July 28, 2006

Of Canada and Colorado...

"Maybe Mrs. Moore can set you up with a nice Canadian boy... then you're out of the US but not far away." - Mom

"Canada doesn't count." - Me

"I think Canada would be a great place to live."

"It doesn't count."

"Why not?"

"It's not foreign enough. The exciting bit is French. And the French are le bleh. I don't want any of that."

"If you could live anywhere in the world... where would it be?"

I must have turned bright red, because she guessed it.

"Fin... I mean, Oh, wossname, Norway?"

"Eh..heh..."

"Oh Miranda, get over that boy!"

"It's not about the boy, I liked Norway before I liked the boy..." I nod. "Really." And it's true. She can read my blog for proof.

"It's too far away..." She whines. "Oh, you know where you should go?"

"?"

"Colorado! It's just like Norway!"

"..."

"Really! It's cold and everyone's a health nut and wears birkenstocks and goes mountain climbing."

"...."

She googles it.

"Where's the ocean?" I innocently ask. A glare.

"I don't see the fjords." Another glare.

Why doesn't anyone understand?

6 comments:

Jimmy Archer said...

What if I found you a Norwegian exchange student? He would have a sexy Norwegian accent with a dash of one of Canada's local areas.

Or come to Toronto and check out all our subcultures/multiculturalism. We actually have a Chinese Lantern Festival going on beside the Ontario Place...

Elindomiel said...

I'm interested. :D

But no, it's not that I'm opposed to Canada as an ultimate place to live or anything, but when I spend however many years I'm going to spend in a really foreign place, I want it to be a bit more... out there. You understand. :P

And it certainly is nice and refreshingly colder there... and pretty...

Jimmy Archer said...

Awesome! Everyone's going to think I'm gay. "Hi, I'm looking for male Norwegian exchange students, preferably with sexy accents." Mhm, yeah, he's definitely out of the closet...

I understand. I want to check out the smaller European countries that most people don't hear about, like Slovenia... bah, money, money, money...

Elindomiel said...

Money Money Money. Life demands it like Cookie Monster demands... Veggies. Actually. I heard they switched him to Veggie Monster to present a more health conscious look. The horrors.

That's really a nice goal! However, I've heard that some of them (aka Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) have insanely difficult languages...

What makes you interested in those, I ask? Simply the sheer originality of it all, or something more personal?

Jimmy Archer said...

Lol.

Both I suppose. I tend to associate myself with the marginals, despite not having much daily commonality with them. It's the category that matters though, because all marginals face familiar things.

When we think of current world affairs, it's nearly always about things that concern us, or may concern us in the immediate future. Looking at what 'criteria' the media uses further supports this (remind me to post about it...) Therefore, who gives a damn about Jamacia? The Congo? Consider how the focus of foreign countries shifted when oil came into demand. Previously, countries that could export coffee, sugar, rubber, etc. where on national conscience--now they rarely are granted a passing thought. The Middle East is huge now from oil, but previously, nope.

And yet, and yet, and yet... human beings exist there. Maybe I'll save up enough money and go some place, and write about marginality. The most devastating critiques come from the marginals. We'll see...

Jimmy Archer said...

"Consider how the focus of foreign countries shifted when oil came into demand."

Um of should be on. ^^