Love It or Leaf It

Are Canadians Actually Nicer? An American Hot Take

Welcome to Episode 4 of Love It or Leaf It, where your favorite queer American transplants (hi, it’s us—Clover and Lori!) dive into the weird, warm, occasionally confusing world of Canadian service culture 🇨🇦 We’re officially moved into our new Toronto home—and y’all, it’s starting to feel like home for real. So today we’re unpacking (literally and emotionally) some of our early impressions of life in Canada. Get ready for face-to-face everything, surprise paperwork adventures, and… storage units that feel more like mortgage closings than shame-closet rentals. We also go full nostalgia mode when Lori braves a GameStop line IRL to preorder the Nintendo Switch 2 like it's 1999. BestBuy.ca? Crashed. Walmart? Ghosted. Canadian politeness? Unfazed. Along the way, we get real about the deeper stuff: what it means to be welcomed as political refugees, why Canadian friendliness isn’t just surface-level politeness, and how this country still manages to surprise us every single day (usually in good ways, occasionally with baffling login systems). If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to move from the U.S. to Canada—or if you just want to laugh at our struggle to understand why syrup bottles have microscopic handles—this one’s for you. ❤️🍁 Stick around to hear about: The polite politics of bank tellers 🏦 Canada’s dot-com vs. dot-ca identity crisis 💻 And why empathy just feels easier north of the border 💬 Drop us a comment: Why is the handle on maple syrup bottles so dang tiny?

Express Entry? More Like Stress Entry

We’re Moving to Canada… and It Only Cost Us $20K and Our Sanity Let’s start with the big news: 🎉 We’re officially immigrating to Canada! 🎉 As of now, Lori has a work visa in hand, our lease in Toronto is signed, and we’ve traded the sweet cornfields of Missouri for the sweet promise of public healthcare and universal politeness. It’s happening, people. It’s really happening. So, Why Canada? Short answer: Missouri kind of sucks for families like ours right now. Long answer: Canada’s got universal healthcare, functional human rights, and neighborhoods where immigrants make up nearly half the population (looking at you, Toronto 👀). That kind of diversity and safety? Yeah, we want that. The Dream (Almost) Died at Express Entry If you’ve ever tried to Google "how to move to Canada," you’ve probably stumbled upon Express Entry—Canada’s points-based system for permanent residency. And if you’ve ever done the math on yourself, you probably had the same reaction we did: “Wait… we’re not good on paper?? We’re adorable!” Turns out we’re great humans, just… not very pointy ones. Express Entry told us (politely, because it’s Canada) that we didn’t qualify. Cue the existential dread. When in Doubt, Leverage Your Business So, we regrouped. And by regrouped, we mean we got a second opinion and learned about the C11 Entrepreneur Work Permit—a legal path to Canada under the International Mobility Program for people with established businesses. And hey, guess what? Lori has one of those. We ended up hiring a law firm (hello, privilege and goodbye, savings) and dropped a casual $20K to get the paperwork going. If you’re wondering where that money went: it wasn’t just someone telling us what to do. It was full-on corporate paperwork, business plans, registrations, and a legal strategy with layers. Visa in Hand, Panic in Heart Lori walked into Pearson Airport with a stack of paperwork, a hopeful heart, and a backup plan in case the immigration officer decided to play hardball. Instead, she met the dreamiest Canadian who smiled, stamped, and handed over a shiny new work permit. It was all very anticlimactic and weirdly pleasant. Meanwhile, we’re still mentally preparing for the day someone tells us, “Oops, just kidding, back to Missouri!” Spoiler: that’s not likely. But we’re trauma-brained Americans who’ve had job-linked healthcare dangled and ripped away too many times to trust anything blindly. The TL;DR: This Is Just the Beginning This episode of the Love It or Leaf It podcast breaks down: * How we actually got into Canada (hint: not Express Entry) * What the C11 program is and why it worked for us * Why immigration feels like a twisted game show with acronyms * What it’s like to uproot your life as a queer/trans family * Our very real, very loud inner imposter syndrome * And yes, we’re already Googling gluten-free poutine Next steps? Moving logistics. Downsizing two Missouri homes. Filling out social support forms. Getting our Social Insurance Numbers (SINs, because Canada loves spicy acronyms). And eventually… applying for permanent residency. We're sharing this journey not just because it's wild—but because so many people ask us how. And while this isn’t a one-size-fits-all roadmap, it is an honest look at what it takes to say, "This isn’t working for us here, let’s try somewhere new." 💌 Know someone dreaming of a new beginning? Send them this post. 🍁 Next episode: Hopefully from the Canadian side of the border!

