The Maple Leaf Rag

It's almost December and the city is full of the sounds and sights of Christmas. Yesterday Jackie and I took a tour of the downtown core, checking out the window decorations and trying to get a sense of the season here in Toronto. It was cool but bright and we had a lot of fun. I'll post some pictures here on Ebaby so everyone can see what Christmas is like here. 

What's it like where you are? Do you celebrate the day? I have no religious affiliation at all and, for us, Christmas is just a day for family, for gifts and great food. Is it important to celebrate it at all? I think it is because, aside from the religious overtones that some people think it has, it's a special day where you can just stop and be with the people you love. One day of the year when everything stops. Sometimes you need that. Sure, it's lonely for single people and people who insist on not celebrating the day but it's still a good day to chill out with your 'homies'!

Send me some messages and tell me what goes on for your Christmas. Is it a big deal? Do you have another day that is comparable to Christmas? Let me know!

Lately, I've been getting all kinds of messages from people who are looking to immigrate to Canada, who have business ideas and want me to comment on them or help them and absolute SPAM. Not the usual Nigerian crap but the "I need an associate for my company here in Dubai" or something like that.

I guess with the world economy going to hell in a hand basket, things are tough all over. I know that restaurants here in Toronto are offering many 2 for 1 deals now. Stores are having Christmas sales early. Gas is down to well under a dollar a liter and it seems that prices in general fell 1% in the US, mainly because the price of gas came down so much. I think we are in for a long period of financial upheavel. 

I hope my friends all over the world are surviving. Sometimes I wish I had a huge house here in Canada where everyone could stay and find nice jobs and be protected from the cold, hard world out there. It's a dream, a fantasy but I really wish I could help more people. 

Finally, as in my last blog, I will say that I help with English. Nothing else. If someone becomes a friend and needs some personal advice, well then I can do that too but I don't have time to help strangers look for jobs. Sorry, I have to draw the line somewhere. 

I should add that today, November 19th, we are having our first big snow of the winter. It won't stay for more than a day or two but, right now, there is about 5 cm on the ground. Oh, the joys of winter!

I got a message today from a young man who seemed quite disappointed that I didn't spend a long time answering his first message. He was angry that I didn't write him a long email about my life and Canada and things like that. He used words that seemed to be aimed at insulting me rather than understanding me. 

I am on Ebaby to help people learn English. I write my blog, I do my youtube videos and I edit SMALL things for people. This doesn't leave a lot of time for what I would call 'chit chat'. This was only the second letter from the guy and already he is telling me he is upset at me for sending him a short message! Hey! Didn't I answer him? How many people even answer their messages? Not too many, that's for sure. I ALWAYS answer my messages. (If I haven't, please remind me. I might have missed yours.)

The point of this blog is to say that I do my best. I have a life too, I don't spend all my time here. I have many msn friends, many QQ friends and I do many other things. Please don't think I am shirking my duties if I don't spend a lot of time on my message answsers. OK? In Canada we would say, "Give me a break!"

Thanks. Let me know what you are thinking, ok? I am never to busy to read your messages, your comments or your chats on msn or QQ. 

Geez guys! I take the summer off and lose my audience! Wow!

Well, I'm back on Ebaby and so far no one has noticed. Big deal, they say. I've just put three new videos up on Youtube, which can be accessed from my profile page, or HERE

They are all about the Canadian Thanksgiving. You can learn how we cook our big feast and learn some English at the same time. It's a win/win situation, people! 

Anyway, I hope everyone is happy and healthy. Keep in touch, don't forget about me!

I was going to write about this a while ago but now it's even nicer so I will tell you about the Canadian 'Indian Summer'. I'm not sure where the term came from but Indian summer is a phenomena that occurs sometimes in the Canadian autumn. Summer ends, we have a few frosts, maybe even some snow, and then the Indian summer arrives with warm, sunny days that take our minds back to the glorious days of summer. 

We don't have these every year. Sometimes we get nice hot weather in September or October but, since we haven't had a frost yet, these don't qualify as Indian summer. 

In Western Canada, specifically Alberta, there is another phenomena called a 'Chinook'. A Chinook is a very warm wind that blows in from the west coast of Canada, over the Rockies in the middle of the winter. Alberta can get very cold in the winter, often there are weeks of -30 to -40 degree temperatures. When a Chinook arrives, it melts a lot of the snow, warms the hearts and souls of the cold Albertans and generally makes the winter a bit easier to take. The Chinook doesn't last long, of course, and after a few hours or a day or two, it's back to normal...cold, freezing winter!

Lastly, there is a Canadian phrase that drives many people crazy so I will tell you about it. In Eastern Canada, let's say Montreal and Toronto and Ottawa, the cold is very intense because there is a lot of moisture in the air. In Calgary, there isn't as much moisture so in the winter and in the summer the extreme temperatures are easier to take, supposedly. So we have this phrase that covers this difference in moisture. We say either, "It's a dry cold" or  "It's a dry heat". It could be -30 in Montreal and feel incredibly cold but in Calgary the -30 would seem not as cold since, "It's a dry cold!" It's a very overused phrase but I think you get the point of it.

Take care of yourselves! If you have questions about English or just want to say hi, then send me a message. OK?