Canada's obsessed with condoms

Hey! It's me, Willa again! I'm here today to talk about the difference between the openness about sex in America vs Canada

Here in America, even on channels that aren’t for kids, the ads are fairly acceptable. The commercials are for Bendaroos* or movies coming out soon, but rarely inappropriate ads.

Okay, occasionally there’s that pesky make-your-penis-bigger add for “natural male enhancement” but that’s pretty much it.

Where as in Canada, almost EVERY ad is sexual. There are TONS of condom commercials, and “experience enhancers” which are just NOT ads that should be allowed on the family channel! I mean, come on! Trojan Naked Sensations*?! Any one here seen that ad? It’s so not something that should’ve been put on the family channel!

I guess Canadians are just a little more open to sex? They’re just a little less ashamed. But maybe that’s not a good thing? I mean-I REALLY don’t need to see that Trojan Naked Sensations add EVER again! And what if some little kid is watching Hannah Montana* on the Family Channel, and all of a sudden that ad comes up?! Then the poor mom’s gonna have to teach her kid some scary stuff too early in life!

Seriously though, there’s a really big difference between Canada and America when it comes to openness about sex.

Near our French class, there’s a whole condom store! An entire store selling nothing but different kinds of condoms!

And don’t even get me started on their logo…

Anyway, my point is, Canada is much more open about sex then America, but I personally don’t think that’s a good thing. Public channels on TV are meant to be viewable to the whole public, and honestly, having a whole store sell nothing but different condoms is just wrong.

So I guess it’s good I get a month here in good ol’ America! Even though it’s the home of crazy republicans, Christian nut jobs, and a lot of right-wing loonies, it’s also the home of cencored TV :) 

*google is your friend

Tentation

Last week i saw tentation( the twilight saga: New Moon in french). The movie was great and i understood most of it, mostly because it was my 3rd time seeing the movie and I've read the book 8 times, heehee. There were a few differences besides the language that i thought it'd be fun to point out. One of the differences is they had way more commercials/previews than we do in Vermont, the 7:30 showing literally started at 8:00! Another difference was that in Vermont it was a bunch of teenage girls, and family's with teenage girls, and boyfriends with teenage girls, but in Montreal it was adults! Not just adults but like 30 and 40 year old's! and there were only like 4 kids! The last difference is that in Montreal when Bella was drowning and other sweet scenes, they laughed! But one of the end scene's was pretty sappy so I don't care about that one so much i care that they laughed at the one's that weren't sappy! But after all these differences one thing stayed the same, they all sighed when Jacob took his shirt off. :) So that's the difference's and whats the same in tentation and new moon.

Super Dogs!

Yesterday, Georgia, Laurie and I went to see a dog show called Super Dogs. It was held at the Canadian hockey arena. It...was...HUGE. I asked Laurie if all sports stadiums were THAT big, and she said yes! It was way too big, though. 

When the show started, an announcer came out, and introduced the dogs and their trainers. Through out the entire show, amazing tricks were preformed. Dancing, jumping, running, obstacle courses, frisbee throwing, and more! Eventually, a dog named Pot Roast came out onto the stage. We all looked at this cute, but fat english bulldog, and his flat face, wondering how HE could catch frisbees. But apparently, he couldn't. The announcer introduced him with "This is Pot Roast. Pot Roast has never caught a frisbee in his whole life. Probably because he has no nose." The whole crowd laughed, and sure enough, poor little Pot Roast didn't catch a single frisbee. One even hit him on his head....

Also, there was a dog named leap, who we saw jump over some pretty intense jumps. Leap holds the world record for highest jump preformed by a dog! The last jump she jumped over, was the same height as her record. It was taller then her trainer and the same height as the announcer. It looked like it was 5.5-6 feet tall!  She was amazing!

Through out the entire show, a Boston Terrier preformed a few tricks. Every time he came out, the crowd yelled "boo"! And the announcer called him a "Boston Terrorist"! And said "he's a BOSTON Terrier. He's born to do nothing."! Why did everyone hate this poor dog? Because he's a BOSTON Terrier. Boston is Canada's rival in hockey. I'm just like "...are...you...serious..." it's completely ridiculous to hate the poor dog just because everyone here is so obsessed with hockey, that's all they think about! (relating back to my previous blog about hockey) I mean seriously! Get over it already people! You're at a circus of dogs, and all you can think about is your sport?! Sigh, Canadians might even be worse then Americans... they're certainly more competitive....

