It had to happen eventually, but I wasn’t expecting it to take almost three years…
No, I didn’t stumble upon Limited Edition Canadian Smarties, that would be some sort of miracle. (I took this photo while living in the USA, in October 2005.) But for the amount of time it took me to meet another Canadian living in Portugal in person, this sort of compares. He’s even from my home province of BC, although his city is 800km away from mine, which would land me in Málaga, Spain, if I drove that distance here.
A few months after I arrived in Portugal, I did briefly meet a Portuguese teacher of French who was from Montreal, but she’d been here quite a long time and our backgrounds and ages didn’t give us as much to discuss. Since then, I’ve only interacted with other Canadians in Portugal online. Most are in Lisbon and to the south.
Over a beer and bifanas, it was funny to hear SUCH a Canadian accent in person again from someone who isn’t a tourist. And a Western Canadian accent, to boot!
It’s rather difficult to explain how it’s possible to spot a Canadian accent since we sound quite a lot like Americans (or maybe they sound like us?–sometimes). I was listening to a reporter from Portland, Maine, on today’s “This American Life” podcast (episode: “Get Your Money’s Worth”) and I honestly would not be able to pick hers out from a lineup of Canadians. Not even with the dead giveaways, like the very specific way Canadians say “out” like our jaws are wired shut. My sister-in-law’s boyfriend has been living in the UK for the past year and he says I don’t sound like the one Canadian he works with. I’m not terribly surprised. I don’t really know what I sound like anymore, only someone else can tell me.
Where listening to another Canadian voice in Portugal is not so much a novelty because I meet Canadian tourists, where it is a novelty is discussing Canada and Portugal together… there are First World Problems, and somewhere down the line there are Canadian Expat Problems. Tried to renew a Canadian passport? Dealt with the Canadian Embassy? Tried to vote in a Canadian General Election? Renewed a driver’s license? Converting to a local drivers license? There’s a story in there somewhere, if not in all of these procedures. None of the foreigners I know personally in Portugal are Canadian, so I’m muddling my way through these things and will get around to writing about them unless someone else beats me to it (go for it!). I certainly benefitted in the tip department from meeting another Canadian here. If you’re also a Canadian living in Portugal, I’ll pass on what I know.
Before I forget, some links I’d like to share with other Canadians in Portugal who may be reading this post and wondering where to find more of us:
Canadians In Portugal, online
http://www.canadiansinportugal.com/ (not updated anymore, but check out the end-of-year music lists)
https://www.facebook.com/CanadiansinPortugal/
Joel Rendell, the Canadian voice behind Practice Portuguese (an excellent podcast for learning EU PT, by the way)
Facebook group: Canadians Living In Portugal
I imagine there must be more — let me know and I’ll post the links.