10 Things Americans Need to Relearn in Canada 🇨🇦

Ah, Canada, the land of maple syrup, Tim Hortons, and apparently, legislation that protects apologies from being legal admissions of guilt. Who knew, right? As we embark on our journey from the Show-Me State to the Great White North, I find myself questioning everything I've ever known about measurements, money, and even...milk. Yep, friends, we're Lori, Clover, and a queer and trans family of three diving headfirst into Canada, and this ride promises to be wilder than Clover's fascination with beer ounces. From Apologies to Applause To start off, let’s ponder this: Canadians apologize so much that they have a legal statute for it in Ontario, proving sorry doesn’t equate to guilt. Imagine telling your partner, "I'm sorry for leaving the lights on," only to have a Canadian referee swoop in to assure you that doesn't mean you broke an environmental law. Metric Madness Now, onto more calculated endeavors: the metric system. Clover’s been trying to wrap their head around Celsius and kilometers, only for master Lori to point out that your internal speedometer needs recalibrating. In Canada, 100 isn’t just a number—it’s an existential crisis. Who would've thought? Funny Money and Tipping Trauma Canadian currency feels like Monopoly money, converting dollars into more dollars, which seems fun until Lori remembers the punch her wallet takes at checkout. Don’t even get us started on the appalling sales tax. Pro tip: "The price tag is a lie," Clover grumbles. And for all the over-tippers fidgeting with 13% tax calculations, take solace in Clover’s philosophy: those who calculate tips sans sales tax are dicks. Wise words indeed. Bags of Milk and Other Bizarre Mysteries Speaking of essentials, milk in bags still baffles Lori. It’s like someone took a standard grocery item and decided, "You know what this needs? Bags!" Whether it’s ancient Canadian propaganda or a bagged dairy phenomenon, the truth is out there—just in a pitcher. Healthcare: Oh, Canada! Prepare yourself for the reality—a healthcare system where you’re not reduced to tears at every medical billing. "Hello, universal healthcare, we've been expecting you," Lori wistfully dreams of affordable medical interventions without selling their soul—or spare change. Tim Hortons: Welcome to the Cult And then there’s Tim Hortons, or as we fondly dub it, “Tim Bits and coffee at every corner.” While Lori ponders forbidden Tim Bits (thanks to Clover's vivid imagination), I remain innocently indoctrinated, sipping 15-minute-new coffee, which in Starbucks’ defense, wins in volume but loses in ‘crazy delicious’. To Infinity and Beyond! As we fasten our emotional seatbelts and adjust our expectations (and compasses), one truth resonates: beauty amidst chaos prevails. Our midwestern roots, pruned with Canadian politeness and snark, unfold like a map—awkwardly folded at first but eventually making sense. So here’s to no turning back, with apologies, thermometers, milk bags and all. This is just the beginning of our wild move to the land where politeness reigns and, thankfully, the taxes are only plagued by percentages. Join us next time as we continue to hilariously survey the bits and quirks that make our northern adventure truly Canadian, eh?

Passport Panic: A Very Bureaucratic Beginning

Join Clover and Lori on the first episode of Love It or Leaf It Podcast as they navigate the sticky, often maddening world of U.S. passport renewal amidst their preparations to move from Missouri to Toronto in 2025. As a queer American family feeling increasingly unwelcome in their home state due to rising transphobic legislation, they've decided to seek a safer haven in Canada. This episode humorously details the bureaucratic nightmare of renewing passports, complete with tilted head photos, missing receipts, and unexpectedly quick turnarounds. Dive into the lighter, yet hilariously frustrating side of their journey to cross the border, all while tackling the unexpected hurdles and privileges that come their way. 00:00 Record-Breaking Passport Issuance in 2024 00:26 Introducing the Love It or Leaf It Podcast 00:44 Our Family's Story and Decision to Move 01:29 Challenges of Relocating to Canada 02:07 The Passport Renewal Process 02:38 Navigating Bureaucratic Hurdles 04:51 The Cost of Immigration 07:35 The Importance of Passport Photos 11:43 Dealing with Passport Photo Rejections 12:37 The Lopsided Head Incident 12:51 Passport Photo Struggles 13:24 The Waiting Game Begins 13:58 Confusing Customer Service 15:45 Unexpected Arrival 16:31 Reflecting on the Process 22:02 Final Thoughts and Advice