Actually, that's not so true. Two days that I've been there and I've heard it about twice, so I have no idea where the stereotype comes from. I saw a mug about it in a tourist center, though, so I suppose they kinda embrace it.
That's right, in case you hadn't heard, I'm in Canada. Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, to be precise. Sault is pronounced "soo," incidentally. It's French. Anyway, I would just like to say... I LOVE THIS COUNTRY. Maybe it's just the novelty of being in somewhere that's not the United States, but it's been a blast, even in just this one town. This town's also part of Michigan, separated by a river. If you ever end up in the Michigan half, find the restaurant "Karl's Cuisine." It's a little family-owned-and-operated business on a street corner, but they have some of the best food I've ever eaten. I recommend the cheesecake.
So far, though, our experience with Canadian cuisine... is mostly fast food. McDonald's isn't much different (the fries aren't nearly as oversalted, though) and Subway is still excellent, though they lack the spicy mustard I so love. Regular mustard's a decent substitute. Temporarily.
We went to this large mall, about 110 stores, which is where we've been eating, mostly (okay, so we started with dinner last night, still counts), and among the things you'd expect- bookstore, video games, movie/CD store, etc.- we found a bulk store. As you might guess, it sells foodstuff in bulk. Lots and lots of it. Especially candy. Chocolate-covered coffee beans, sprinkles in every rainbow color plus black and white (wait, is this a Blackest Night reference...?), and some chocolate ones, graham crackers, Smarties which happen to be called the far superior name of Rockets in Canada, every kind of sugar imaginable, and EDIBLE BALL BEARINGS. Well, OK, they're silver ball things, but I am certain they're the things from that one Doctor Who episode. Didn't see any jelly babies, though, do they even sell those anymore?
Today was mostly taken up by a very long train ride across the Canadian wilderness to Mount Agawa. We left around, oh, 7:30ish our time, and got back around 5:45. Yeah. That wasn't all train ride, of course, we got a couple hours or so for a picnic and walking the trails, which was nice but extremely exhausting. Unfortunately, despite extensive Pokemon playing on my part (three gyms in one day, seriously) it was a very boring ride, and the whole passenger group was made up of middle-aged and older people.
Well, not entirely. There was a young couple whose picture I took for them, some kid in a stocking cap who kept running around the train, a couple little kids, and one rather pretty girl who was roughly my age and I never talked to. *sigh* My parents, I have realized, tend to stifle me. I'm much more open and comfortable around other people when they're not there. It doesn't help that they were dragging me up and down hills and steps I had little interest in climbing when I'd like to go and talk to this girl. Look, I'm not gonna pretend that I think something interesting might have happened, but it would have been better than nothing, right? Instead, I got stuck in shyness mode lock and will never know her name, where she's from, any of that. I could have at least made a new friend. Maybe even a foreign one! Who knows what might have occurred? Well, nobody, and we never will. That makes me sad, I guess. Disappointed, at the absolute least.
It reminds me of the idea of parallel universes- one simple decision can change the course of history for dozens of people, and that's a conservative answer. Depending on what you might do, you could meet an entirely different set of people, choose a different career, marry someone else, have entirely different kids, live to a different age... even a simple decision like going right or left could lead to a whole other world with an entirely alien version of you. Not a space alien, I should specify. Well, probably not a space alien.
If I can find the alternate universe where I'm a total Casanova who can get any woman I want with a snap of my fingers, I will rip through reality itself to get there and force that version of me to swap places for a couple weeks. FOR SCIENCE!
Okay, nah, I didn't think you'd believe that. I'm nineteen and still single, I have a libido the size of Belgium, okay?!
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