Happy 4th of July! This is just another Saturday up here in the Great White North, but I hear it’s kind of a big day in the US. Something about independence from the British and setting off lots of fireworks if I recall correctly.
It’s great to be Canadian. Our maternity leave is totally the bomb. We have universal health care. Even though I was laid off I can still take my kids to the hospital for kicks and it won’t cost me a dime. Our prime minister’s hair is amazing to behold. Oh yes, things are good here. I love my country.
All the same there are a lot of things that my American friends enjoy that I can only dream of. Here are just a few of the reasons that I am jealous of you and your country:
1. Target. We don’t have anything that really compares. And Target.com won’t ship outside the US, either. Visiting Target is always a highlight of my trips to the States.
2. Online shopping. Target isn’t the only company that won’t ship to Canada, there are many. And even companies that do ship here often charge very high shipping and handling fees. Plus there is the ever present reality of taxes and duty charged by our own government. You’d think that shopping online would remove geographical barriers, but not so much.
3. The Kindle – I covet Amazon’s sleek little e-reader. It just seems so very convenient. I could have all sorts of reading material at my fingertips. I could bring it to kid’s classes with me. Oh, life would be grand. Except not, because the Kindle isn’t available outside the US. So sad (for me).
4. American TV – Of course we get most of the same TV that you do, but there are exceptions. Most of your cable channels don’t broadcast up here. My husband would give his eye teeth for ESPN, let me tell you. And even when we do get a channel it’s generally a Canadian version, and it’s simply not the same. Your TV is way, way, way better than ours (well, except for the news).
5. Tillamook cheese – I love Tillamook cheese and I always buy a big block when I’m down across the line. We can’t get it here, because we have rules about importing dairy products to protect Canadian farmers.
6. The weather – I live about 2 hours north of Seattle, in the rainy Pacific Northwest. This is the warmest part of Canada, the rest of the country enjoys cold, snowy winters. I do not, so I put up with the rain. But I hear the US has entire states that are neither incessantly rainy, nor snow-covered. Such as Hawaii. Sounds like bliss to me.
7. Barack Obama – I can’t think of a single Canadian politician who holds a candle to Obama. Is there really anything more I need to say?
So the next time you hear me going on about how great it is in Canada, you can smile a smug little smile. Because you, my American friend, can visit Target any darned time you please, and I am so very jealous of you. 
Happy Independence Day!
I disagree with your point about Yank TV. A lot of it is garbage…and these reality shows are out of hand. How many CSI's and Law and Order's are necessary? And most of it now it reused ideas of older sitcoms…people can't come up with their own ideas anymore. Maybe Jon is right, ESPN is a good sports network, but who really wants to watch log rolling or the All-American National Cheerleading Championships? These are some things that ESPN airs.By the way, you forgot to mention Cherry Coke. We don't have that up here either. And yes, Barack Obama is cool.
Oh, I want a kindle, too! And, yum, to Tillamook cheese.
Oh Tar-jay. It’s one of the main things to do for me, when I head to the States too!!!
If they had a Target here.. I’d be in deep trouble financially LOL
And you’ve hit the nail on the head with online shopping too. “Free shipping all over the U.S.” WTF? So mad. SO MAD! LOL
Haha! I get all choked up when I think about how my ancestors fought for my freedom, so that I can be whatever I choose to be. Though I’m pretty sure you all have that same right in Canada.
As for Target? Eh…
Don’t forget their relaxed FDA rules and regs which allow for the craziest of products on grocery store shelves – items we will never see in Canada, thank goodness. Low carb Doritos anyone?
I am jealous of their insanely cheap liquor products. Only in the good old US of A can you buy a 45 gallon drum of tequila for $12.
I hear ya with the online shopping. I can’t tell you how many times I found the perfect thing, only to find that the shipping is ridiculous or downright impossible! So disappointing.
Wow… I could have written this list myself! The only ones I’m indifferent about are the cheese and the American TV. I’m totally on-board about the rest.
After finishing law school 12 years ago, I got in the car with a bunch of fellow grads and we went to the USA JUST so we could go shopping at Target. LOOOOVE that store.
Also the Kindle – I’m seething with frustration that it’s impractical/impossible to buy and use one here. I was just Googling this the other day, however, and you might be interested to note that Indigo (Chapters) is planning to introduce an e-reader in late 2009 in Canada. I know what will be on my Christmas list…
And finally, Obama. I was in the USA last weekend, and one of the things I picked up was an “Obama, 44th President” fridge magnet. Awesome.
LOL! I hear you on Target, Obama, the kindle and on-line shopping (how bloody hard can it be?) but you missed the booze factor! Ahhhh cheap but good booze!
I can’t buy into the tv factor (aside from dramas) because reality tv makes me want to puke and Quebec has the best cheeses in North America.
But really Orla Kiely’s Target line makes up for almost all American ills!
Ha! I’d trade it all in a heartbeat for universal health care (well, all except #7 that is!)
Happy another-Sunday to you, my northern neighbor ~ Eileen
As an American who lived in Canada for 3 yrs (during the Bush era), I hear ya, especially about Target, Tillamook cheese and online shopping. I also really missed:
–being able to buy postage stamps at face value (in Canada they tack on tax on top of the face value).
