Arriving in Montreal

We arrived in Montreal late on Monday 13 January and stayed at an airport hotel that night. Next morning, Tuesday, we were picked up by Isabelle Tardif and her husband Pascal Dostaler, with two of their three children. We felt welcomed straight away.

 

A welcome sign made by the children.

 

We spent a lovely day together, eating crepes (how French!), learning about their house, talking, playing, tobogganing, eating yummy food and drinking wine. It was a lovely day and Isabelle and Pascal are wonderful hosts and we feel very comfortable about swapping houses with them.

 

On the front steps of their-our house. We love the red front door.

 

The family were very kind in leaving many winter coats, clothes and boots for us. The children are all dressed in borrowed clothes, right down to the shoes. There are coats for the -20 degree days; then coats for when its -5 degrees, then coats for when its wet snow, positive temps .... and then the same with shoes. There is so much stuff! Tony and I are managing in our own clothes thus far, and have worked out what we will wear next week when the temps are predicted to drop.

 

During the afternoon, we went to a local park and did some sledding, which the children loved!

 

 

They had this nifty snow board that is used to teach young children the basics of boarding. Sophie picked it up straight away! She might be a snow-boarder by the time we get back! Haven`t told her yet that Daddy is a very dedicated skier, not a boarder!

 

 

Sophie now thinks that sledding is a daily activity in Canada and is not happy when we say that its really only a weekend activity! 

 

Isabelle, Pascal and family left early on Wednesday for their journey to Australia. We started our first full day on our own. Boy! There were a few challenges along the way, such as coping with driving on the opposite side of the road; directions being in French (everything is in French); finding the local shops and then finding the food we wanted; dealing with the bureautic system to enrol the students into school .... and so on. We found that everything took longer than we expected. All good challenges, but draining at the same time.

While we haven`t had snow since we`ve arrived (its predicted to arrive on Saturday), it has been cold. Nights are down to about -7 and days reach highs of about 3-4 C. Leaving the house involves snow boots, coats, beanies and gloves ... so it takes a while! This is us leaving this morning ... borrowed clothes again ......

 

... I`ve borrowed a jacket and hat but the rest is mine.

 

Our first impression of Montreal is how European it looks and feels. It is also very French! The first greeting is always Bonjour hello; depending how you respond indicates in which language the conversation will proceed. I`ve now learnt not to say Bonjour in response!!! French is the dominant language but everyone is very happy to speak in English. Tony and I both feel that we could be in Sweden. The streetscape is similar, the houses are similar and the amount of snow is similar. Most of the snow is melting at the moment, so we look forward to a fresh dump on the weekend.

 

While Tony and I feel that we need to buy coats, school uniforms, food, etc ... the children aren`t interested! They simply want to play in the snow. We didn`t realise they would get so much fun out of just playing on equipment in the back yard in metre-deep snow!

 

                 

 

The back yard - the play equipment and the deck at the back of the house. The amount of snow on the deck gives you some idea of how much snow there is around.

 

 We are using Isabelle and Pascalè`s car while we are here. Canadians drive on right hand side of the road. Tony has done most of the driving but I have had a few drives now - after a trial with Tony (I passed!) I even was brave enough to go to the shops on my own. New found freedom! The speed liit for most of Montreal is only 40km an hour, so its a good, sedate pace for me! The freeways have higher speeds.

The children start school on Monday and we`ve started to look into French classes for adults. We are keen to learn more. We`ve met some of the neighbours but are looking forward to meeting some more adults. We plan to ski on Saturday, at a mountain about an hour away. The neighbours recommend it and go their themselves: their son is a ski instructor there so we hope to join his classes.

Take care, au revoir, Gemma xx