too.
Source: Am from Texas, recently moved to Ohio and they only measure distance in miles.
Anytime you meet a person who says " ice hockey' , you know you're talking to a foreigner !
Got that right!
As a Canadian, I found this funny. Our country is so vast that what is common in Ontario isn’t so common in Alberta or British Columbia or Newfoundland. However, I think you guys captured the upper crust of stereo types fairly well. Good job, eh. ☺️😉 🇨🇦
Not "stereo types" meaning types of stereos, but stereotypes - one word.
Once an hour train in a small town would be a godsend here in Canada.
But the distances are so much less. Take an image of Germany and plunk it down anywhere in Canada...and it disappears.
@@caryconder7621 Indeed, point taken. However, there are many corridors and regions that could greatly benefit from some rail service.
I'm thinking the Laurentian corridor, connecting prairie cities, and even a regional system in British Columbia.
It would save the need for regional flights and be a far better option than winter driving.
@@professordogwood8985 Depends upon what "corridors" you're thinking of in BC. Anywhere off the Lower Mainland is hostage to the weather, no matter the season, for a variety of reasons. Now, Vancouver Island, on the other hand, would definitely benefit from a commuter system that runs up to Campbell River, but the locals have been hemming and hawing about THAT option for over 15 years! The Prairies are in the same boat as B.C.: too hot in the summer (elastic rails), and too cold in the winter. Not to mention extremely high winds that can blow an 18-wheeler off the road, so figure what would happen to a train. And then there's Vancouver and the outlying communities taking their own sweet time expanding light rail up the Fraser River Valley to Chilliwack, along with a tie-in to the Tswwassen ferry terminal.
@@caryconder7621 I'm familiar with all those points. Railways the world over have dealt with weather and I'm certain we are no different here in Canada, after all we already run freight through those places.
The political barriers are annoying of course, but we're imagining getting our act together here anyways. (Islanders are never certain about anything).
As far as a network in the BC interior, there are plenty of communities in the Okanagan, the Caribou, and even the Kootenays that could benefit from some regional rail, and why not? The lines already run through those places.
@@professordogwood8985 I took the train to Jasper a couple of years ago with my daughter to sightsee in the two parks. Chatted with the head of the train staff and discussed a number of isses. Two more points are: 1) freight has priority regardless and there are areas where it's impossible to "twin track" to accommodate passenger service, so passenger trains often spend upwards of hours sitting in sidings waiting for freight trains (upwards of three) to pass (we had to wait for two---one from eithe direction---in the Okanagan stretch); and 2) in Europe and Japan trains only run at high speed on the flat sections of the countryside. Like us they have to slow in the hills and mountain sections. They also have far shorter distances to cover. Don't get me wrong. I would personally LOVE to see proper rail service throughout Canada. I just can't see it happening with our geography...and we won't get into the political side of things.
Here in Saskatchewan, it’ll get +40 in the summer and -40 in the winter
The weather here is no joke
Same here in Manitoba
It gets to +30 in the summer to -50 in winter here in Nunavut with windchills going down to the 60s but we had such a mild winter this year
@@NilakSingaqti we had a super mild winter here too
Alberta is +30 summer and -40 to -45 in winter depends XD
@@dragonssweets6841 the thing abt Alberta is it’ll only be -45 for two days then -5 for a week. Manitoba it’ll be -35 for a month straight.
If you are Canadian travelling abroad, and someone asks if you are American, you quickly correct them. We love our neighbors, but, we have our own unique cultures. Canada is very multi cultural. MANY different cultures across the country. A Newfie is far different than a Quebecer or Westerner or a citizen of Ontario. We DO NOT all have the same accent!!
Absolutely. Otherwise they treat you poorly lol
I'm from Halifax Nova Scotia and can attest as Well to being and living all over our country at some point, no we don't all have the same accents. For one I've never said aboot. That ones is annoying.
Years ago when we moved to Germany with the military one of the things in our briefing was to ‘’make sure you wear a Canadian flag pin at all times’’.....and yes, be to let people know you are Canadian.
The US is the same as us in that sense though. Different states have different cultures and accents.
@@sheenaalexis8710 I agree, im from Saskatchewan and have lived here my whole and i have never heard someone say “Aboot”
We love our neighbOUrs.
I remember speaking to German soldiers on their way to Wainwright Alberta in Winnipeg and these guys could just not comprehend the size of this country.At that time it was rail traffic and all they could say is all day,all night all day..day after day and they just saw the wheat fields and cattle and to them it just more than they could believe.
Thanks for sharing, William! That's really interesting - yeah, we've taken the train across large stretches of Germany a number of times and that feels endless.... can't imagine what it's like to go across Canada. That said, we do plan on driving it (Toronto to Vancouver, and back) when the pandemic is over so that'll give us some much needed perspective and a good dose of Canadian beauty.
