Canada, eh?

2 situations involving intercultural miscommunications come to mind easily. Both happened when i was in Canada for an exchange program last semester. The first is between a Canadian and me, and the second between Singaporean Chinese visiting Canada for the first time, and Canadian Chinese who have been living there practically their whole lives. It would not take much imagining to combine both into a single hypothetical scenario (although the Canadian in the first was a Caucasian young lady, it applies to most Canadians in general).

I was purchasing contact lenses from a sweet young lady optometrist at the mall. Now, the Canadians have a slang called "Eh?", similar to the Singlish we are familiar with. However, their "Eh?" is much more widely applicable to a variety of situations, depending on the context. It can be used as a question - huh?, as an indication of attention - ya?, as a reinforcer of the statement made - you know? Or even as a period at the end of a sentence - lah/hor. The Canadians (especially the pure trueblood kind for whom travelling out of their city is a major trip already) have evolved to utilise perfectly this expression that they often forget foreigners do not wield the same weapon with equal dexterity, even Singaporeans who have their own incomprehensible language. So it was with an increasing amount of bewilderment that i tried to crack the code she often lapsed into. I do feel that her apparent insensitivity to my predicament was due to the fact that facial conveyance of befuddlement looks very similar to squinting when trying on contact lenses. The mix up has serious implications as my contact lenses have not arrived 3 months after i seemingly ordered them.

The second incident is less a cultural conflict than it is a lack of understanding of cultural norms. It transpired at the end of my exchange, hours before i was to leave for the airport. There were 3 Singaporean guys, and one of them had friends in the area seeing him off. Hence we all went to have a nice dinner at the local pasta shop. Anton's Pasta has a reputation of serving large portions of pasta, so much so that it is rare for a person to WANT to finish the pasta. In fact they reward people who are able to finish their plates with a gift of a pen (which reads: "I ATE THE WHOLE THING"). Portions come heaped on plates 15x6/7 inches, and that is usually enough for 2 meals. In fact the norm for the Canadians was to eat their fill and pack the rest for takeaway (as we saw many other customers doing).
However, as ambassadors of Singapore, land of "buffets-do-not-make-much-profit", we had a reputation to uphold. Two of us managed to finish our portions quite easily. The last person was the one with his friends around, and he was having a very hard time. Mouthful after mouthful was forcibly shoved into his mouth as he struggled to maintain his dignity. To the Canadians, he seemed as though he was ravenous. They kept asking him if he was alright, as they'd never seen him this hungry. With his face stuffed with pasta all the time, my friend could not engage in a lengthy explanation of why he HAD to finish the plate. Even the waitresses were watching this spectacle, as they prepared the pen he had earned through so much suffering. Different cultural norms indeed!