Being Canadian #1

I remember almost vividly of a winter day throughout my time in elementary school. It was freezing outside and the wind blowing felt like thousands of tiny pins piercing my skin. Throughout the day the sky would be filled with falling white dots and everyone would stare out the windows waiting eagerly to play in the fresh snow that would fall in the morning. I was at school during a recess break wanting nothing more than to go inside and warm up. After a few failed attempts of trying to sneak in, I eventually gave up and decided to go see what my friends were doing. As i was walking around the playground, avoiding flying snowballs and looking for my friends i eventually found them and was confused to what i walked up to. They were in two seperate groups and one of the groups was building an igloo out of the soft snow that was laid all across the school yard while the other group was sitting on a small hill that was almost surrounded by trees. When they told me what they were doing i could not help but laugh at them. The group that was building the igloo were the ‘Canadians’ while the group that were on top of the hill were ‘Americans’. The game they were playing was built upon canadian stereotypes. They got this idea due to us learning about all the different canadian stereotypes that americans swear by. Thinking about this now I still find it funny how by simply living in a country means that other countries have a specific view on you. We as canadians are just a bunch of igloo living, maple syrup drinking, hockey playing free individuals. Of course we are much more than that but being canadian comes with those stereotypes. It also comes with freedom. We were allowed to play in the schoolyard without a second thought because we do live in a free country.