You guys are so cute!
You have to come to Calgary. Stampede just finished. I was privileged enough to travel throughout our beautiful country. And we Canadians are very friendly and polite. Make friends with anyone. Some cities/provinces are more friendlier than others. Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal are very friendly and can make friends for life. They re older cities.
Anyways cheers. Thank you for the video!!
them saying “tea break” at the same time i was on my break with my tea and my j made me crack up😂
I live in Regina, Saskatchewan. We don't have much going on around here. The main thing our German relatives noticed is the wide openness. We have a very low population compared to most parts of Canada. However our provincial saying is Land of Living Skies and that is very true. From the endless skies to the amount of birds that migrate over Saskatchewan, our most beautiful sunsets, the clouds, the storms just to name a few.
As an American, the main thing I notice in the cities is that Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver are cleaner, safer, and nicer than American cities. What I do not care for is how prices seem to be one and a half times more for food, gasoline, sales tax, etc.
In the summer Canada is beautiful. I live in Houston so it is a great place to go in the summer. Hopefully, the border will open soon.
hopefully , as one that spent a lot of time studying pricing differences between Canada and the US, I have found that many American owned wholesalers/manufacturers just will not accept that NA should be one pricing structure ( outside of taxes ) such that sales to Canada are often based on; well Canada is a much smaller market than the US so we will upcharge an extra 40% just because we can. Yes the language additions of a bilingual country do add to costs but not that much. It never failed to surprise me that US manufacturers cling to this shenanigans , we thought that when NAFTA came in to being that this would improve but no it got worse.
Years ago we used to have passenger trains and travel buses running between most communities. So sad it’s no more.
Government stupidity. Now we have highways full of transport truck.
@GNR Forever What did the oil companies and car manufacturers have to do with it?
@@ALSmith-zz4yy, a lot of people like GNR Forever believe the oil companies and auto manufacturers, as well as the airline industry are in cahoots with each other to stymie train travel, and many also believe that the auto and oil industries conspired to destroy streetcar systems (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy)
Less than 1 minute in and you mention my current home, my much smaller hometown, and the 3 hour drive between them. I don't think I've clicked a like button any quicker than that.
haha, glad we could bring it close to home for you, Jason! We have a short video on Ktown as well which people seem to like - lived there for the better part of a decade, would move back in a heartbeat.
I don't know if it's unique to Canada, but we talk a lot about the weather : )) It is a conversation starter for sure because our weather changes so much from season to season and sometimes from morning to night. I have lived or visited almost all of Canada and it is a phenomenal country!! Quebec City should be your next destination. Wonderful there.
Two days ago, it was warm and dry, yesterday it was raining, today I woke up to snow falling.
Ya...I agree so much with the drive time. I was kindof shocked that I could drive from Budapest Hungary to Vienna Austria in about 2.5 hours and then from Vienna to like, Salzburg in 2.5 hours then to Munich in about an hour and a half. On the way north in Germany we could have popped into France. When in Vienna...we were like..."Hey, look how close we are to Italy"...we were thinking about popping over to see Venice. It was crazy close together.
Definitely. The sense of scale is wild. I (Eric) have driven for around 24 hours and never left Ontario whereas that same driving time (and distance) can take you from Amsterdam, NL to Brasov, Romania.... so basically across most of continental Europe...
We travelled from balmy Hawaii to Banff in winter a couple of years ago - that was a shock to the system! ❄️😅
Come to Nova Scotia if you are looking for better weather and great universities. Atlantic Canada is the friendliest part of Canada.
We've only heard amazing things about N.S. Have a buddy moving out there for work so we will (post-pandemic) make it a point to visit often. And with the housing market in Ontario right now, it's looking like a viable option for sure!
Lots of wind, cloudy days.. small talk friendly
You can't rule out prairie provinces as being a contender for being friendly. I live in BC. so I am not biased.
As a lifelong Ontarian who's visited the maritimes about 6 summers, our retirement goal is to move to NS. Stunning variety of landscapes, friendly, easy going, no pretentiousness, affordable, small enough to visit the entire province in reasonable times, etc etc etc. We love it there! Cape Breton is so unique and our favourite:)
I loved the Cape Breton Cabot Trail!!! Peggy’s Cove & Lunenburg are beautiful area’s also.
Canada and Germany my favourite two countries, I wish u couple a best of luck, Really how happy i am i cant tell u .
That's such a sweet comment, Farhan - thank you for the kind words! There are so many great countries out there but we're glad to hear you're a fan of ours! :) All the best to you.
I wish our cell plans were cheaper in Canada. You are sooooo right about that! 😁
When a country is 30 million square miles and there are only 30 million people, that high cost is sadly, the natural result.
good perspectives and as a Canadian...pretty bang on.....and of course i've seen a few of these videos and the same things about "traffic and cars" gets repeated......we need to seriously fix that problem.....
