In a small place in Iowa on one trip, I learned something interesting. Often Canadians claim Americans don’t know much about Canada. I didn’t often see that. But once in Council Bluff, with a just over 60,000 population I did.
Being as it was summer and a busy time for tourists, my husband parked on the side of the highway and had me run into a motel to see if there was a room available with truck parking. There was, so I booked a room.
The woman looked at my registration and asked, very puzzled. “A Calgary, what’s a Calgary?” (Not where’s Calgary, but what’s a Calgary). Now I was puzzled – surely it said city or town – or had I misread it. But just laughed and said ‘A city in Canada (no sense saying Alberta I thought) only about 10 times as large as Council Bluff.’
It was funny to me. I caught a glimpse of not knowing something about a country beside you.
