Nickelback (a Canadian rock group)

Not that we have been listening to that much radio or watching that much TV, but it seems whenever we do they are playing Nickelback – even in the stores. We found this both in New Zealand and Australia.

Another tidbit – whenever we start talking to someone, a sales clerk, waiter, hotel employee – they pick up on our accent (or really the lack of an accent – they are the ones with the accent) and ask us where we are from. They all seem to know someone in Canada - usually Vancouver. We ate at one restaurant and ordered their specialty – scallops. Now we pronounced scallops as it sounds – with an “a”. The waitress thought it was so funny the way we said “scallops”. Apparently, it’s pronounced ‘scullups’! Anyways, most people we have come across have been very friendly and helpful and make an effort to understand what we are saying without laughing (to our face).

We were talking to one of the motel housekeepers whose husband makes handmade whips. He made some for a stuntman in Vancouver who trained stars such as Burt Reynolds and Hally Barry to use a whip in the movies.. This woman says she has autographed pictures of all the people this Canadian stuntman has trained using their whips. That’s as close to a brush with greatness as we’re going to get.