I live in Victoria B C and just want to let you know that here as well of Vancouver, there ARE buses that go outside of the main city .... I have been on them. Just wanted to let you know. My dad was born here in 1912 and was on the Saanich police force when there were only 5 on the whole force., it was on of the main Police force there is here. I was born here in 1961 and the city has grown SO MUCH .... mostly in the last 20 year, people from all over are moving here. ..... Safe travels to you both!!
Lisa this way off-topic, but, I think you have the nicest smile I've ever seen in my 67 years walking this planet, it just radiates warmth...
True ... I always find myself smiling back at her like an idiot. :-)
Note: there is Wi-Fi in each Tim Horton, so you can set your inboard driving computer on it and get a quit constant signal to update your maps on the road..
Southern Alberta gets to experience it going from -30 to 5+ above in the same day thanks to Chinooks. Its super interesting. I grew up a bit in Saskatchewan, and experienced frozen tundra like cold, then you add a wind chill on top of that. I also lived over in the Vancouver area for years and experienced super easy "winters". Yes, I know the further north in BC gets snow, but I was down in the GRVD where we didn't get much at the time. It rained. A lot. And when it did snow, people didn't know how to drive in it. And now, I get the chinooks. Western Canadian winters are weird.
Thanks for your thoughts, Shelby - yeah, chinooks do sound like they make life interesting! I (Eric) lived in the UK and it also rained all winter. So when we did get a skiff of snow, drivers lost their minds... it was always a little comical.
I live in Southern Alberta. My son lives on Vancouver Island. If it snows there the schools shut down! Here it is rare for the school buses to stop running no matter what the temperature or the snow!!!
@@viviannefraser5974 Lived on the island for my entire life, and I can’t tell you how awesome it is to have school shut down for snow. But it does have to be like 3 feet of snow to shut things down, at least where I’m from. But I would imagine the prevalence of steep hills everywhere probably has something to do with the shutdowns. I live in North Vancouver now, about 2 kilometers from the water, and I’m 254 meters above sea level.
i love how people from toronto call it "tronno"
Yeah, I'm (Eric) very guilty of that. The second "T' doesn't stand a chance haha
I grew up in Toronto. I was in Schiphol (Amsterdam) airport and heard 3 young American guys talking behind me. One said "If anyone asks us where we're from, tell them we're Canadian from Toronto." I turned around and told them that it wasn't going to work and repeat after me "Tronno". :-)
Yes, I'm from TO and it drives me nuts how outsiders pronounce it. I would say though, that it more like Turonno. Most people have their own pronunciations for where they live. Would you pronounce Melbourne "Mel-born" instead of "Mel-burn", Derby "Dur-bee", or Leicestershire "Lie-kester-shire" instead of "Lestur-shur"?
i'm from toronto and i personally call it "turonTo" but that might just be my up bringing. is there a "right" way to say it like calling it mel-burn instead of mel-born?
@@sumirunihon As long as you don't put too much emphasis on the last t, you're probably fairly good. I got a kick out of Ben Affleck teaching the Americans in Argo how to say it to be believable. It's not a big deal anyway, it's just we Torontonians can automatically tell an outsider by the way they pronounce it. I'm in school in Barrie 100km north, and most people around here don't pronounce it the way we do
As a Canadian I love your video. For example I had no idea I said eh as much as I do until visiting friends in the US and they lintel out every time I said it and it was A Lot 😁
haha, thanks for the positive feedback! Sorry to make you ponder your life choices - but we approve. :D
As a proud Canadian, I totally own that I DO say, "eh" - 'fer sure' lol
Oh fer sure bud!
I'm glad someone mentioned 'fer sure', as I noticed just recently that Canadians seem to do this a lot but no one remarks on it like they do 'eh?'. I find it really funny lol (as a fellow Canadian)
@@sophiapacione 🇨🇦
I'm From a city north of Toronto and while we are lucky enough to have a public transit system that is growing, we do actually have a train route that goes to Toronto via the government of Ontario or 'GO' train. Recently we got all excited as now it comes more than twice a day.... so I had a good chuckle when she talked about trains in small towns in Germany that might only come once an hour.
Ah yes, the Viva system grows larger by the day (assuming you are talking about that - could be totally off haha). We're also excited to have the GO train come more frequently... only took decades to increase the trains on the timetable. One difference though is that the GO train is very much a commuter train. It's made to bring people into and out of the GTA, period. Train in Germany, while some end up being used very much by commuters, are part of a larger, reliable network of transport.
Same I live on the outskirts of the GTA, up north, and as nice as it is to have the Go trains they get kind of expensive if you commute every day. The closest the Viva buses take me is North York, I'd have to take several buses to get downtown.
