President Barack Obama will make his first international trip this week, visiting our neighbors to the north in Canada. On Feb. 19, 2009, he'll board Air Force One for the 75-minute flight from Washington, D.C. to Ottawa, Ontario. First Lady Michelle Obama is not expected to accompany him during the brief working trip. But a custom car will transport the president during his visit. The Toronto Star reports that a specially made bulletproof limousine developed by GM in Detroit has been airlifted in for the event.

I'm assuming that President Obama will receive a much warmer welcome than President George Bush did during his 2004 Canadian capital debut, where large numbers of protesters awaited the POTUS. Canadians seem to be fond of our country's new CEO, and their national media is all over his upcoming visit. I recently spent six days on a music cruise in the Caribbean featuring mostly Canadian musicians (Barenaked Ladies, Sarah McLachlan, Great Big Sea). With the prospect of warm weather and homegrown music, it was no surprise about one-third of the cruisers on board were also Canadians. But I was a little surprised at the overwhelming thumbs-up I received when asking their thoughts about our new president. The Canadians I spoke with were downright giddy about the new leader in the White House, and laughed when I told them I could finally remove the maple leaf stickers that have adorned my luggage for the past eight years.

Before the inauguration of Barack H. Obama as 44th president of the United States, Canada's CBC Radio 2 invited its listeners to nominate and vote for their favorite "49 Songs From North of The Parallel" to welcome President Barack Obama. From Jan. 5-16, 2009, Canadians helped select the top 49 Canadian songs that would "best define our country to the incoming President Barack Obama." More than 130,000 votes were cast for the final list of songs, which includes a variety of genres and lyrics in both English and French. They nominated, they voted and here are the winners.

I don't know if President Obama has any of these , but in honor of Thursday's visit, he should at least download a few. 49 Songs From North of the 49th Parallel

Affairs of the Heart: Marjan Mozetich