Snow

It is officially snowing in Canada.  About four hours after we dropped my sister and Julie off at the airport it started snowing.  I am guessing that it is probably cold enough to be snowing in Iowa and Minnesota so this might be a moot point.  I think that for Halloween I am going to wear my down jacket and be a cold American. 

I also feel like I am finally adjusting to my life in Montreal.  About two months ago all I could think about was leaving.  The city felt so claustrophobic and every weekend I wanted to leave, drive far away from the city that felt so much like a cage.  It is funny that something so big could seem so small.  Now I feel comfortable here, I know where I am going for the most part and I have discovered I am really good at speaking French when I just nod and point.   Don't get me wrong, I still miss all of my friends and family but I now feel like I will make it.  I have made some friends, knitted a really ugly scarf, navigated my way around the city, started to learn some French, joined a library, and eaten some really delicious food.  Maybe this catepillar is finally turning into a butterfly.

Irony

Some of you have already read this as an email and for that I apologize.  I wanted to post this because my one faithful reader (you know who you are) hasn't read it yet and I thought I would make sure that he gets a little giggle in today.

The following is meant to be humorous, not depressing.

Last week, I received an email from someone at Gilbert because they wanted to include a little piece in some newsletter about what teachers are doing now since they left Gilbert.  This is what I wrote;

I moved to Montreal, Canada with my husband in August 2010.  It has been hard adjusting to not having family and friends close by but I have been enjoying exploring the city, visiting new places and learning about a different culture.  In my immediate future I am planning on taking French classes.

What I wanted to send was this:

I am currently unemployed in a French speaking provice of Canada.  I am a looser.  Even Wal-Mart won't hire me, I've asked.  I can't bus tables, teach or work with people since I don't speak French (I am bilingual but sadly it Spanish is my second language).  Everyday I get up, sign on to Gmail to see what emails I have waiting.  Three minutes later, after I have answered those, I sign on to Facebook.  I leave these webpages up all day and anxiously await any news from friends back home.  I then proceed to play solitare, hearts, freecell and majong on the computer while watching Gilmore Girls.  At some point during the day I feed the cats, shower, and drink Pepsi.  When I am not feeling too sad and lonely I go out around the city and explore by myself.  I come back home when I get yelled at in French and start crying in public.  I have been to a nude beach, some "mountains" and lots of shops that I can't buy anything in because I am unemployed. 

Ironically, two hours after sending that email I was offered a job at McGill University.  My first day is Monday.  I will be working part-time as a Research Administrator in the English department.  I am pretty excited as the job will entail some event planning and lots of organization.  Also I am having a great week with my sister and Julie.  It is so nice having people here and showing them all of the places I have been and exploring new ones as well.

Our Super Canadian Weekend

This weekend Forest and I had a super Canadian weekend.  On Saturday we started our day by going to Canadian Tire and buying our snow tires.  It is a law here that every car has snow tires for the winter.  If you don't buy them you end up paying a fine for 150.00 everytime you get a ticket.  We decided it was in our best interest and safety to get the tires.  Taxes here are outragous and the tires cost us twice what we spent the last time we bought tires in Iowa.  After the snow tires, we went to Mount Royal (the mountain) and walked around where we saw our first mounty!  I included the picture of the mounty but you can't really see him that well.  It was pretty exciting though.  Saturday night we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving which was really fun.  Then yesterday, I said my first eh. 

7 Week Itch

Ok so it has now been about 7 weeks since I officially started dating the city.  My first date was disastrous but I recovered, the 2nd date was much better.  During our 3rd week of dating I was able to get a pass to a few museums to get in for free and that was pretty fun as well. I  learned about Montreal's history, architecture, and I learned about Saturn.  Then came the rain..... For two and a half weeks it rained everyday and somehow I happened to be out in it each time.

Then came the sniffles...... Last week I was sick with allergies, the rain flu or something else and now this week I am getting better but am kind of in a dating rut from staying in while I was sick.  I know that I need to get back in the saddle but guess what?  It is raining again, 2nd day in a row.  On a more positive note, I have been meeting more people and I think I can actually say that I have real friends now.