Our gas prices in Canada are for 87octane, in Europe they sell 95 octane, which would b close to same price in Canada.
That's a good point, actually. It's hard to speak for all of "Europe" but Lisa remembers in Germany when they discontinued "regular" gasoline which was 87. People in these comments also go on about US gas being cheaper, but they often have 85 as the standard gas so it's good to keep these differences in mind.
In Alberta the gas rarely goes above $1.30/litre,Temp. can go from -30c to +25c in 1 day. I live 3hrs. to the closest city. I live in Lougheed, about 5 hrs. north of the US border. Our speed limit is 100km/hr. We have 20 hrs. of sunlight in the summer and 4-5hrs. of sunlight in the winter.
many days to just get through Ontario from one end to another
There's good coffee in Canada if you know where to look. Local shops will have better coffee, more variety and prepare it the right way. I think this rings true for both countries. Nice video!
Definitely right - the smaller shops generally have the better brews and the time to prepare it correctly. Rings true for Kingston or for Munich! Tims is convenient, but we don't really go there for coffee anymore. P.S Great name. We approve haha
You make me want to move to Germany for a year! Finland was so so! Sweden got boring too! Canada is the best!
Toronto does not have extreme weather fluctuations. Try the prairies +40 to -50 or less LOL
Ontario is a massive province and Is significantly larger than the entire UK. The weather in Southern Ontario (Windsor to Toronto) is typically much warmer than say Ottawa or anywhere north of Barrie. -30 is a rarity...for example the coldest it's gotten so far this winter is -16 C in Toronto in the evening and that was just a few evenings. Most days so far have been around 0 C as the high.
"driving from Toronto to Kingston is no big deal." Hey I live in Kingston lol.
Shout out to those living in YGK - a great city to be in! :D
I can only speak about Eastern Ontario but smaller cities do have public transportation as well. You can also take the train in the toronto to Mtl route.
Definitely - there is certainly transport within centres. Our point was more that once you leave those centres it's more uncommon to be able to get to the next town or city (at least in Ontario). The ViaRail is a good example... but that's only one train route. Imagine you could take a ViaRail-type train between Almonte and Perth and then be able to connect to Ottawa or to Toronto. That's basically what it's like in Germany (with some exceptions, obviously).
We need to get some green infrastructure running and provide incentives to use it. The TGV trains in Europe were fabulous and being able to take a train that runs 2 or 3 times a day to small places near any mid-sized town, which all were easy to get to. Making it less automatic to drive everywhere will be a culture shock for some people, and some rural residents will always need vehicles, but those can be electric too
We used to have a rail system when i was small but it fell into disrepair.
Good, entertaining video. Go Sen’s go! 😉
Glad you enjoyed it! As for the Sens, the standings speak for themselves.... but at least you have Stützle! :D
@@Penguinandpia Low blow my friend, low blow lol. Yeah, Stützle will be amazing.
I can't speak for every smaller city, but i live in Cambridge, Ontario and the transit systems here are great
Thanks for your two cents, Mike! I (Eric) have no doubt the smaller cities have decent systems for themselves... I've taken the bus in Guelph plenty of times, for example. I guess the point we wanted to make was that once you leave any significantly populated area, it's hard to get anywhere else without a car. This is compared to Germany where many small towns (we're talking as small as Erin, Ontario) still have a rail station which connects residents to the rest of the country.
@@Penguinandpia i see what you mean
Awsome video I would like to travel to Germany 🇩🇪 and definitely depends on where you are here in Canada this year we hit -52 cold It’s cold and yes we half to work in it
Canada is broadly inbetween the US and the UK in terms of its economics, politics, culture, laws, values, language, healthcare, etc. Canada is a former British colony that has grown alongside the US after all.
That’s not precisely true
Which is why I qualified my comment with 'broadly.'
I remember being on a flight from London to Toronto and talking to a couple from London. The wife, was looking forward to spending some time in Toronto and thought that she would take a drive to Vancouver, to visit friends for the weekend. Yea... not happening...
In B.C. and Alberta here I've been in +40 to -55 our weather is sever everywhere
West coast BC only get down to -8 max and 32
@@micabean8291 Northern BC gets severe cold and has hot summer only sometimes but does happen
I'm from the Kootenays it's not that cold there
@@vickyhelgren6972 Originally from Fort St John myself
Canadian and travel to Germany a couple times a year for work. Piggy backing on the small talk portion of the video. My first time in Germany I said “Hey, how’s it going?”, to a German colleague I had just met and they started to actually tell me about their day and that it wasn’t the greatest... STUNNED... I was not prepared for anything other than the standard “Good.” or “Good and you?” variants. I learnt quickly not to be asking anything I didn’t actually want to know the answer to. All Germans I have met have always been very kind and genial (barring a few bad apples), they do not mince words and are very direct so some may find that strange. I think I prefer that over our more round-a-bout way of talking.
