Imperial and Metric Measurement Systems in Canada

                                                       (Draft 2^nd after 1^st correction)

I would tell one confusing story which happened to me recently.

One day my husband and I were going to the nearest town for groceries when our neighbour asked to buy for him “two quarts of half and half cream”. As my husband and I came from Europe, where we both used metric measurement system (he is from Germany and I am from Ukraine), we guessed that one quart is 250ml, or ¼ litre. So we bought two 237ml packs of half and half cream. But what a surprise when we came back home and our neighbour came to pick up his goods. According to the imperial measurement system one quart is 0.9463 litres which is more than ¼ (one quarter) litre in the metric system. It is not hard to guess that our calculations were wrong and instead of two quarts we bought two quarter-litres.

After this strange situation, I asked myself why it happened, why there was a misunderstanding. So I went to my “best friend”, the internet, and found the answer to my questions. According to my search, only three countries in the world, namely USA, Liberia, and Burma, still officially use the archaic imperial system of weights and measures. But what about Canada? Canada adopted and has officially used the metric system since 1970s, but imperial measurements are often used as well. The use of metric or imperial measurement varies by age and region. Older Canadians are sometimes more familiar with the imperial measurement, whereas younger Canadians are more familiar with metric. And it seems many provinces and territories in Canada include the imperial system of measurement as a part of their school education.

I’m sure, many immigrants have often had similar confusing situations which I had: in grocery stores, hardware stores, clothing shops, medical clinics, and etc. In my opinion the better way to avoid the similar situations with this not official double measurement system is: the government should make strict decision of which one of the measurement system in Canada people have to use. Why we should make our life more difficult if we can make our life easier!

 

 

                                              CORRECTION 1 st

                                   Imperial and Metric Measurement Systems in Canada

                                                                             (draft 1st)

I would tell one confusing story which happened to me recently.

One day my husband and I were going to the nearest town for groceries while our neighbour was sending us a message and asked to buy for him “two quarts of half@ half creamo”.  As my husband and I came to Canada from Europe, where we both used metric measurement system (he is from Germany and I am from Ukraine), so we decided that one quart is 250ml which means ¼ litre. So we bought two packs by 237ml of half@half creamo. But how much we all were surprised when we came back home and our neighbour came to pick up his good. According to the imperial measurement system one quart is 0.9463 litres which is more than ¼ (one quarter) litre in the metric system. It is not hard to guess that our calculations were wrong and instead of two quarts we bought two quarter.

After this strange situation I asked me self why it happened, why there was misunderstanding? So I went to my “best friend”, internet, and found the answer to my questions. According to my search, only three countries in the world such as USA, Liberia, and Burma still use officially the archaic Imperial system of weights and measures. But what about Canada? Canada adopted and officially uses the metric system since 1970s, but imperial measurements are often used as well. The use of metric or imperial measurement varies by age and region. Older Canadians are sometimes more familiar with the imperial measurements, whereas younger Canadians are more familiar with metric. And it seems many provinces and territories in Canada include the imperial system of measurement as a part of their school education.

 I am sure, many immigrants have often had similar confusing situations which I had: in grocery stores, hardware stores, clothing shops, medical clinics, and etc. In my opinion the better way to avoid the similar situations with this not official double measuring system is: the government should make strict decision which one of the measurement systems in Canada people have to use. Why we should make our life more difficult if we can make our life easier!

                 

                                                        (VERSION 2^ND, FINAL)

                                         Another Life, Different Challenges

I came to Canada on the family class programme in September of 2015. Despite my husband’s describing to me many times our future home in Canada, it was difficult to imagine where I have to live, when I was still in my country of origin (Ukraine).

Here, in Canada, my husband and I live in a small village in a remote area without any developed infrastructure around. The closet big city with good infrastructure is located 30km away. The most difficult aspect of adjusting to life in Canada for me is language. My level of language is still not good enough to find a job or interact with people.

I have encountered with some barriers since coming here. For instance, huge distances are a big problem for me because I cannot drive and there is no public transport in our area. Also, we have a chance to go to town for shopping only once a week, on weekends, when my husband is off. So I always have to buy all our groceries one week ahead. We don’t have a lot of people around in our area who could be a potential “local teacher” to improve my language skills. We have neighbours who live anywhere from 100m to 60km away. Our nearest neighbours live their own lives and are not much motivated to contact us.

It was one funny story when my husband and I were invited to our other neighbours for lunch. I was surprised when we had to drive almost one hour to get there. Yes, it sounds strange, but they are our neighbours.

My adjustment to life here still continues. It is not going fast and easy. I cannot to get used to some aspects of living here. But I know it will come, sooner or later. Just keep going step by step and never give up!

                                                       CORRECTION 1st and FINAL