Anyway, I had lots of fun! Seeing all the dogs gave Laurie hope that she could train one of our dogs, Rosie to dance too! I think it's hopeless, though. Rosie wouldn't do what we told her to do if the world depended on it! She's super cute, but cooperative and helpful are two things she's just not. Well, at least this should be funny to watch, right? Good luck Laurie! (You'll need it)

Until next time, 

XOXO 

Willa Cowan-Essig

SUPER-DOGS!!!!!!

This weekend we went to super-dogs and I'm supposed to write about my opinion. I actually really enjoyed it, and thought it was really good. It was really good and the dogs were well trained in my opinion but, a lot of times the dogs ran off course. It made me very confused because sometimes it was clear that it was on purpose and sometimes not so much. They had this one dog, pot roast, who was obviously the clown of the act, they had him in a few of the competitions/shows and he was just really bad, but on purpose. And then another dog would run off course and it just didn't make sense. Other than that i really thought it was great! Another weird thing they did was they did this game with hockey teams representing the dogs and some of the dogs got booed bye the audience because of the teams representing them! But it was still really a great show, I loved it and though i made it sound kinda bad it was actually really great! I loved it and would go see it again in a second!

Remembrance Day

As most of you know today is remembrance day (or veterans day in America) and i thought I'd explain what that is in Canada and why in Montreal most people are wearing poppies.


Remembrance
Remembrance day ,as you can tell from by the name, is for remembering the dead soldiers. In Canada on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month you are asked to pause and remember all the men and women who lost their lives in the military service. People are asked to remember all those who died in the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Afghanistan conflict and peacekeeping missions. Remembrance day is not actually a national holiday across Canada but certain employees still get the day off.

Poppies

Poppies have been associated with the war since the Napoleonic wars. A writer saw a bunch of poppies growing over the dead soldiers. In the war of Ypres in 1915, John Mcrae decided to write a poem inspired by the poppies growing around a friend who had died in battle. The poem worked as an inspiration so that people would associate the poppy with remembrance day. The first poppies were given in 1921. Now the volunteer donations helps ex-servicemen and women to find shelter and get food.

Halloween

Here's a story i wrote


Halloween
Every Halloween ghost stories are told in the Cote De Neiges Cemetery, some barely scary stories are told and then once you think you are safe they start telling the most gruesome, most disgusting most spine chilling stories ever, and the worst of them all, the bone cruncher.
"This is the bone Cruncher... Once there was a young boy , his name was Charles, he was just a newspaper boy, one of the most normal things in the world back then. Well, his family didn't have much money and they made all their 7 kids work to support their parents needs and wants, which was an awful life. The kids didn't get much food and all they could look forward to was finally moving out and getting away from their parents. Like many people, Charles didn't want life to go on in such and awful way because as soon as they moved out the parents would adopt more kids, so Charles planned to do something, but what... He couldn't get rid of the parents and he didn't know what else to do. So he decided he needed to get rid of them, but how... he was a puny little boy, really couldn't do anything to them. He decided to steal a book on which craft. You see his parents were actually witches and evil ones at that that would live forever. So he snuck into their room and stole the book. The only thing like something that would help was a spell, not just a spell but one that would turn him into a BC. Of course he had no idea what a BC was and it only said " Get rid of a which or 2 for good" so he had to try it. On Halloween night he did the spell, and it worked! He was turned into a Bone Cruncher! A bone cruncher is the most horrible thing imaginable, it is a human who only lives on human flesh and bones. He ate his parents, brothers, sisters, and the entire city! They say if you tell his story on Halloween night, he will come and eat you! And if you think this story isn't scary that's because the story isn't the scary part."
"It's what happens after it" said a voice from the bushes, suddenly the bone cruncher was there! they tried to run but he caught them and that's why it's the scariest story told on Halloween night.

Hey it's me, Willa again!

Today I'm going to discuss one of Montreal's

BIGGEST obsessions. 

