REMEMBERING CANADA: First two days in Ottawa

On Nov. 7th, 2018 I arrived in Ottawa International Airport via Madrid-Toronto. My host, Robyn, was there to greet me as soon as I arrived. I was going to stay there for a month visiting the city and working in a public High School near my home.

On Nov. 8th and 9th I had a teacher training course with teachers from the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. There I learned basic info of the city such as how to use the public transportation system, orientation on homestay family and I also acquired knowledge of basic info on the country such as the name of the different coins and the most important symbols of Canada.

Here is a fun fact, we all know the maple leaf is the symbol represented on the Canadian flag, but do you know what the two bars on the ends represent?

Well curiously, although they are in red they represent the two oceans Canada has on either side. That is the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. As we all know the country takes up half of the North American continent and therefore it is in between the Atlantic and the Pacific.

POPULATION

The population is fairly little if we compare it to other countries such as Spain. Did you know Canada is second biggest country in the world?

Well, believe it or not it is inhabitated by only 37 million people which is less than that of Spain.

FAUNA

Some other symbols of Canada other than the maple leaf are the beaver and the moose , two of its most popular animals.

COINS

Canada has similar coins to the United States: penny, nickel, dime and quarter, but they also hava a coin for one dollar and two dollars called looney and tooney respectively.

LOCATION

Canada is located in the upper part of the North American continent. It is the second largest country in the world although it's population is smaller than Spain's. The population of Canada is less than 37 million people.

Canada consists of ten provinces which are fairly autonomous and three territories which depend directly on the federal goverment.

THE CAPITAL AND TWO OFFICIAL LANGUAGES

The capital of the country is Ottawa which is pronounced /odawa/. The capital is on the border between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. All the provinces and territories speak English except for the province of Quebec where most people speak French as their official language. Ottawa is the capital and therefore everything there is in both languages. Here's an example.

On Novemeber 9th we went on a tour of the capital city: OTTAWA. The most impressive monuments and landscapes were:

- Parliament Hill, where the federal goverment is located

- the Peace Tower, the tower on Parliament Hill

- the statute of the women who fought for women's rights in Canada

- Rideau Canal

- the Cathedral of Notre Dame

- the Canadian Art gallery with its charateristic spider

The elected President of Canada at the moment is Justin Trudeau, but there is also an important authority figure which represents the United Kingdom in Canada which is the Governor General. The Governor General at this time is Julie Payette.