Where do you come from? Part II

Last time, we talked about Netherland (which is the name your Mother informed me that the country currently goes by). Now it's time to learn a bit about the other half of your heritage...Canada.

I have to do less impromptu research for this one since I have been here all my life. In fact, with very few exceptions, I have actually spent my entire life in this beautiful country. I am sure you will be able to tell that I am biased, but I will try not to let it get the best of me. Besides...a country like Canada sells itself, so it doesn't need any help from lil' ol' me.

First things first. In the photo below, you will see Canada and Netherland shown so you can get an idea of their sizes. If it seems like Canada is going to eat Netherland, fear not...Canada knows that doing that would cause it to get WAY too high (I will explain what that is later.)



Yes. Canada is BIG. There is really no getting around it. What's cool about being so big is that you can see and experience just about everything the world has to offer without ever needing a passport. How do I know this? Because I still don't have a passport, and I have seen everything except rain forrest (but no worries...they have them on the Queen Charlotte Islands).

Since I did a blog about Netherland as a person who knew nothing about it, I thought that it would be fun to ask your Mom about her first impressions of Canada. The answers were instructive of what Canada is for people who didn't grow up here. These are her answers:

1) It's big (see above).

2) It's cold.

3) Strangers talk to you (but, just so we are clear, YOU are not to talk to strangers).

3.5) Canada is 270 times bigger than the Netherlands and only has twice the number of inhabitants.

4) Our cheese has very little taste.

5) Canadians are more excited about illicit substances than the Dutch (even though the Dutch are famous for them).

6) We are, for all intents and purposes, America's hat (despite the fact that we consider ourselves to be very different from the Americans).

Please understand that I have taken some artistic license with your Mother's words, but these are basically the spirit of her answers to my questions.

Now, while taking nothing away from Mommy's answers, I thought there might be some other fun facts that you could use to amaze your Dutch family and friends!

7) The Dutch flag is the only other country's flag to have ever flown upon Canada's Parliament.

8) The Dutch Royal Family annually gifts 10, 000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa as a remembrance of the kindness shown by the Canadian government to the family during World War II.

9) The Dutch Princess Margriet was born in Canada when the family was taking refuge here in 1943. In order to make sure that she was considered a Dutch national, the Government of Canada passed a special act that declared the birth "extraterritorial."

10) In the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetary, the children from the town tend to the graves of the Canadian soldiers who died in the liberation of the Netherlands.

I guess your Mom and I are meant to be together!

Happy Canada Day, love!