Hockey. 

In America, Baseball, Basket ball, Soccer,

and Football are all HUGE. But here in Canada, 

only one sport takes the spot light. 

Hockey is so popular, virtually ANYTHING

has your teams name on it here!

Mittens, coats, foam fingers, sweaters, 

sweat pants and sweat shirts, water bottles, 

you name it!

When the players get on the ice, all of Canada is watching. 

Personally, I don't understand this obsession.

I've really never cared about watching sports. The whole

thing just puts me to sleep. But what I just don't get, is 

how a whole country can love just one thing!

According to text books and tourist guides, Canadians

love hockey because it is the one thing their country

completely dominates. In the World Cup, Canada

usually wins. In fact, they're on a winning streak 

right now! Canada excels at hockey, and therefore,

the obsession that most Canadians share, especially 

here in Montreal, is actually confidence, and pride

for Canada, and it's talented young hockey players.

Still, as someone who doesn't have the least bit of 

interest in hockey, I can't help but find it boring, 

and annoying that everything here is based around 

this one thing.

HOCKEY

All the ads on TV are for hockey.

Video games, the Hockey Olympics, even "your very 

own pair of hockey mittens! Show your team spirit!"

YEESH!

And the billboards and posters all say the same thing:

HOCKEY

HOCKEY

HOCKEY

My sister likes to watch this show called Life With Derek.

I've watched it a couple times with her (AND HATED IT). 

But when I lived in Vermont, I always found one thing 

weirder then the rest about that show: the teenage

boy plays hockey. 'Why hockey?' I always wondered.

But a few weeks ago my mom came in and said 

"Georgia and I were watching Life With Derek and Derek 

took out a 20 dollar bill from his pocket." I said "So?"

"It had a queen on it!" That, to those of you who have 

never seen Canadian money, is what a bill looks like.

There is always a Queen on it. That's how we learned 

Life With Derek was a Canadian show. And that is why

the popular, and (supposed to be but really isn't) cute

teenage son plays hockey, of all things. 

Everywhere I look it's

HOCKEY

HOCKEY

AND MORE HOCKEY!!

Halloween History

Halloween was just celebrated recently by many people in Canada, USA, South America, Europe, in Japan under circumstances, and the Far East. I thought i would explain the history a little. Halloween was actually started by Celtics and then traveled to England and eventually America. It was thought that on their Halloween the fabric of the universe was thin therefore spirits good and bad could cross though our world. People welcomed dead ancestors but wanted to get rid of the evil ones, the need to do that was what made them dress in costumes and masks to blend in with the evil spirits. People then did some of the same things we do now like they had many bonfires and had a lot of food and drink during Halloween which ruffly meant summers end in Celtic. When Halloween came to America it wasn't originally a holiday but some people celebrated it and it became a holiday eventually. It has been a great Halloween for me and i hope it's great for you to.

Pictures From Saint Joseph's Oratory

inside the oratory

Outside the oratory

View from the oratory

















Frere Andre's house

My Neighborhood

Cote De Neige, Montreal, is where we're currently living.

Every night, the woman in the apartment above us starts stomping 

around 1am. We like to call her, Stompy :)

One night, a few weeks ago, the temperature dropped really low! 

My sister, Georgia and I were under tons of blankets, shivering!

So my mom calls up the owner of the building, complaining, and 

demanding he turn the heat on. After lots and lots and phone 

calls, he finally turned on the heat. But he turned it on to like 90 

freaking degrees! So we were really hot instead of really cold, 

because that's sooo much better, right Anyway, when Stompy 

isn't paces back and forth way too loudly, someone in an 

apartment below us is smoking way too much pot! You know 

it's legal here to smoke pot? It's legal to smoke it, but you can't 

buy it or sell it. It's like, where do you think they get it from, huh? 

The magic weed fairy?! And get this, not only are the police here

too lazy to arrest people for smoking pot, so that's legal, but 

prostitution is legal here too! Apparently, you can do it all you 

want, but it can't be your only "source of payment"! As long as you 

say you have another job, it's fine! What's up with that, right? 

Seriously, people only become prostitutes because they have no 

other means of getting paid! No college education, and no source

of money! That's why they do it! I swear, I thought the police in 

Vermont were bad, the police here are just plane LAZY.

