Nov 25, 2013

O Canada! / オーカナダ!

I used to study in the western Canada for 4 years, and Canada is like my second home country.  I always wanted to show my favorite country to my husband, so we decided to visit there for our honeymoon in summer.  We stayed one night with a Canadian family who was my host family while I was there and other nights with my friends.  I was really thankful to have such easy-going husband who didn't mind spending most of our honeymoon with my English-speaking friends when he doesn't speak much English. :)

When you visit a foreign country for the first time, you often experience something that surprises you, and what surprised my husband about Canada the most was “wild animals everywhere.”  Well, I know this “everywhere” is a little too exaggerated, but we saw chipmunk, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, coyote, deer, elk and black bears on the road when we were heading to the Jasper National Park, and I think the word “everywhere” can be used here.  It was also my first time to see the black bears, and they were really cute (of course “in the distance” LOL).  This guy is one of the black bears we saw. 
 
I think we got over excited about bears and ended up buying lots of bear-related souvenirs.  Here is some of my collection of Canadian sense of humor about bears. :)  First two are magnets and the last ones are shot glasses. 
POSITIVE ATTITUDE:
Relax, what's the worst that could happen?
  DO NOT FEED THE BEARS:
Every now and then following the rules is a good idea
  LEFT: Canadian Take-Out / Right: Canadian High Five
Have you traveled any other countries?  If yes, what surprised you the most then?
 
新婚旅行は大学4年間を過ごしたカナダに行きました。6泊全てが私のホストファミリーや友達宅に宿泊という、あまり新婚旅行という感じのしない旅行になりましたが、数年ぶりにみんなに会えてとっても楽しかったです。「英語はノリと勢い」と言い切る夫は、その言葉通り、現地でものすごく楽しくやっていました。別れ際、ホストファザーが夫に「また人生について語り合おう!」と握手していたのにはビックリ(笑)。ものすごくいカタコト英語なのに、そんな深い話をしていたとは。夫曰く、「酒飲みに国境はない」そうです(^^;

カナダは初めての夫が、滞在中一番驚いたことは「野生動物がそこらへんに沢山いる」こと。友人夫婦が3泊4日のキャンピングカー1000キロの旅に連れて行ってくれ、その道中、シマリス、ヤギ(mountain goat)、オオツノヒツジ(bighorn sheep)、コヨーテ、シカ、エルク、熊(black bear)など、沢山見かけました。ジャスパー国立公園内では特に多くの野生動物を見ることができましたよ。調子に乗って熊のポストカードやグッズを沢山お土産に買いました。ユーモアのセンスが好きです☆

カナダ、やっぱり大好きです。冬が長いカナダでは、みんなとにかく夏は一生懸命働いて、一生懸命人生を楽しみます。尚、タイトルのO Canada!は、カナダ国歌のO Canada!です。

↓いつもありがとうございます。押していただけると励みになります☆

2 comments:

  1. I love bears as well! I went to Yellowstone many years ago and didn't see any bears, but a lot of other wildlife. About 15 years ago one night on my way home on a back road here in Virginia I saw a black bear crossing the road. I was so excited!

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    1. That's something I find interesting about some people in North America that people get excited to see black bears over there! lol I was excited to see them only until I actually saw one. My Canadian friends told me we should get out of the car and go closer which sounded to me "suicide". Haha. We did get out of the car to take closer pictures of the bears, but I was like "Oh my goodness, why didn't I buy the life insurance before I came to Canada?" :D All these are fun memories now though. :)

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