Escape To New Scotland (shortened and adapted from blog)

by Alexander Suarez (United States of America)

Making a local connection Canada

This originated from my blog in 2018: We arrived to Port Yarmouth on the boat from Portland (we brought a car driving to Portland). En route on the boat we played trivia, Mom played her ukulele and we sang. I also read on the voyage. The crew were Canadian. One of the first things I noticed in Nova Scotia was how recycling was marked everywhere, and there was no litter. NS the “Ocean Playground of Canada”, like Cuba and the Bahamas, is where Hemingway fished. Nova Scotia in Latin means New Scotland, sailors on board a vessel off the coast of Nova Scotia in the early 1600s, noticed it looked like the shores of Scotland, hence the name. NS besides the native population has Irish, Italian, Scottish, Lebanese, Syrian and French (Acadian) residents. My family came from Ireland via Newfoundland, people from there they say have a stronger accent than NS, and are called Newfies. Some relatives settled in Boston where I was born along with my Mom and Nana, my Nana’s parents were Canadian. Mom and me had never been to NS before. Some of the cousins we met for the first time, I met 3rd, 4th and 5th cousins. Cousin Arthur told us about how people who spell their last name Pittman with one t are Protestant and two ts are Catholic. Cousin Diane is tan, and like Cousin Francine, likes to hike and the outdoors, gets sun. A common trait among the Nova Scotians is to hike, people live there but travel, and have well paid jobs to do so even on a teacher’s salary. We met family from both the Pittman and Cashin lines, although some of the Cashins were half Lebanese, and when we visited them on their land overseeing lake Bras d’Or (arm of gold in French, written almost like Spanish) they gave us Lebanese cakes. Cousin Betty, who looked Mediterranean, has a son and baby grandson, the latter was born July 3rd a couple years back, July 3rd is when we arrived. Those 8 NS days were magical. The NS accent has a distinct way to pronounce about. They say eh on the end of their sentences like in much of Canada. About sounds like “a boat”. The best photos taken were of the Cabot Trail. NS has about a million residents, Halifax, the capital, is the largest city, where half the population lives. The winters there on the coast are not as cold or snowy, in fact it was in the 70s or 80s. It was only a bit fogy in Yarmouth. Nova Scotia is a few large islands connected by causeways, Newfoundland is too far so you go by boat, we were not able to go this time. Besides Halifax we went to many places, I touch on the highlights. The most spectacular site was the Cabot Trail. We stayed in Glace Bay near Sydney, also the working class corner of Sydney (not Australia), is called Whitney Pier, this is where my great grandmother grew up till she was 21 and moved to Boston, her parents are buried there, and we were able to find their grave and the church they attended. In Digby we saw a seal, I got a shot pretty close to it and it looked right at me. Cousin Francine, looked more Irish than Mediterranean, was outgoing. A world traveler, she told us stories, including about her Amazonian journey. She is white haired, in her 60s, the older sister, and I admired her zeal. I joked with her about how we came to see our Canadian cousins, as its a common saying when referring to the neighbors of the north that they are our “Canadian cousins”. The next day we left Glace Bay back to Halifax. The Pittmans in Halifax gave us a Canadian meal, including Argentine wine and steak with barbecue sauce on it, was delicious. There is a portrait in the Pittman home of a glacier with turquoise water, I asked Arthur if it was taken in Newfoundland, he said yes, it was out of instinct that I guessed right. I plan to return, go to Newfoundland, my connection to Canada is strong now.