My first free time at my apartment in, oh, nearly two weeks now. A four-day stint in Madison with friends for a wedding was immediately followed by a five-day trip to Canada, which, somehow, was my first time every leaving the boundaries of the lower 48 states. Weird to say. But I'm glad I broke out of that slump.
Madison first.
A great weekend of catching up with friends that now are scattered around the country, sitting outside on the Wisconsin Union terrace, night time revelry, and a memorable wedding, for multiple reasons... let's just say our group consisted of friends of the bride's brother, there were 26 tables at the reception, and we were at table 25. The location of table 25 could not have been farther away from the front. And it was kind of in another room. Around a corner. We could only see about a third of the other tables and half of the wedding party. And... let's just say we found out why that was... many times that night. What great fun though :) "Apologies from table 25" was, jokingly, the theme of the night.
(Okay, there was nothing so terrible that we even came close to doing something that might be considered "ruining the wedding" but we may have pushed the limits of "proper" behavior. Examples: Are there dance-offs at weddings 30 minutes into the dancing? Do guests get bounced out of the photo booth for accidentally barging in before the bride and groom? Do people get cut off from shots at the bar before any shots are taken? Do people get straight-up asked if they are actual wedding crashers? Do entire tables surprise attack/group hug the bride and groom as they're making the rounds to each table during dinner? Do all unlocked areas of the reception hall get explored at one point or another? Have I said too much? I swear we didn't do anything to even come close to ruining the wedding, it was all in good fun.)
On to Canada trip.
I have to say, I fell victim to a common mistake that Americans make about Canada -- that Canada is quite similar to the US, to the point where it is pretty much just an extension of the US. Wrong. Firstly, the small things, different currency, kilometers on the roads, etc., were a bit harder to adapt to than I thought. I didn't even remember to exchange for Canadian currency before I visited, so my first few purchases were a bit overcharged as they still gladly accepted USD. Driving was also strange for me as I almost always drive only up to nine m.p.h. over the speed limit as a speeding ticket of 9 MPH over or less does not go on your record... but dealing with km/h? I had no idea.
Another assumption I made was that Canadian culture was uniform. Wrong. I only visited Ontario, and even there the culture can vary from place to place. I was typical in thinking that, yes, all Canadians have the same accent where "about" is "aboot" and "eh" follows every sentence. Wrong. And people can get pretty defensive about it too. Even further, someone I met told me that if a Canadian visiting another foreign country is identified as American, it is not a good thing, and offense is taken. Do not call a Canadian "American".
I also had the privilege of driving over the Canada-US border into the US to get to the Buffalo, NY airport. The guy at border patrol? What. A. Prick. I can see how people might want to snap a smart comment back, but yikes, I've heard some horror stories about saying the wrong thing at these places. Pepper spray and beatdowns? No thanks!
Soooo yeah, I feel like I'm turning into a pear and will reverse that this week. "Feel" as somehow I've only gained like 1 pound over an 10 day hiatus on the road. Hockey's finally back up and running, softball is in full effect, and I've got a free weekend ahead of me. Joy.
