Getting involved

Quick post today...

We have weekly team meetings at work to go over past actions and to plan ahead for various tasks. These meetings are all in French, so I don't do too much talking. In fact, I get most of the information from the meeting minutes that follow.

So I was quite surprised to find out 2 things after today's meeting:

1. I volunteered to give a presentation next week, in French, to various government agencies.

2. I volunteered to be part of a committee. But what this committee does, I have no idea.

Fantastique.

Welcome to Chez Paul

This weekend was the first visit from Toronto friends: Phil, Dave, Lillian, and Marcin. I was looking forward to this ever since I accepted the job back in December, because I knew that this had to be an experience to be shared. I really hope more people have some time to visit. Montreal is a great city and for me, it's much more fun discovering it with friends.

Just like our past trips, there are too many funny moments to list. But most of all it was great to spend time with people I haven't seen for a while and probably won't see together for another few months. As much as I like Montreal, it makes me miss Toronto even more...

PCHO/DSMALL/LDM/MARCIN, leave your comments about the trip! I will post the traditional list of funny moments once I get it from you.

Some trip highlights (in chronological order):


Upstairs Jazz Bar... remember that really weird drummer? He had to have been on drugs...




Cafe au lait and pastries at Au Kouign-Amaan Boulangerie et Patisserie. Very quaint French bakery around the corner from my place.



Don't mess with these guys.



At Schwartz's for the best smoked meat in the world. Basically, if you come to visit me in Montreal, I am taking you here for lunch. You'll understand when you walk out the door with a satisfied stomach.



The lookout from Parc Mont-Royal... just a little cold (i.e. - 25 celsius at LEAST)



S CLUB!



Brokeback Montreal
(seems like dsmall + pcho + me + camera = trouble)



Dinner at L'Academie with one bottle of wine each.

(... notice that the next picture is of breakfast. This pretty much sums up my night as the time inbetween dinner and breakfast is a bit of a blur...)



Hangover breakfast the next morning



Skating in Old Montreal



Nice group pic... thanks for coming guys!

Sightseeing

This past weekend, I decided to get off my lazy ass and actually explore the city. On Saturday, after picking up my VIA train tickets, I set off to explore downtown. I also did some exploring with family friends on Sunday.

Another lesson learned: -30 degrees celsius and an insane wind are probably not the best conditions for sightseeing. Ice covered sidewalks make for an adventurous time.

I started at Marie Reine de la Monde cathedral, which is an exact 1/3 of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Since I haven't been to the Vatican, this was the next best thing for me.


Looks the same as St. Peter's on the outside... minus the Pope


Whoa! Amazing in here... imagine what the real thing must look like...


Great picture of the Dome and ceiling


Next, I walked along Rene-Levesque Blvd and guess what I run into:


Ahh yes, my previous employer.




Check out La Tour IBM. Why they built this in Montreal and not in Toronto, I will never understand. Look at it! It's unbelievable. Much better than 3600 Steeles in Markham, eh? It's one of the taller buildings in the city at 199 m (to compare, the Bank of Montreal tower in Toronto is 298 m).

On Sunday, I went with family friends to St. Joseph's Oratory, the biggest church in Canada. These pictures do not to this place justice. It is absolutely gigantic.



An up close picture... maybe 1/4th of the entire place. It's on top of Mont Royal and overlooks most of the North and West areas of the Island of Montreal.



Inside the basilica. Again, maybe 1/4 of the actual size. It seats 2000 people, but with standing room only, it holds 10,000!



Great view from behind the altar of the Dome.



Looking from the altar to the back at the gigantic organ (using different light settings on my camera)


A statue of St. Joseph. You can light a candle for a personal intention. Brother Andre's tomb is just behind this.


The Votive Chapel. Lots of candles for intentions. The other cool things about this room are the canes and crutches lining the walls of the chapel. Apparently, they were left by pilgrims who came to see Brother Andre for cures and favours. Really inspirational.


The view from the Oratory.

Overall it was a really great weekend. Got to see a lot more of the city, despite the freezing cold.

This weekend should be great. Will update again soon.

Freezing

If my posts make it sound like I'm not really feeling the living alone scene... it's because it's mostly true. At this point anyway. Still not used to having all family and friends living so far away. I remember Katie quoting the 3-month rule i.e. 3 months before you truly become acclimated to your new location. I'm sure by April I'll feel more comfortable, but right now it's tough.

Work's been meh. Pretty monotonous. I was really looking forward to going out tonight but the -25 celsius windchill and the beginnings of a cough persuaded me to stay in. Boo to that.

I also enjoy buying tickets to concerts I won't be able to go to. Case in point: Dallas Green in Montreal on April 14. Great show, good looking venue, but it's Good Friday and I am 90% sure I'm going home. Dallas Green tickets, anyone?

On another note, is it just me or do the Olympics make you interested in sports that you would otherwise have no care for? Example: Women's cross country relay. I was pretty excited watching the race and seeing Canada take silver. Then all of a sudden, I realized that it was women's cross country relay and sat myself back down. Thankfully, Don Cherry came on to set me straight again with hockey talk.

Hopefully everyone is doing well.

