i don't wanna believe this all is real...

[katster]

shock and awe.

am practicing new phrase: "Je suis un Canadien".

Oh yeah. irony of ironies. My US passport showed up at my parent's house on Wednesday. The day this latest mess happened.

Unfortunately, I can't go hide my head under the covers, because I have things to do today. But I want to.

I love my country, I hate my government, I hope all the troops come home safely.

That's about it. *grief*

Comments

[ladycalliope.livejournal.com]

Are you serious about the Canada thing? What's the grad school situation in the country up north?

[ms-interpret.livejournal.com]

We have awesome grad schools. :) (Yes, I'm trying to get Katster to Canada :))

It's true. Despite what the guys at 22 Minutes had some Americans say, we do have very good universities. A *whole* lot less colleges. The system is a bit different here. Colleges don't grant degrees unless they are 'federated colleges', i.e. are affiliated directly with a university. For example, I went to the University of Regina for my bachelor's degree. I was registered via Campion College. Both institutions issued me the same bachelor's degree. The advantage of a college like that is that they offer some courses that are open to their students first, and then the rest of the university. But you don't need to register through them, you can register directly through the university. U of Regina offers bachelors, masters, and phd degrees (though, it's not the best school, it doesn't suck). After that, I went to the University of Victoria for a master's degree, where I'm still working on my blasted thesis! From everything I've garnered talking to other grad students, Canadian grad schools are every bit as good as American ones. Some are better, some are worse.

On This Hour has 22 Minutes, Rick Mercer went to the US and told some gullible Americans that Canada just opened its first university. Then he had them congratulate us on camera. It was very very funny. Man, the stuff people will believe...

[katster.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm stuck in Berkeley until May 2004, when my master's program is up. (Another year or so in the States. Joy.)

But yeah, I'm serious about the Canada thing, at least eventually. My boyfriend's Canadian, so there's going to be a lot of talking on where we want to be. Yeah, it's serious enough to keep that sort of planning ongoing.

I might put in some applications to Canadian schools for Ph.Ds, or just try to get a job. The nice thing about having a grad degree in information management is that you're pretty useful no matter where you go. And their economy is doing pretty well, surprisingly.

-kat

[ms-interpret.livejournal.com]

Better make that "Je suis Canadienne", unless you're trying to tell people you're a man, that is. :)

You don't need the article 'un/une'. "Je suis une Canadienne" is wrong because Canadien/Canadienne is an adjective, not a noun.

I'm so sorry you're going through what you are. Today is a good day not to be American. I'm in utter awe of Chrétien having the balls to stay the fuck out of it. It's unbelievable. Especially since he's not running for re-election. I'm scared. Hold me. ;)

[minouminou.livejournal.com]

canadienne can also be a noun! ;-)

[ms-interpret.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I stand corrected. My french is capped off at French 204, a grammar class. It was there that I was told it was only an adjective. Could it be one of those picky things where people use it as a noun but a bunch of idiot purists say it "should" only be an adjective? Like ending sentences in prepositions and that sort of thing?

I'm all for usage. If people use it regularly, it's correct enough for me. :)

Re:

[minouminou.livejournal.com]

well its just that a lot of adjectives are also used as nouns, even in english, just look at these sentences:
i am in love with a beautiful canadian.
canadian=noun
beautiful=adjective
i am in love with a canadian actor.
canadian=adjective

i think even language mavens have to admit that!

[lizardling.livejournal.com]

I thought Chretien was also the subject of a rant or two from you? At the very least, I haven't heard too many Canucks talking about him in a positive fashion. Although that could just be the #c demographic/statistical sample :)

[ms-interpret.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. Can't stand the guy. This is part of why I can't believe that he did the right thing. It blows my mind.

[zibblsnrt.livejournal.com]

Well, he's the national leader (points against him), is in a moderate party (points against him), and has been in power for more than a very short time (points against him).

You could have an absolutely perfect head of state and our demographic would still detest the guy with religious fury.

Personally, I like the guy. He's only mediocre as far as domestic policy's concerned, but he's better than most of the other guys - few Canadians these days seem to remember Mulroney. And he's always been an excellent diplomat. You never hear of the conflicts which don't happen, unless you look real hard.

[ms-interpret.livejournal.com]

The thing about Chrétien is that he's the perfect Liberal. He doesn't do anything. He manages to maintain the status quo. He starts out with some changes - minor things mostly - and then goes about doing nothing. It's like he's channeling Mackenzie King. I'll give you that he's a good diplomat. He can ass-kiss with the best of them.

Mulroney... don't even get me started on that one. GST, Free Trade... ARGH! And we gave that guy the Order of Canada.

[zibblsnrt.livejournal.com]

Well, perhaps. But on the other hand, is that really so bad? The country continues to run, and run fairly smoothly at that.. Nova Scotia's hurting, but that's more because of the Tory provincial government than anything Ottawa's doing. The country's in good enough shape, and the economy is growing at a rate which is leaving people worldwide wondering just how the hell we're doing it. We're maintaining respect on the world stage for the most part, singlehandedly prevented at least one war from breaking out in the past two years, and have been doing our best to serve in some way, shape or form as a buffer between the developed and developing world in international affairs.

We could do far worse. We could do better, yes, but the number of better alternatives are far outnumbered by the number of worse ones right now, so I'm content. Granted, I'd be happier if there was a government headed by the right wing of the NDP (with an Alliance opposition, just for the sheer uproarious fun of watching Commons debates), but I'm happy with what there is now, for the most part.

[ms-interpret.livejournal.com]

The right wing of the NDP? I didn't know it had a right wing. :) I really hope they don't splinter and split the left.

He cut tons of people out of EI and then ran a big surplus with our EI money. He made deep cuts to transfer payments, knowing full well the provinces would pass on the cuts to us. He ran on Jobs Jobs Jobs and then cut for his whole first term.

He's not been as bad as most, thank god, and I'm sure he'll go down in history as a pretty decent PM, but that doesn't mean I like him. :)

[zibblsnrt.livejournal.com]

The right wing of the NDP? I didn't know it had a right wing. :) I really hope they don't splinter and split the left.

Enh, any divisions don't seem to be that much. I'm just talking the difference between the standard NDP mindset and the "Cuba is a worker's paradise" mindset. I like their socialist wing more than the flat-out communist wing. ;) Wendy Lill more than Alexa McDonough, that sort of thing.

[katster.livejournal.com]

Ahh, oops. I should have remembered that from my Spanish class days. I picked up the phrase somewhere else, and didn't think that there was prolly a female difference. :) Otherwise, I don't know French, but it's high on my list of things to learn in the next year that I have to spend in the US.

Is the difference, perhaps, the difference between 'I am Canadian' and 'I am a Canadian' in English? Because, if I remember right "un/une" is equivalent to the Spanish "un/una", which translated as 'a'. But that's just a thought. :)

And I've always sorta liked Chretien, but that's just me. But yeah, I'm glad there's a world leader *listening* to what his country is saying. (Unlike Blair, or to a lesser extent, Bush.)

-kat