I'm Such a Cliche

Megookin is Korean for American. And to most Koreans because I am white, I must also be American. (except when they confuse my blondness for a Russian prostitute, another great stereotype) And yes they also assume black people come from Africa, I am in the least mulitcultural country in the world. Now when I hear "ooh Megookin!" I turn around and say "Canada saram!" (Canada person). And I guess it isn't all that different from home in turns of Asian people, when I told people I was coming out here there were a lot of you that said "Oh Chinese babies are so cute," obviously not making the distinction of Koreans from Chinese, so I guess I can't point fingers at the Koreans too much, but still...

It's one of those things where you don't realize how patriotic you are until you are out of the country. The only time I feel overly partriotic at home is when I'm watching tv and a show mentions Canada and I get all excited for a few seconds (oh you do it too, admit it). But here I wear my Canada shirts proudly. When I climb mountains that is; when I'm out drinking I let them think I'm American, no sense in tarnishing the Canadian image.

In most of the grocery stores here there is always an oh-so-tiny foreign foods section which I always peruse with great interest, not because I'm looking for something, but because I like knowing what is there should I be wanting something. Most of the time Canadian products are largely represented by maple syrup, British products are centred around tea, and I haven't seen anything stereotypical of Americans, but I guess that is because guns aren't legal here.

Anyhow yesterday morning I was out in the grocery store and I happened upon a package of Dare Maple cookies, something I would never buy at home but yesterday I just had to have them. They will probably sit in my cupboard and go stale cause I'm not particulary fond of them but they made me feel Canadian buying them. Before you know it I will be dropping "eh" into every sentence getting a flag tattooed on my body just to represent...