Happy Canada Day! Like, a week ago...

Canada Day is one of those days in a Canadian expat's life that sting a little. It's like Christmas, only slightly downgraded. You want to celebrate, you want to be with your friends and family, drinking Kieth's and eating cake and barbeque- you want to be in your country, at the very least.

There are quite a few Canadian expats in Korea. If you listen to the statistics, you will believe that there are more Canadian ESL teachers than any other English speaking nationality in Korea (they apparently like the neutral accent). However, I recently heard that more Americans than ever are coming to Korea and Koreans are starting to hire them more than Canadians- they apparently work for less. I have no idea if this is true, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

But back to my nation's day of birth.

No Canada Day is complete without the following, in my mind: Canadian music, Canadian beer (or wine, whichever), a really big cake, BBQ and friends. Of all nationalities. Because Canada is so goshdarn multicultural.

At least, this year in Korea I managed 4 out of the 5 on the list. I was among good friends, we (sorta) had a BBQ, and I made the mother of all cakes (meaning: I made my biggest cake yet in Korea- not bad for a toaster oven) and we listened to some great Canadian musicians.

Friends from all over Yeongtong came to the park the Sunday before Canada's actual birthday. An Adjuma started screaming at us, saying we couldn't BBQ in the park. We took the meat to Sophie's house and cooked it, then brought it back to the park and ate. There was a lot of yummy food. There was Canadian trivia, and finally, there was a game of beer ball. Fun times.