Vancouver vs. Durham

I was talking to a friend yesterday and I started feeling very homesick for Vancouver (I miss you Canada!), which got me to thinking about the weird ways that things are different here in North Carolina. There was no huge culture shock, but there were lots of little differences that took some getting used to.

• People laugh at me for how I pronounce words like 'sorry' and 'pasta'. However, I laugh at them every time they say 'route'.
• No one here seems to care about hockey. The do however camp out for days to get basketball tickets. Seriously, days.  
• Everyone gave me a strange look when I referred to street performers as buskers. Is this really a Canadian thing? No one from my lab had heard this word before.
• My collaborators keep removing the u's from my words. Colour, neighbour, behaviour, favourite. No matter how long I am in the US I will never get used to these words not having a 'u' in them.
• This one came as a big shock to me:

Smarties in Canada

Smarties in the USA

• No one in my lab had experienced poutine, nor did they know what butter tarts or nanaimo bars were. I did manage to get a couple of people to try poutine on a conference trip to Montreal, and I plan to force-feed them butter tarts later this week (I don't think they'll put up much of a fight). 
• There are no yam rolls! This may be a west coast/east coast thing, as I have had yam rolls in San Francisco. The do not exist in North Carolina (that I'm aware of, if anyone knows a place I can get some, please tell me!!!). Yam (or sweet potato, if you prefer) in tempura batter, all rolled up in rice. Crunchy and soft, sweet and salty all at the same time, and if they're fresh and the yam is still warm it's the best food ever. Seriously, put trying these on your bucket list.

At a tiny sushi place in Vancouver. Probably the best yam rolls I've ever had.

• However, two of my favourite things in the world, cheese and wine, are far more accessible and affordable in NC. Now, it's not like California where you can buy gallon jugs of vodka in the Rite-Aid, but you can still get good, cheap wine at the grocery store. The quality of the alcohol I consume has increased dramatically since I moved to NC. 

So, pros and cons to both places. At least I can still get good sushi here, apart from yam rolls. But no matter how cheap the liquor is here in the USA, there's no place like home:

View from the Granville St. Bridge, Vancouver