I had a great time in Vancouver — it was nice to be out of the country again and see how other people do things. A few things struck me:

1. The prevalence of hybrid cars. I’m not sure if this is a city thing or a Canadian thing, or perhaps it’s because gas was $1.11CAD/liter, which is almost $4USD/gallon at current exchange rates.

2. The lack of fat Canadian people. With all the talk of universal health care or a government option, it is very clear to me that the main reason we in the U.S. spend more on health care than any other country is because most of us eat way too much. In the fattest state in the union, Mississippi, 32.5% of people are obese. But even in the slimmest state in the union, Colorado, 18.9% of people are obese (source). In only 3 of the 50 states did the percentage of obese people decline this year.  Americans are increasingly becoming physically inactive self-indulgent fatties who end up needing drugs and operations because of it, when if everybody ate healthier and exercised, we could cut down much of this. And now that we’re in a recession, people are eating more McDonald’s than ever. Not good…

3. Apparent Canadian indifference in regards to America. We went to a comedy show on Saturday night and nobody said anything about America at all. Sure, there were the obligatory Michael Jackson jokes, but that was about him, not the U.S. I learned there’s apparently a bitter rivalry between people in Vancouver and those in Toronto, or at least the people of Vancouver seems to think so. I guess when you think of your country as the focus of the world, as so many of us do, you expect others to, well, focus on you more. It was kind of a relief that they just want to do their own thing. I wish we ran our foreign policy that way.

P.S. Sunee Dhaliwal, an up-and-coming Canadian comic, was the second act and was better than the headliner. Google him. You’ll laugh. SunDizzle003 is his YouTube channel.

4. Loonies and Toonies (Canadian $1 and $2 coins). The smallest Canadian bill is $5. On the one hand, the coins are cool — it’s nice to have a coin that is actually worth somthing – but in this country we’re so accustomed to thinking of change as being irrelevant that it seems weird to have $2 coins. Now I have to pay attention to change because I could easily have $10 in my pocket and not know it. We saw a few street performers and one of them said at the end of his show that he only wanted paper money. No coins. That was his way of saying he thinks his show is worth no less than $5. I was willing to give him a few bucks, but no way was I going to give him $5 — we came in at the end of his act and that was about all I thought it was worth for what we saw. If he said “give whatever you want, at least a buck or two if you showed up late” and some people give $1 and $2 coins, and people hear coins jingling, they might just give quarters and dimes and suddenly everybody’s a cheapskate. I don’t know if what he did was smart or stupid for having that policy – I just know he didn’t get any of my money because of it. And it felt weird tipping the bellboy or doorman with a coin. It just feels cheap, even though it’s still $2…

5. The lack of American stores. All of my other trips outside the country have been to the Caribbean or Mexico, and there are local stores and shops but always some American ones too. You see local stores, with signs in Spanish, and you understand — of course they have their own stores, they have their own culture and language too. For some reason, I thought that in Canada, since they’re mostly white and speak English, and we have so many multi-national companies, I’d see American companies all over the place. But their Blenz coffee companies were more prevalent than Starbucks. Tim Horton’s restaurants were more prevalent than McDonald’s from what I could tell. (Quick fact check: McDonald’s has 1400 stores in Canada, Horton’s has twice that.) It’s another realization that the U.S. is not the focal point of the world, and I like that. There were lots of 7-11s, which was nice, since there weren’t any in Marquette and aren’t any in St. Cloud. Typing this, I realize I forgot to get a Slurpee while I had the chance. Maybe next time.

As much as I enjoyed my time, it is nice to be back. Grabbing some Qdoba on the way home from the airport last night, I immediately felt home again. It’s nice to be back to my normal routine. I actually missed teaching my summer class, even though I was only gone for a few days. I used to wish I were one of those people who could travel all over the world, and I envied those that do. I still want to go to a few places, but I have no desire to be a global adventurer. As it turns out, I’m happiest just being at home with the best four-legged friend a guy could ask for, a wonderful woman who loves me despite the fact I can’t ever seem to just relax, and a job doing what I love most with fun colleagues that make me feel lucky to show up to work every day.