Nice Girl

I always liked to think of myself as unique. Turns out I fit a stereotype.

Found this while procrastinating at work:

You are a nice POBian girl if:

• You have set of “home” clothes that you change into after school/work
• All the POBian boys you know are alcoholic, chauvinist, arrogant, materialistic, in IT, but you’re still trying!
• Your parents are waiting for a nice POBian doctor…but they’ll take an American lawyer just the same!
• You know the dirt on every POBian person your age in a ten mile radius (even if you haven’t met them)
• Your mother calls you on a daily basis to make sure you’re dressed warmly and eating well
• You offer all of your guests tea, regardless of season or time of day
• All the grandmothers you know or just met try to set you up with a nice POBian boy from a wonderful family
• You don't sit next to that girl in the cafeteria beacuse your grandmother told your mother that her father's ex-girlfriend is a loose woman and you never know how kids in that kind of family can turn out
• The words "I love you" pale in comparison to [POBian "I love you"]
• POBian pet names are so much better than honey and sweetie
• Whenever your room gets messy you see your Mum shaking her head in disbelief and saying, "But you're a girl!"
• You think showing up to someone's house for dinner (or any occasion for that matter) empty-handed is a criminal offence
• There are constant, constant toasts at parties... First, a toast for our health. Then for the ladies. Then for the children. Then for the lovely hostess. For cousin Andrew for getting into university. For world peace. For the poor souls suffering in Sudan. Anything, to make a toast.
• Your parents say that if you go outside with wet hair you'd get a cold
• You can't have boyfriends when you are 17 but you have to be married at 19.
• Tea + lemon + raspberry jam = the POBian cure for the common cold and everything else
• You were named after someone from your family
• Your grandma always offers you bread at every meal
• You learnt either piano or dancing as a child
• While many of your North American/Australian/Canadian friends' grandmas and mums stayed at home, YOUR grandma was an educated doctor/ dentist/ professor /engineer
• A lullaby was about a wolf who would eat you if you slept on the corner of your bed
• When packing a suitcase, you put everything in plastic bags first
• You love POBian songs because they are more melodic
• You grew up with the expectation of being a model housewife AND a breadwinner
• You have to tell your mother where you are at every minute and what you ate for all the meals of the day
• Your grandparents tell you how you never call... even though you visit them once a week

So turns out I'm not so special after all.