Jason's Notes About Stuff

You may have noticed that we tend to apologize a lot in Canada. Much to my benefit, this has led to Canadians being viewed as very kind and polite, all around the world. As a proud Canuck, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. You see, "sorry" in Canada may not always mean what you think it does. Imagine the following: You're visiting Canada and shopping for groceries in the local store. A woman ahead is blocking an entire aisle with her shopping cart. Another woman walks towards her, stops, looks at the cart and says, "Oh, I'm sorry." The first woman realizes she is in the way, and replies, "Oh, I'm so sorry," as she moves the cart. The both smile at one another and continue shopping. You think to yourself, "Wow, what a kind and decent society. These Canadians are so polite!" Now, the secret translation: "Oh, I'm sorry," actually means, "Oh, I'm sorry that you're blocking the enti

"My job is not to make you happy." "I'd appreciate if you talked less with your hands. I find that very irritating." "Maybe if you talked less we'd get along better." These are some wonderful quotes from Daryl Ashby , a local Pemberton Holmes real estate representative in Victoria, BC, during our final move-out inspection. As we pleasantly greeted Daryl, he gave us with a scowl, telling us how this type of inspection  "wasn't his job."  It seems that through a scheduling mishap, they had forgotten about it until the last minute. Our moving day, already a difficult time, was made infinitely more stressful by his sour demeanor. I found his attitude and statements both astounding, and confusing. Real estate is typically a field that relies on referrals and references to survive. 8 months earlier, we had a similarly rude , aggressive experience with his real estate agent daughter Cheryl Ashby . The place was in horrid

My fiancee Melissa and I recently moved from Victoria, BC, Canada to the island of St. Kitts and Nevis . This small island of about 30,000 people is in the Caribbean aka. the West Indies in the Lesser Antilles , and more specifically, the Leeward Islands . What's different? It's hot. Hotter than when we visited Cairns, Australia. But perhaps not quite as hot as when we lived in Ko Pha Ngan, Thailand. Things move slowly. As with most hot places, people are in no hurry. Posted business hours are only a rough suggestion of when people may  be in the office. Accomplishing anything requires multiple trips. Keep left! Similar to the UK, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, they drive on the left side of the road. What's the same? The language. Sort of. The official language is English, and everyone is fluent, but most people also speak a local Kittitian dialect . Colonial origin. St. Kitts was once a split British and French colony -- the same as Canada.