staying Canadian
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
It's hard to stay Canadian when you've immersed yourself in a vastly alien culture like Japan's. But I'm making the effort!
Earlier this week I spoke with my uncle and aunt back in "the old Country". They live in the same area where I was born, and ostensibly should have the same accent that I do. But I could hear the "oot" sound every time they pronounced "about" in a Canadian way. I'm starting to hear the Canadian accent more and more and I really wonder what's changed with my accent that I can suddenly hear it.
With my Canadian nature eroding, I took matters into my own hands and watched a hockey game yesterday. Not a great game by the standards of its speed and flow and technical excellence, but an important one anyway in that it was an Olympic match between Russia and Canada. The sort of thing that used to matter a lot (when I was born) and still results in elimination for the loser and a path towards medal contention for the winner.
In this, my fellow Canadians back home were of no help whatsoever. People felt obliged for some reason to post developments in the game to twitter, meaning that they popped up in the corner of my web browser all morning while I was working. Switching off the twitter feed, I also had to steer clear of all sources of news items and keep a wary eye on my inbox.
As I say, the Canada-Russia game wasn't as entertaining as in past years, but it was likely the first time I've sat down to watch a hockey game in four years. We have plans to watch the next round in the elimination series, which is on Saturday. Canada plays Finland. I also see that the women's gold medal game is in hour. Sadly, I can't see how I'll catch that one. But Go Canada Go!