Totally agree, VC! Lisa chucked at your comment because it's spot on.
@@Penguinandpia Haha yes, but it is hard to curb the "How's it going?". It is like muscle memory and just comes out. I have the same issue and maybe you do too with "Sorry." I have actually been told in Germany by friends and others to stop apologizing then I try to explain that I am not actually apologizing... It has been ingrained far too deep that I can't help saying it for everything. Reaching over, passing by, excusing myself, didn't catch that... etc. Multi use word.
Very interesting. I'm a Canadian who grew up in Germany as a 'military brat' for most of the 1970's.
There used to be more trains in Canada but I suppose underfunding at some point meant it was to costly to bring the services back, along with inept governments and planning. There used to be mid-sized towns with trams and such too. Now its pretty much just bus services if you are more than an hour or two outside of a metro area.
Cell phone plans are so much more in Canada because the companies are expected to maintain their network the same way as other countries despite the fact that our population density is a fraction of that to other countries. It's not cheap to service.
Thanks for that, Jeff. I always knew lack of competition (for a number of extended reasons) was part of the argument but I suppose the costs of upkeep on the telecom infrastructure given our more limited population (compared to other countries) might also play a role.
Where I live it's a little cheaper for gas round .95 or 1.00 per litre
Oh, really? That's pretty good! - where is that?
I will repeat what I said on other websites that talk about it cashless Society versus the cash Society in Germany. Having been born in Germany during World War II, I remember my father telling me that he had 250 marks in the bank for each of us before our birth but accounts were zeroed out when the occupation started. I was born Magdeburg and lived in father and mother's home town of Wolmirstedt until age of 8.
What do you need to move to Canada from Germany? I mean what kind of papers you need if you are German citizen?
Did you visit the New Berlin Area (Kitchener-Waterloo) in Ontario , a lot of small German speaking towns there. As you get south - west of there you will run into low-german speakers
I've (Eric) visited/stayed in the K-W area a number of times but only really passed through with Lisa.. we'll have to go back and dive deeper into the areas around it. Only knew about Hanover, Ontario - didn't know where was a New Hamburg, Mannheim, Bamberg, and Heidelberg! Great tip, Ghost P.
Minneapolis in southern Minnesota is colder in winter than Toronto and southern Ontario in general, but hotter in summer. Toronto is on average like Chicago in winter.
I am Canadian and I say Eh a lot
You are definitely, definitely not alone on that one!
I say “A” a lot because it’s my favourite vowel lol.
Spell it right boys. Eh? is literally the only way to spell 'er. They got it right in the video. I find my usage of Eh? while always somewhat present in my vocabulary, goes waaaay up if I'm drinking, lol'
I am happy with my eh. It’s a consensus building word, very conducive to small talk... it invites an opinion from someone else, it can be used to gain clarity (as a question), to make others included. Or to soften the sting of criticism. It’s right up there with a Canadian tendency to apologise. I’m Canadian and I support this observation, eh?
Seven of Nine: Resistance is futile! You will be assimilated to say Eh! In Canada! 🇨🇦
When I lived in Germany in the early 80s, The German DMs were plastic while Canadian bills were paper.
I lived in Labrador and our winters are routinely -45C and sometimes -70C....only +25/30C In Summer
Wow! That's quite the fluctuation, though. Thanks for sharing... just reiterates to us that there's much more Canada to explore. :)
Many secondary schools (high schools) have field hockey as well. Its usually girls field hockey. I don't know if I ever see any boys' teams, other than when the provincial hockey team (many players went to my secondary) played the school's girls field hockey team in a charity match. (The girls won.)
One thing I have noticed about internet and cell phones: a data plan is not really essential in Canada. Public WiFi is UBIQUITOUS throughout public places and downtowns of cities and towns, intercity transit where it exists, and governement buildings in Canada, while in Poland at least, it is almost non-existent (even some western-style shopping malls here don't have free WiFi internet). I never even had a data plan when I lived in Canada because of this, and it only cost about $25 per month for talk and text only. If I had a phone app that needed data or to check a map, I would simply park in front of the nearest Tim Hortons or Walmart, connect to the WiFi network, and look up what I needed, and then continue on my way.
Great video! We made a similar vlog from the view of Czechs :)
Just watched it - so good! I'm (Eric) from north of Toronto so the fact that your video is mainly about Toronto really hits home. You made me laugh about the "right angles" - it's all a giant grid and Lisa said the same thing compared to Europe. Would be great to grab a beer with you guys when we are home - but we'll find a cheaper deal in the city, don't worry! Oh and be sure to go to a Raptors game if you haven't already!