Here's a description of our neighborhood:

We live across the street from this huge pharmacy, where the 

make up is $70 for a tube of lipstick! Oh, and next to our 

apartment is an "all night massage parlor" that only opens 

around 9pm and I guess it's open all night for creepy old men to 

get a "massage". Ew.

But there are a couple good things in our neighborhood :)

Around the corner from us, is this HUGE and AWESOME 

German pharmacy with an unpronounceable name. (Yah, I'm 

kinda wondering why a German Pharmacy is in the middle of 

montreal too...) The food there is great! And they have these 

cookies with little chocolate school boys on them. Yah, it may be 

wrong to eat little boys, but dude, they taste awesome! :) Also, 

near the German pharmacy is a really fancy bakery. The deserts 

are really good, but way expensive! Have you ever paid 15 

dollars for a slice of pie? I haven't and I'm not about to start either! 

Plus, next to us there's this HUGE church from like 500 years ago! 

It's REALLY beautiful! Oh, did I mention it's HUGE?? Our dogs 

love this park near us, but you have to walk up the biggest 

(but only) mountain in Montreal, which my overly-energetic mom 

calls "a hill" to get there. It's covered by a neighborhood called 

"Place Royal" and trust me, it's even snootier then it sounds! 

The houses there are as big as the freaking white house! No joke! 

And they have these high security systems out side, like they 

actually think they're going to get robbed in a place were absolutely

no one needs money! In fact, everyone there is so filthy rich 'pocket

change' is a hundred dollar bill! Outsiders might try to steal from 

them, if they didn't all have 1 million dollar iron gates outside! I tell 

you, it's unfair that people get to live like that, while I'm gaging from 

the smell of over-powering pot in an apartment that had to get 

fumigated for bed bugs just last week!

Well, I have to work on my math now, so I'll see you next time, bye!

Saint Josephs Oratory

The Oratory of Saint Joseph on Mount-Royal is a very big attraction in Montreal and it all started of with one humble man who was supposed to have healed the weak, Frere Andre. Here is his story. His name at birth was Alfred Bessette, he was born August 9, 1845. He was really weak at birth and his parents baptized him the day after he was born because they were scared he wouldn't survive. He and his family were very poor and in 1849 moved to Farham so hopefully his father could make a better wage as a lumberjack. His mother was widowed at 40 and had to take care of ten kids because his father was killed by a falling tree,Alfred was only 9. Alfred's mother died of tuberculosis three years after his father died. The family was separated and Alfred, only 12 had to face life as it really is, cruel. Alfred traveled from job to job, but because he was so frail he often got replaced. After a while he followed the rush of French-Canadians to America and worked for 4 years in a textile mill. In 1867 he came back to Canada. He wanted to be a Novitiate of the Congregation of Holy Cross in Montreal but they questioned him because of his poor health. Eventually they made him Brother Andrew (or Frere Andre) and gave him a responsibility at Notre-Dame College. He worked at Notre-Dame college for 40 years as the doorman, and eventually he became very weak, he prayed to st Joseph during that time and people started coming to him when they were injured or weak. It started in his small office and the tram station across the street but eventually he built a shrine for Saint Joseph. The shrine became to small and he and his friends built something a little bigger. when that became to small others started helping, but when they needed to raise money and couldn't they came to Frere Andre. Frere said to put a statue of Saint Joseph in the middle and if he wanted a roof he would raise the money, a month later the money was raised. Now Saint Josephs oratory is one of the biggest and Frere Andre is buried in the middle. The church has a wonderful story and a wonderful view over the city, if you're ever in Montreal you should visit it.

i got this information from
http://www.saint-joseph.org/
By Georgia Cowan-Essig

Blogging outside the box

This blog is by Willa Cowan-Essig and Georgia Cowan-Essig. It is about their year of living elsewhere and thinking outside the box (school, that is). Living in Montreal and London, and who knows where else, Willa and Georgia are following their passions, figuring out how the world around them works, and trying to learn French.

If you are interested in finding out more about what they're discovering, thinking about, reading, or seeing, check the blog for weekly updates, photos, essays, and even fiction.