Query time! International edition!

As a Canadian, I have the general idea that people in other countries don't know much about Canada (as evidenced by my frequent conversations with Japanese school children last year wherein the guesses for Canada's national animal were always koala or kangaroo). However, when it comes to place names, how much exactly don't people know? If I were to mention a province, would people have a general idea where it was (coastal, central), or even have heard of it? For eg, if I were to namedrop say, Manitoba, without mentioning Canada would people still know it was a Canadian province? I ask because I know in fics you can get away with having a character announce he/she's from a state without saying America, but would this pass for Canada? Americans welcome of course, although I'm more concerned with knowing whether people further abroad would or wouldn't recognize the provinces c'mon, there are only ten!.

In other news, we had the first serious snowfall of the year! But then it started raining and now the world is slush and water. I am looking forward to tomorrow's predicted -5, when it will all freeze into horribleness.

OH ALSO: whether or not you read webcomics, you should read Gunnerkrigg Court. It's just amazing; the art is very fine even from the beginning, and the plotting, pacing and characters are all excellent. I read all 25 chapters in 2 days, and wish I hadn't because now I want more.

EDIT: Woo, here comes the backlog of LJ notifications. x.x