Settling in

My mom came up on Friday and stayed for the weekend to help me get settled in. How she gets things done, I will never know. While I was at work, she:
1. Found a cheaper and closer grocery store that DELIVERS!!! No more walking 15 minutes with bags of groceries a.k.a. 30 lb dumbbells in each hand.
2. Filled my fridge with groceries
3. Got my couches set up in the living room
4. Found a drug store that delivers and got cleaning supplies
5. Found a Portuguese bakery that makes my favorite flan desserts
6. Found a French bakery that makes fresh pastries and baguettes
7. Cleaned my bathroom
8. Cooked sinigang (Filipino dish)
9. Found a cure for cancer
10. Bench pressed 300 lbs

(ok, maybe not the last 2...)

Needless to say, I was quite surprised when I got home. On Saturday, we went around Montreal and I took her to Schwartz's.



For those of you who don't know Montreal, this place has the best smoked meat ever. Basically, you get either lean, medium, or fat smoked meat in 2 tiny pieces of bread. Then you can order sides like coleslaw, fries, a huge pickle... typical deli stuff.



So after eating all of this food, we walked for an hour all the way to downtown for some shopping.

That night, our family friends came by for a house warming. More great food (smoked meat and Portuguese chicken from a place down the street) and they got me a great bamboo plant for the place. Too bad the Leafs lost... losers (you know they haven't won a saturday night game since I've been here?!).



Monika was in Montreal as well this weekend, so we met up for some beers at a French bar near me. Clearly, the waitress wasn't impressed with our lack of French... thankfully I ordered a bottled beer. Yeye.

So overall it was a great weekend. When my mom left, I got severely homesick and watched TV on the couches she got me. In just over a month away from home, I never wanted to back more than I did at that one moment.

My Dad's flying back to Toronto from the Philippines... hoping he has a safe trip. Will be seeing them again in about 3 weeks, and I can't wait.

And it begins...

So it's been a slow week for updating the blog cause I've actually had a chance to go out a bit... in summary:

Finally went to L'Academie on Wednesday. Bring Your Own Wine is pretty amazing, especially with the liquor store right next door. The food was great, but the atmosphere was even better (especially after the 5th glass of Yellow Tail). Definately gonna check this place out again.

CSA Interns

On Thursday, some of the French interns at CSA organized a pub night at 3 Brasseurs on St. Denis and Masionneuve. Great bar... they brew their own beer ($4 before 7 PM, heyyooo) and they have some great pizzas. I tried "Le Smoked Meat"... pretty self explanatory... I was impressed with the big dill pickles they had on the pizza. Also learned some "colourful" French terms from the students. Probably shouldn't be using those at my meetings...

Great week so far, I now have 2 places to take people when they visit. Hopefully that number will grow...

My mom's visiting for the weekend. Gonna keep it low key... will update again soon.

Bienvenue au Plateau

I moved into my new place on Feb 1. My parents came up to drop off the rest of my stuff, The Bay delivered my TV, and Ikea delivered most of my furniture (thanks for the broken chair, a-holes). The move has been alright... although I've been running lots of errands and getting pretty tired of it. Should be done and settled in within the week.

Note to self: do not buy an insane amount of groceries when you have to carry them home. A 10 min walk turns into a 25 min marathon.

The area I'm living in is called Le Plateau. Apparently, it's full of young professionals and artsie types who frequent cafés and trendy restaurants. One of the more famous places to eat, L'Academie, is right down the street. Looking forward to trying the Bring Your Own Wine.



The view from my balcony

Funny moving-in story:
My building is on top of a Jacob store, so I had to go in to read my electricity meter to start my account. But i didn't realize it was a Jacob LINGERIE store. So I walk in and ask the manager if I could read the meter. BTW, the manager was hot. This is key.

However, she couldn't speak English very well so I had to talk to her in my broken French. Then she was confused cause she didn't know where the meter was, so she called her 4 co-workers, who btw, were also hot. They then surrounded me and proceeded to talk really fast French, trying to figure out where the meter was.

And since it's a Jacob LINGERIE store, they were all holding lingerie as they were talking. LOL... what a way to start my Plateau experience.


I see this every time I walk out the front door. Sweet.

The building has a lot of character on the outside - quintessential Montréal. But the inside is completely renovated, so it's nice and modern. And really really spacious... quite the change from my living arrangements in Toronto.


My place at night. I'm on the 3rd floor, right above the window with the 2 curtains.

My couches have yet to arrive. So my living room consists of a TV, a chair, and my guitar.



So things are looking up. The commute time has been cut in half and I have a great opportunity to check out a really cool neighborhood.

Make sure you guys come visit.

Reflections

I've moved in to my new place, but before I talk about that, just some thoughts on my first 3 weeks...

When I found my place in Le Plateau in early January, I was so excited that I was willing to wait until Feb 1 to move in. Lucky for me, my mom has a friend in Montreal that was kind enough to let me stay with her family until my apartment was available. Since I'd never met them before, I didn't really expect the 3 weeks to be too eventful... more as a placeholder before I really "start" my Montreal experience.

But looking back, it was probably the best decision I've made so far. Not only did I have a place to stay, but I got to know a really great family. Being around them, I learned a lot about kindness, generosity, tolerance, and especially patience. Most of all, I was grateful to have grown close to a loving family, and for my own family to get to know them throughout these 3 weeks.

Coming to Montreal was a purely selfish decision in the best of contexts. I saw it as an opportunity for ME to grow, learn about MYself, experience new things. But now, I think it's much more than that. It's about growing close to my family even though we are 500 km apart... it's about getting to know people, learning from them, and using that as inspiration for the betterment of yourself... it's about bringing 2 families closer together.

So maybe this experience isn't about me after all.


Will post more tonight/tomorrow. Missing TO... let me know how things are going back home.