Adjusting

Tip- Stay immersed in our Culture, We have family on both sides of the border. Attend pow-wows and spiritual gatherings to feel at home.

Bad Cop, No Donut

California has the toughest cops I have ever seen in my life. I've been speeding for about 10 years in Canada, and have had only 2 tickets (one very shortly before coming here, the other was when I just got my license). When I came to California I got three tickets in 2 months! Tickets are definately a major source of income for the state, one of the cops who pulled me over admitted this, and one of the guys that I work with is an ex-cop who verified the fact. Two of the times I honestly was driving with the mentality of making an effort to be extra good. But they purposely have traps where it's really easy to make a mistake, such as poorly located signs with low visibility (I went through a stop sign once, and took an illegal left turn once).

Linguistic Adaptation

You'll have to adjust your lingo and spelling to the American way if you want people to understand you, and/or don't want them to think you're some uneducated hick. If you find any other cool links let me know, but refer to:

American - Canadian Spelling
• Canadian Jive Talk,
• Canadianisms,
• English Club
• iAGORA Local Slang Dictionaries
 

Quick Pointers

• Don't say eh anymore
• Don't use the term washroom, they'll think you mean the washer and dryer
• check=cheque, color=colour, and center=centre.
• Pronounce the letter Z as "Zee"