@@Penguinandpia I only knew the concept of meeting somebody on the "corner of this and that street" from the movies 😆 We would love to have beer with you guys! We live at King and John street so let us know on our instagram when you'll be home in Toronto. We haven't managed to go to the games but it's on our TO-do list! :D
Oh wow you are RIGHT downtown - what a location! Okay, we will be in touch when we know we will be home next! :D
Thank you very much, that was a very helpful video for me!
As a 17 year old german I'm thinking about going to Canada for a year after finishing my Abitur (High School degree). Then I would like to decide if I wanted to study at a University in Canada and stay there or if I would like to get back to Germany. Your (and a few other) videos made sure for me that I really want to give Canada a try and that it should suit me. So, again, thanks a lot!
PS: It would be really interesting to see a video about what you both do for a living and how Lisa's Immigration and "finding a job"- process went. If you already covered that in another video, please let me know, as this is the first video of you two that i watch. Your chemistry is also great!
PSPS: Eh? seems to be what "nä", "wa", "gell" are in different regions of Germany. Like "Right?" in english, eh?😉
Would be very happy about a reply, even if short☺️
Welcome to the country!
Hi, thanks so much for your nice comment! We're glad that Canada seems like a good fit for you - it definitely worked out for Lisa and many, many others!
We don't have too many other videos about "life in Canada" but it's something we might do in the future. In the mean time, you can always email us at hello@penguinandpia.com if you want to ask us any other questions (gerne auch auf Deutsch). We're self-employed so we can't really say too much about the process of finding a job but there are lots of internationals that find employment in Canada after their studies. There are also some really good universities in Canada with international reputations. (Lisa hier - Ich bin leider nicht in Deutschland zur Uni gegangen sondern in Daenemark und kann daher Erics kanadische Unierfahrung schlecht mit deutschen Unis vergleichen, aber einer der groessten Unterschiede ist wohl, dass der undergrad/Bachelor hier 4 Jahre dauert anstatt 3... das nur so nebenbei).
Und ja, eh ist wirklich so wie "gell" etc. auf Deutsch - deswegen kam es mir wahrscheinlich auch nie komisch vor.
Viel Erfolg fuer die Zukunft und melde dich gerne bei uns, wenn du Fragen hast!
@@Penguinandpia Vielen vielen lieben Dank! Ich werde auf euer Email Angebot zurückkommen , sobald ich weitere Fragen habe! Liebe Grüße nach Kanada! Greetings to Canada!
Timbits are great! Even better is when you flash freeze them with liquid nitrogen. They are amazing. It takes on the consistency of ice cream cake and no brain freeze because flash freezing means they thaw quickly in your mouth
This sounds like one of those moments when you turn to the camera and say "don't try this at home, kids". Thanks for the tip, Dan! We'll keep that in mind the next time we know anyone with liquid nitrogen.
I commute 2 hours to work and that is not too far outside of normal. (150km) Normal might be 1 hour? This is Toronto area.
When mentioning the coffee thing, I'm surprised you didn't bring up the to-go cups. Canada you see people walking everywhere with them where as in Germany, when asking for a to go cup, the look on the lady's face (like she's thinking why) and mentioning that you have to pay extra for the cup. then the constant looks as you walked around the mall. In Germany if you're going to stop for coffee, you sit in the cafe and have it then leave. Unless that's change in the last few years.
I really did like that I could have a glass of wine while at the movies, in Germany.
I would like to visit Germany again, I didn't see enough of it.
Saskatchewan can go from -50 in the winter to +35 in the summer
Clamato doesn't have clam in it eh, i always thought it did to, crazy eh
haha, good point. I mean, it's "clam broth" so there's no real actual clam pieces... Only the water that once boiled clams. I think people get turned off and expect it to taste really "fishy" when it's mainly just tomato juice and spices. Great, now I want a Caesar!
@@Penguinandpia Well now "I" want a Caesar too!!! CURSES!!!!
@@buttnugget2900 HAHA.. was home just last week visiting family - had a few for my birthday. It was absolute bliss....
As soon as you said Go Leafs Go, I subscribed.
I'd like a little more consistent enthusiasm from the buds but overall not a bad start, eh?
@@Penguinandpia They are doing well in the standings but there is just something off. I think Keefe is a terrible coach but certainly not as bad as Babcock.
Leafs suck since 1968
@@lmtada Thats not very nice.
Manitoba is one of the friendliest provinces. We even state it on our license plates.
While visiting Newfoundland, I asked a very nice man how far it was to a camping park . His answer was ,just a little run up the Trans Canada Highway. His little run took us three hours driving a little over the speed limit.
Yes sir Newfoundland is quite a large island hopefully you enjoyed your visit.
We do have public transport outside of the big cities but it's not awesome, that's true.
