Tout à coup

Tout à coup, I’ve found myself back in high school. Every morning, I ride my bike to school, hurry in to be before the bell…

The photos get better from here on out, I promise.

After a short pause for lunch, I return to school for afternoon activities. At least once a week, I venture into the countryside courtesy of my chariot, a yellow school bus.

Les pneus sur le autobus go round and round…

Welcome to my world in Trois Pistoles. Thanks to the Canadian government, I have the chance to spend five weeks immersed in the French language in the middle of scenic Quebec. It’s hard to be distracted from my studies here when the attractions include a Dollarama and a poutine hut. However, the school works hard to keep us very busy with activities morning, noon, noon and night. One of the highlights has been the three tasty-if-slightly-overabundant meals a day for me and six other hungry students, served up by a lovely Quebecoise woman and her husband.

The beautiful table where we dine whilst we stumble over our French, 21 times per week.

Due to the overabundant meals, I eagerly signed up for a 20km ramble in the woods during my first weekend here, which afforded some beautiful views.

My feet were protected from lots of rushing water with lovely bridges, old and new.

I’ve just returned from a weekend in lovely Quebec City, which might have been even more enchanting than I remember now that I have some idea of how to penetrate the thick tourist crust that the city has created.

Chateau Frontenac on the hill, as seen by the blossoms.

It’s French-language only here, and if they catch you speaking another language three times, you are invited to take the next train home. However since not much English is escaping my lips these days, I’ll leave you with this photo to remember me by until I return to my anglo-franco-life in Montreal in mid-August.

I asked my friend DS to take a photo of the bright green bug on my finger, but she took this photo of me instead. Go figure.

Separate ways

Greetings from our fair city of Montréal! As H noted in her last post, we've returned from our half-year adventure across the pond. We enjoyed the fika, the wine, and the tramwejs, but really, we're very glad to be home at last.

First things first: the best latte / mocha in the world, courtesy of Caffé Art Java.

H didn't get to enjoy Montréal too long, though. Just this past Friday, she zipped up to Trois Pistoles in order to begin her now second annual five-week French immersion course. The good news: it's really heartening to spend part of one's summer on something both fun and edifying. The really good news: the Canadian government will be picking up the tab. Did I mention that finding really incredible bargains is one of H's secret superpowers?

As for me, I was planning to take a French immersion class at McGill, but after taking the placement test I was informed that my level was "too high." Um, d'ya think maybe it's that the levels of your courses are "too low?" So now I'm surveying the rather vast possibilities of how to spend my time productively. I'm sure I'll come up with something... For the moment, I'm just organizing the house after our move-in and enjoying the city.

Surrounding skyscrapers reflect the spire of lovely Christ Church Cathedral.

More to follow...

Home at last!

A quick post to let anyone who has been faithful to checking our untimely postings know that we have returned to Montreal and are happily settling back into chez nous.