–being able to put outgoing mail in my mailbox and have the postal carrier pick it up
–getting mail on Saturday (and also on that mysterious made-up holiday “Easter Monday”)
But there are definitely some things you have going for you (at least in BC): health care of course, but also:
– really good Asian food at fantastic prices
–Real Canadian Superstore (which pretty cool)
–Escents Aromatherapy and Lush (well, we have the latter now in the states)
–Northern Reflections (well *I* like their clothes even if they are a little stodgy…a store full of pants that actually come up to my waist…can’t beat that)
–The cute little apology “sorry” tacked onto everything, including Out of Service buses
What an interesting post to read, Amber! I could understand a lot of those things since we’re splitting time between Germany and the US. It’s really cool to hear your perspective because I kind of get tired of hearing bloggers go off about all this really cool stuff and really cool opportunities in the US when I’m not there. Interestingly, when I *am* in the US, I don’t even notice what they’re saying… I guess it’s because you don’t notice the things you have/have available, right? You have to deal with it all the time – ugh! Annoying.
How interesting about the Kindle.
Katie
Hulu, American Grape Nuts cereal (the Canadian ones taste like cardboard), Bath & Body Works *sigh*
No one wants the Olestra – the US can keep that.
Sweet! Hopefully you understand that the jealousy is mutual, right? Top of my list: (1) Not being a freaked-out, paranoid society, and (2) Banff. What more need I say?
But yeah, Target rocks. We just moved here to a town with a Target, and I think it might have been worth the whole move just be near one. <3
Oh, and I’m totally jealous that you have a prettier flag. And Kurt Browning. That is all.
Weighing Target against healthcare . . . mmm, it’s a tough one!
Isn’t there like a Target only an hour or so south of you….living in the lower mainland is just as good as living in the use as you can almost spit into the country if the wind is right!
I miss the luxury of jaunting across the border for Payday candy bars….can’t find one down here….but I have found a friend through my blog who feels my pain and sends me some!!!!
Funny, I was just talking about Target the other day and saying how jealous I was that we can't shop there without needing a passport and going to another country even though there is probably one within a half hour from here! Of course I would be in a lot of debt if we did have one up here so maybe it's a good thing after all.
Whenever I travel outside of the US I long for my American TV shows. There’s a lot of crap, but it’s better than the rest of the world. Oh, and there’s no way I could live without Target!
What a sweet post! I’m not sure I could’ve listed so many reasons to be happy to be American, lol, and kidding.
I for one am glad we have Canada as our neighbor to the north. One of these days, I need to convince my hubby to make the trek up north so that we can see one of those snowy winters with our own 2 eyes.
By the way, happy belated Canada Day!
Maybe I am taking our Target for granted. It is convenient, but superstores have a negative impact on small local business. (If 95% of the population is buying gifts at Target, little shops close down. I try to buy handmade when possible.) Target is good for stuff you have to buy big-box, though, like car seats and such.
Canadian health care is what I’d love to have. We pay plenty each month for our state health plan, which my husband’s job allows us to have. Then we have deductibles to meet, and sometimes we go all year without doing that! AND they refused to cover my homebirth so we are paying $3500 out of pocket for it. How is Canadian health care about paying for homebirths and birth centers? Here, birthing costs ALONE can literally determine how many kids people can afford to have. I don’t think that’s right.
Oh and the weather… It is quite hot down here in South Carolina right now. I love living here because we have both mountains and beach within a few hours, and we have mild winters. However, there is one snow a year if we’re lucky. There’ll be a 1/2 inch dusting and people are running to the store for staple foods like it’s a blizzard.
I’ve never set foot in a Target store, so I don’t know what I’m missing. But I can say for sure that we also don’t have anything comparable over here! Very amusing post:).
Haha, “except for the news”. SO true. Thanks for making me realize how great the USA is, I’m interested in how great Canada is too!
Now you are definitely going to have to visit us at the homestead someday…they are completing a new Target just down the road this month!!
Oh, and sorry about whining about our month of rain, we’re not used to that sort of thing around here. But the snow & ice all winter, oh boy are we used to that!
Oh, and our president
Steve & I met him during his book tour a few years ago…someday soon I’ll share that giggle fest over on my blog (there was “flirting” since I do have the same name as his lovely wife 
Cheers!
~Michelle
I’ve never taken the time to go to Target during my visits to the States. I guess I really should because I hear so much about it.
I know what you mean about the online shopping. There are several things I’ve tried to buy online that couldn’t be shipped to Canada.
I forgot to say that although I cannot take advantage of certain shopping offers, I am also on my 8th month of maternity leave and still have another 4 to go. All this as you know while I get 70% of my income (Quebec) paid. Not bad.
What a fun post! What I love the best about the States are that my two best friends live there. One is Canadian who married an American and lives on Bainbridge Island, WA and the other is American and lives in Chicago, formerly Philly, PA. We met on a bus in Frqnce when we were teenagers. I love and miss them to pieces.