Good video! Most things that are more expensive in Canada relate to the vastness of the country and the relatively small population. For eg. Infrastructure costs to connect all regions of the country with transit or train would not be feasible.
Says you and everybody else, but a lot of people say otherwise, as does this group (facebook.com/groups/highspeedrailcanada)
@@Neville60001 Thanks for the link. (Interesting read) I guess my point is that the vastness of Canada makes connecting populated areas to less populated areas a real challenge from a cost benefit perspective. For example, we have seen Greyhound pull their bus services out of most rural areas in the country. However, we do hear of the concepts of connecting larger cities with potential high-speed trains from Calgary to Edmonton and Vancouver to Seattle routes .
edmonton calgary both have public transportation in lrts ans buses light rail trains even in small town cold lake has free busing
No Timmies on Salt Spring Island, BC. SALT SPRING Roasting Co.
Where in Canada are you??? Hamilton has probably the best overall climate in Canada. With the exception of southwestern BC, forget the rest of the frigid snowbound outposts
That cashless thing. 10 years ago I would go to a bank machine to get cash. Ever increasingly I began using a debit card because it was so convenient! Now I hardly ever have cash. Got to the point where even the Salvation Army has a debit reader on their Donation pot!!
Always keep some cash on hand, just in case. Eh!!! Definitely come to the west coast!! Canada is a big country. The difference of east to west, will amaze you.
Agreed! We usually "tap" for most things but we usually have cash on hand - just in case. The pandemic really pushed contactless payments further.... the Salvation Army pot this year was definitely interesting. Even Canadian tire gas stations have air pumps that you can tap a card at.. no change required. I (Eric) have been to BC but Lisa hasn't so when it's safe to do so we'll be exploring more of Canada because there's lots to see and appreciate. Stay safe out there and thanks for your two cents!
Most people have no idea what a "CAD" is. Well they do but not the way you use it. A "cad" is an unscrupulous male. The currency here is the "Canadian Dollar" and while you'll see it abbreviated as "CAD", no one uses that as a noun, generally we use "Canadian Dollar". You'll also see "C$100" versus "U$100" because those two are compared a lot.
Cash. Younger people have tended to use Credit/ Debit cards more than older folks until Covid. Now, cash just is seldom used.
Cold! HA! Go live in the Prairies for a cold winter. Because it is so flat, you'll generally get wind and that combined with even a balmy -20C gets really cold. And, generally every winter the Prairies will hit at least -30C and often colder in some areas.
Transportation brings up the oxymoron of distance / usage. Things are so spread out here that you'd think we'd embrace rapid transit of some sort but with it being so spread out the population density is greatly reduced compared to Europe so it is tough to justify putting in rail infrastructure. And, the meagre amount we used to have has slowly disappeared.
Thanks for your points, Don. We usually use "Canadian" and/or "CAD" when referring to money and we're doing - for example - a quick price comparison on an item in a foreign country. We'll think to ourselves, "how much is this in CAD?"... So I guess we spoke like we think.
Next time you're at Tim's, forget timbits... Order a "Timatin sausage on English muffin, double-toasted".
We're also fans of asking for the English muffin to be double-toasted when we order a breakfast sandwich. Lisa likes the farmer's wrap. :)
Outside Halifax there are buses
You have Rogers and Bell to thank for the ridiculously high cell phone rates.
No, you can thank our relatively small population spread out over the 2nd largest country in the world.
I lived in Yellowknife NWT for 7 years and we just moved in November to Ottawa and winter is like a Yellowknife spring. I’m loving it!!!
That's awesome - welcome to Ontario! We would absolutely love to visit NWT some day!
You pay less in Germany because there’s not far to go. So by moving to monopolies like Canada you trade your time to travel on roads whereas in Germany you can keep your time to your family as most worthwhile.
1 place I found where you were wrong is the assumption that the temperature fluctuates more in Ontario/East. But you have never been west, so I will let you have it :) . The humidity in Ontario does add to the misery though. On the West it generally fluctuates between 35 C to -45 C.
Well I've been to Vancouver - didn't think it got to -45 C. When you say "West", are you referring to everything west of Ontario? Each of those provinces have really different temp variations.
The Great Lakes actually moderate the temperatures of southern Ontario and prevent the wide swings between hot and cold. The lakes boost humidity in summer and give us "lake effect snow" in winter.
My experience with Canadians is that when they talk about Canada they are only taking about their corner of Canada -- the Maritimes, Ontario, the Prairies, Alberta, BC, Quebec or the far North. Quebecers are right about being a distinct society but what they miss is Canada kind of 5 or 6 distinct societies. I think Gringos do the same thing.
