The 49th Parallel

As a work term student in Germany, I remember feeling indignant when a German colleague dared to suggest that Canada and the United States are very similar. No! We have a Prime Minister, not a President! We have universal healthcare! Like many Canadians, one of my biggest travel pet peeves was being mistaken for an American.

Now as an expat in China, I don’t just think the US and Canada are very similar; I think we’re exactly the same. We are just like the Americans and very similar to the Germans. It takes coming to a culture that is truly different to realize just how fundamentally the same we are on the “big picture” things that make a society and a culture – beliefs, values, customs. I no longer blink when a student asks me a question that starts with, “In America….?” And I can answer the question, even though I’m not American, because we’re practically the same. Of course we’re indistinguishable to the Chinese. We don’t even have the accent difference like the British or the Australians.

Almost all my fellow expats – those I’ve gotten to know the last few months – are American. I was the only Canadian in our orientation group in Shanghai. I’ve travelled with Americans. My fellow English teachers at Jiangsu Teachers’ University are all American. I’ve met precisely three Canadians in the last five months – one guy at a bar in Shanghai and two other teachers here in Changzhou. That’s it. When this country seems truly perplexing, when the laowai annoyances pile up, it’s the Americans I commiserate with. One of our countries may be a little more leftist than the other (a difference shrinking under the Obama administration), but we are basically the same.

After China, the next chapter of my life begins in the United States. I’m home for only about 5 weeks, and then I’m moving to DC to do my MBA. I got an email today about “International Orientation”, which starts on August 7, a full week before American students have their orientation. The email also noted that “international students provide rich diversity to our programs”. Now – I’ve had a good chuckle about my “international” status with a few Americans here. I can appreciate that I’m not American, and thus fall into the “international” category. But I ain’t bringing much diversity with me to DC. And I really hope this International Orientation doesn’t include mandatory seminars with titles like “Adapting to Life in America” or “How to Cope When English is Your Second Language.” On August 8 and 9, we have an organized trip to pick up household items, get a cell phone and other such things. Fantastic…. Having set up house in China, I’m not sure I can handle all the English-language signs.

Not only am I not expecting culture shock from DC, I already have a social network started there, thanks to two previous trips. Both times I’ve been in DC, I’ve left with a heavy heart, feeling more at home there than in NL.

Life below the 49th parallel begins in less than two months...