One week today we will be in the air, somewhere over the Atlantic on our way to Paris. It has been 13 long years since I've taken a translatlantic flight and I am certainly glad I have my Canadian Gravol anti-nausea pills for this trip!!
I'm getting anxious about the packing and the preparations and the eternal question of what to take. This is part business-part pleasure and I have to be prepared for both. Sophie posed an interesting question the other day. She said: "Mom, when people in France ask us where we are from what should we say now?" Good question!! She always gets at the heart of the matter. Do we say we are Canadian but live in the United States now? Do we say we are from the United States (wow that sounds weird to say and I don't think Allan will ever be able to wrap his lips around that one!)? Do we avoid mentioning the USA altogether? I am reminded of times we have travelled outside of North America before and people have always evoked that wise old Canadian proverb: "make sure you wear a Canadian flag so people won't think you are an American tourist" which still rings in my head! Ah - we'll just have to see what comes out of our mouth when the time comes. I hope we don't have an identity crisis while abroad!
I'm getting anxious about the packing and the preparations and the eternal question of what to take. This is part business-part pleasure and I have to be prepared for both. Sophie posed an interesting question the other day. She said: "Mom, when people in France ask us where we are from what should we say now?" Good question!! She always gets at the heart of the matter. Do we say we are Canadian but live in the United States now? Do we say we are from the United States (wow that sounds weird to say and I don't think Allan will ever be able to wrap his lips around that one!)? Do we avoid mentioning the USA altogether? I am reminded of times we have travelled outside of North America before and people have always evoked that wise old Canadian proverb: "make sure you wear a Canadian flag so people won't think you are an American tourist" which still rings in my head! Ah - we'll just have to see what comes out of our mouth when the time comes. I hope we don't have an identity crisis while abroad!
I'm so glad to hear you have good meds for the flight: it is a long one! I vote for advertising yourself as Canadian. You can't get better than that, so why worry?
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to hearing about the state of French that you encounter, your issues with accents, and how they decide to present that every so complex issue of culture. I'm so excited!
I love the name of your blog, Jody! I think it might be interesting to be able to compare how you're treated when you say you're Canadian vs. American.
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