TAC's

I've lived elsewhere in the world before, and have done my share of traveling. Everywhere I've been, Canadians have an excellent reputation. However, I've learned something new since moving here. We are known as "T A C's, and that stands for "Tight Ass Canadians". For whatever reason, everyone (including locals and expats) think we're cheap. I strongly disagree. I prefer to think of it as frugal.

When I ask for an explanation, I'm always given the same example. When dining in a restaurant with others, it's custom here to split the bill evenly between everyone—no matter what you had. The people telling their story always seem to have once had a Canadian at the table who says, "But I only had a salad".

This, to me, seems to be more of a cultural thing rather then a "being cheap" thing. When dining in groups in Canada, we usually scan the bill and see what we had, then throw that amount into the table (adding tax and tip). In Bermuda, like I said, you just divide the bill up. You don't sweat it if you only had a salad, because you know that next time you may have had the steak, and it will even out. So in the case of the Canadian who whined about contributing an even portion, I think they are just not picking up on the custom here. They're not necessarily cheap.

But as the saying goes, "When in Rome...". You've got to be perceptive on how things are done in the country you're in. You've got to suck it up and go with the flow.



This photo was taken at the beginning of April. Our team had just won the quiz night, so we are holding our prizes of cash and shots.

Ta-da

So here is the photo of my scooter. I'm definitely getting more and more used to it as the days go on. I just have to remember to take it easy and concentrate. I think that I've pretty much gotten used to driving on the left – although I still repeat it to myself whenever I'm making a turn.

Lately there have been an unusually high number of accidents on the roads here. So much so, that the powers that be decided that a marketing campaign with some shock value would scare people into driving safe. I'll describe my encounter with it. I was riding back into town yesterday around 6:30pm. As I was going up the island's only dual carriage way, I saw a scooter lying on the grass in the middle of the lanes, and noticed that it was fairly mangled. Then I noticed a man sprawled out on the grass beside it and covered in blood. I wondered if I should stop, but had a van behind me. What also confused me was that no one was reacting to this scene. Had the accident just happened? Had someone already called 911? Why didn't I hear any sirens? In the end I concluded that someone must have called, and they probably didn't need me clogging up their lines.

The first thing I heard when I woke up this morning was how it was all staged to promote safe driving. What I didn't see was the sign that read, "I was texting while riding". They'd planted several of these scenes around, and one even caused a 4 car accident because of a 'rubber-necker' The whole thing reminds me of the "Saftey in the work-place" ads in Canada.

Anyways, on another note, I officially got the bike transferred to my name today.

Hunt Gone Right, Hunt Gone Wrong

Apartment Hunt gone right...

Here's some photos of my new place. It's a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom apartment that they've just finished building. I'll be moving in with a friend of a friend from Toronto, and a guy that she knows and works with. The layout's pretty good as it's nicely separated, so we won't be on top of each other. Also, there's tons of closet/storage space - even though none of us have that much stuff. Looking forward to moving in!

Scavenger Hunt gone wrong...

Saturday night my co-worker and his friend organized a scavenger hunt around the island. We were split into teams - 4 or 5 per car – and had to follow clues to the next destination, the final one being the bar. Our team was doing well and were in the lead (not my doing, of course as I had no idea about most of the places) and we got to Elbow beach, grabbed the clue, solved it and headed to the next one. What we didn't realize was that at Elbow beach, we'd taken the clue from another scavenger hunt and were now on the wrong trail. After racking our brains on this next clue, we eventually called the organizers. They had no idea what we were reading out to them. That's when we realized what had happened. So we back tracked to Elbow beach and saw the right clue waiting for us, made a couple of more stops before giving up and joining the others at The Beach (the bar).

I kind of wished we'd won the other people's hunt. Imagine if we'd showed up at their final destination?!

Things are starting to fall into place. On Saturday, I became the proud owner of my first motorized vehicle – a scooter. I bought it from a friend of a friend who has left the island. It's 5 years old, and 150cc's. So now I have to get it insured and then get my scooter driving license. Getting your license also means that I have to get a note from a doctor... even though I just had to get one from a Canadian doctor for my work visa. Geez! No photo of the bike as of yet, maybe I'll post one in the next couple of days.

Tomorrow I sign a lease on an apartment. I'm moving in with 2 people who are also from Toronto and new here. On Friday I went to see it and think it will be really good. It's brand new (still being built), quite large, and a good layout so that 3 people won't be on top of each other. There's even a bar area! Rent is reasonable for Bermuda. It's more then double what I was paying in Toronto, but that's just how it is here. Oh, and it's fully air conditioned! 

As I was out Wednesday to Friday evenings, I had a fairly quiet weekend with lots of 'me' time. Mostly, I rode around on the rental scooter and headed to the beach a couple of times to try and catch some sun (with lots of sun screen, of course).