Somewhat the same, but so different

We just crossed over from Maine to New Brunswick Canada and although so many things are similar, there are a few differences that have already arisen. We learned about much of this in school, but since we never had to use the knowledge in the States, I feel like I'm an old fogey just trying to get by.

For starters, there’s funny money.  Because we’ve crossed in to Canada many times since our Honeymoon in Nova Scotia nearly 12 years ago, we’ve acquired some Canadian currency.  Canadians use dollar coins called “loonies” because of the image of a Loon on them.  They also have “twoonies” which are two dollar coins, made with 2 different metals so you easily see the difference.  Paper bills are different colors which makes finding them a bit easier as you look thru your wallet and see blues, green and reds.  Their smaller coins are very similar in appearance to American currency, but I’m making sure I use up all my pennies as they will be phased out later this year.

Currently the currency exchange rate is almost 1 to 1, so we’re not gaining or losing when we go to the bank.

Next on the differences is temperatures.  Thanks to a high school teacher who loved to give his students various trivia facts, I know a quick way to get a close approximation of Celsius to Fahrenheit.  And even easier than that method, I realized the other day that every 5 degrees Celsius is approx 10 Fahrenheit, at least for those temps between 40 and 90 F which is the standard weather range we’ll be experiencing as we travel.

The other major difference for us is the rest of the Metric System.  Highway speeds and distances are in meters, not miles, and weights are grams and liters vs pounds and ounces.  Our pickup truck has both Miles and Kilometers displayed on the speedometer, but the numbers for the metric numbers are very small and hard to read.  Fortunately we are able to have a digital display show us our speed in KM so that hurdle is crossed. 

Buying fuel will be interesting. In Canada you buy your fuel by the Liter and it’s approximately 4 liters to an American Gallon of fuel.  So while the initial image of lower fuel prices are in you mind, the quick recalculation of the price on the marquee to a conversion of American shows that it’s pricier in Canada compared to U.S. costs (based on New England prices).

Today we went to a supermarket and I was stumped at the meat display as to how much I was buying.  I couldn’t convert grams to ounces quickly.  I’ll need to carry a quick conversion sheet on future shopping trips to make sure I get enough but not too much.