Obsessed with Leaves...

Okay, I know, I forgot. So to make up for it I will post about... leaves. Over the past few years I've been to Canada quite a few times (all for hockey of course.) The last time I went there was this Halloween. For some reason, a few things dawned on me that trip. I'm not quite sure why I never realized these things about our great neighbor to the north before but... I didn't.

First of all, there's the money. Although extremely exciting because there's people playing hockey on the back, it looks quite alot like monopoly money. The lettering/numbering, the colors, and the shininess. Also, why does a country that has had independence from England for **not too sure how long, but a while** still have their queen on it's money? Yes, I know it's part of the Commonwealth, but if you fought so hard to get rid of your imperial power why give them that satisfaction of having one of them staring up at you every time you hand the cashier a bill. Furthermore, the fact that they would want to be part of the Commonwealth at all just astounds me. Do they think that it protects them in some way? I don't know... Now, not to mislead you, they do have some of their former "Prime Ministers" and such on the currency but the queen is on some of it. Which just begs me to ask the question, when she dies does everyone have to print new money? And how does that work?

Next, is the accents. This last time, I was in Windsor, Ontario, which is literally Candadian Detroit. It's right across the narrow river. So basically, its like Detroit but worse because the drinking age is only nineteen <-- a whole different subject of ranting. Anyway, when you cross into Canada a strange thing starts happening, everyone begins to talk funny. It's still English, but it's weird. In Social Studies we've learned about "proximety transmission." So, its just seems weird that people who live closer than you and me have totally 99% different accents/speaking styles/ect. I mean, nobody in Detroit talks like a Canadian, and nobody in Windsor talks like an American. How did this happen? No clue..

Last, is the leaves. The strange obsession Canada has with the red, maple leaf. So, yes it is their national symbol thingy, but, no joke, it's everywhere. Everything they have has one of those little devils on it. Honestly, there was a leaf painted on the swing seats at a playground... You know the McDonald's arches? In the middle of every single one there was a little leaf, like that makes them so much different than American McDonald's. If they hate us so much and want so badly to not be "American" why have McDonald's in the first place? Make your own! Why not? Well, because they can't. Now look, I don't hate Canada, and I'm definetly not a patriotic person at all. After high school I plan on zipping right over to Europe for college and quite possibly the rest of my life, but I just found it infuriating. If you're going to be "Un-American" be it. But please ask yourself before you build something, are we going to have to stick a little red, maple leaf somewhere to distinguish this from the American kind? Because if you are, you're a hypocrit .