@Nic Laj I agree the language is a big part of the issue, but once you move beyond language, I feel like Quebecois and Ontariois have more in common than Quebecois and Acadiens, or Ontarians and Albertans. Too bad Toronto doesn't have a big Francophone quarter like Montreal's anglophone areas. It would be a good bridge between the two areas.
@@j.obrien4990 lol try Ottawa region. A lot of people are bilingual. But as a quebecer the french Ontarians roll their rrrrrs a lot more, love it.
We NEED TRAINS in Canada again! Why they stopped, I don't know! And I'm Canadian and I hate hockey. (*ducking)
Cool point --- shine a laser through the clear portion of the bill, you will see the denomination displayed
-25 my friend try living in alberta where it gets too -30 to -45 with windchill
Fair point - that's for sure much colder. I'll never forget the videos you see online of people tossing up a mug of water at -50 (I think it was around Winnipeg?) and it freezing in mid-air.
@@Penguinandpia Manitoba is bad in the winter but alberta is bad too some months
Feb 2019 in southern Manitoba it got to -54C with windchill. Still had to go to work and everyone showed up, cause it's expected to still go lol also people were going for walks outside. Completely bonkers in Manitoba my dude. Your temp before windchill is our standard before windchill lol then again we got the name Winterpeg for a reason
Yeah eh? I live in the Yukon, where last winter it got to -50 before wind chill. Two weeks of - 45. Extension cords snap, propane turns to gelatin, batteries die, water mains freeze. Anything after - 30 I call - stupid.
Wind chill doesn’t count. ( Turn your back to the wind and warm up 20 degrees.)
we're a country less than 160 years old. Germany has had 200 to 250 years to lay rails systems.
I pay $39, 8G, VM, 100% text and talk Canada/USA... cheaper than my buddy in Hawaii
Tims is meh ok grab and go coffee. However, in Vancouver there are a some nice sit-down coffees
I used to pay $100+ with Bell and with just 1gb of data. I switched to Chatr for $50 with 10 gb of data.
Im paying fido $60 a month for 35 gigs right now.
Southern Ontario rarely gets to -30 C
What is cand it is Dolards in Canada and there is train’s Canadian pacifique and bus to get across Canada
Yes, CAD is us saying "Canadian Dollars". Sorry for the confusion!
Many of the things that apply to Canada also would apply to the US as well ,we even say eh in the northern tier of the country and we have lousy public transportation in all but our major cities, but our gas is much cheaper than Canada.
Lol love it!
I wish Canada would have a train service like other countries. We have oil and gas in Alberta.
GO LEAFS GO.I live in UK and am a huge Auston Matthews fan
Go, BOLO! I (Eric) remember watching the games when I lived in Edinburgh - sometimes it was worth it (and sometimes not) with the time difference!
Ah, the losin' Leafs.
What is this 'cad' ? I know you're referring to 'the Canadian dollar' , but Ive never ever heard the acronym used as... 'cad'... Juss sayin. 🇨🇦😁
Some people have, some people haven't - it's often a hot issue in these comments! :D
As a native Canadian who has spent the majority of my working life in banking, you two are the first people I have ever heard refer to the Canadian dollar or currency as the CAD. Intetesting.
You're not alone, Janys! I (Eric) was thinking about how this topic has caused such a stir. Because we go between Canada and Germany semi-frequently and think in both Euro and CAD, Cad as a word just became a short-hand for us when we are in a store and trying to compare prices quickly. 'CAD" is faster than saying "Canadian dollars" by a few syllables... maybe that's how it came about! :)
Go leafs go! 😂
Is it an Ontario thing to pronounce about “abewt”?
Never heard anyone pronounce it that way in all my life except non Canadians talking "aboot" Canada.
@@brucemcdonald1114 Agreed! I've never heard a Canadian say "aboot" in my life, unless your talking about "a boot" in the ass.
I don't have a car and I hate that you need one to live in a small town, but also it's significantly harder for the government to provide public transit because rural areas are sparsely populated and distances between population centers are greater.
We definitely understand the difficulty of needing to rely on a car. That said, there has to be some validity to providing reliable transit to some of country's population. How does that stat go? Over 80% of the population lives within 100 km of the US border? Surely some significant rail infrastructure (not just one Via Rail train lol) along this heavily populated corridor would be possible and get used? We'd never cover everyone - especially the rural areas.. but neither does Germany. Thanks for your thoughts, Charlie!
@@Penguinandpia Yes, I certainly would like to see more investing in public transit. At the provincial level, many provinces had austerity-minded governments in the recent past, which made public transportation stagnate or regress.
At the federal level, Canadians travel remarkably little between provinces. We'd probably be more inclined to do so if it were facilitated, so a bit of a vicious circle there!
Thanks for answering :)
@@Penguinandpia Still not enough density to justify trains outside of the major cities.
Some of us near ihe border say "huh"