Christmas at the Conlon’s

I am on the bus again, leaving Ottawa for Toronto, the last one of my travels within Canada. Quite a few happy events have passed since I last wrote on the 23^rd. I had a great Christmas in a very warm and welcoming family and a generally nice holiday period.

On Sunday the whole house hold got ready for Christmas Eve and Christmas day festivities. Last minute gift wrapping, picking out suitable outfits and discussing what colour make-up to wear (that’s what happens when you have 25-year-old twins in the family, who are uncommonly vain!) Mama Conlon started preparing the turkey stuffing bright and early in the morning. Yams had to be cooked and potatoes to be mashed. The Wiener SängerKnaben gave the whole atmosphere that pinch of cheer and joy, typical of this season! The family spent a year and a half in Vienna a decade ago and they are still quite partial to everything that sounds or looks Austrian, and that includes an apron embroidered with dancing Austrian folk ladies and a CD my grandmother would be envious of.
On Christmas Eve, we were invited to Annamarie's (the oldest daughter) parents-in-law. We had a very nice meal and a very nice evening in general. We did a Conlon-version of Secret Santa, which was great fun.

On Christmas day, we went to church in the morning. When we got back, we had a light lunch, while following up on Mr. Turkey in the oven. The big fellow needed 7 hours of roasting and looked more delicious every minute! After lunch we exchanged gifts and stockings, which are small gifts, such as a CD and a chocolate (well, "chocolate"…) bar. Ma and Pa Conlon gave me a presse-papier Canada goose, made by a Canadian company specialising in those kinds of artefacts. I really liked it, and I can picture it standing on my desk at home, as a reminder of my great time in Manotick.

In the afternoon, Laura Grace and I baked 2 apple pies, with the help of Betty Crocker’s recipe. Betty Crocker is probably the biggest and best cook book editor in the USA and as Mama Conlon is from Minnesota, American influence was noticeable in her house. The cook book is the ultimate guide to wholesome and typical American cuisine. We had a lot of fun and the pies turned out to be done to a turn! Annamarie and her husband Brad came over for dinner. I was very curious to try out the turkey and other dishes, which I only knew from films or ‘Friends’ episodes. It was a very delicious and full meal and everyone liked the apple pie, which made Betty (Laura Grace) and Miss Crocker (myself, we were quite taken with the whole cook book concept!) very proud.

We had a nice evening, watching some Pride and Prejudice episodes (the BBC version). Brad suggested to have a gingerbread house-decorating contest, so we made two teams: Laura Grace and Margaret Mary (the twins) against Annamarie, Elizabeth Ann and me. We each had a gingerbread house, icing and sweets and gummy bears to make a winning design-house. We had a lot of fun, and by the end of the decorating, we were just as covered in icing as the houses were!

Sales start on Boxing Day in Canada, so Tuesday brought me to a selection of Winners and HomeSense stores to skim the racks for bargains and Winner-deals. Winners is some sort of discount clothing store that buys over all the double orders and such from major brands and sells them at at least half of the original price. Boxing Day clearance took an extra 25% off of the price, so it really was a day for deals! I found a very nice Ralph Lauren sweater at 75% discount and some nice leather gloves (for a ridiculously cheap price). I also purchased Betty Crocker’s cook book for $ 10, which I am quite excited about! Next time you come to visit me, odds are I am going to serve you a nice American meal!

We were quite exhausted when we got home and the only thing we were still able to do, was finish the BBC Pride and Prejudice. I was quite taken with Colin Firth’s performance, but somehow could not get over Jane Bennet’s manly face. But, other than that, it is a very nice filming of an even nicer book.

This morning, I packed my bags, sent some e-mails, took the last opportunity to chat with Laura Grace, had lunch and took off to the bus terminal.

Thanks to the whole Conlon family, I have an excellent week to look back on and a Christmas I am very unlikely to ever forget!

Ottawa and freezing rain: 3 days in a real Canadian family

I have been in Ottawa, Canada's capital for 3 days now and I think that calls for a post to be written. Quite a few things have happened, interesting, intriguing and culture shocking events, so you might want to read on.

Wednesday, December 20

I took the Greyhound bus at 9:30 and arrived in Ottawa-city five hours later, everything went well. I was picked up by Laura Grace and her father Paul. They live in Manotick, some 20 minutes away from down town Ottawa, in a very peaceful little village, with mostly American-style house. I was delighted to see one house after another I might want to live in one day! I met the rest of the family: Martin, Annamarie and her husband Brad, Laura Grace's twin sister Margaret Mary and Elizabeth Ann. They all use their double names and it is quite a challenge to get them right when I need them... I always think before I talk!

Thursday, December 21

On Thursday, Laura Grace and I took off to down town Ottawa. We visited the National Gallery of Canada, a nice museum, located in a very lovely building, overlooking Parliament hill and Ottawa river. We spent quite some time there, browsing through the different galleries. The group of seven, Canada's best known and probably most talented painters, and the European section probably were the ones to recommend. After that, we had lunch at the Rideau Center, another huge mall. We mingled with the hundreds of crazy Christmas shoppers and tried to find an empty table in the overcrowded shopping center. People looked preoccupied, stressed-out and quite distressed in their quest for the perfect Christmas gift. Quite amusing if you are not part of it and just look at it from the sideline! Laura Grace made me eat poutine, a local 'delicatesse' ... Basically, it is French fries (as the Americans call them), with gravy and cheddar cheese lumps. I am not sure how that would be welcomed in Belgium, but I thought of the good old Belgian fries with quite some nostalgia when eating it! Those Northern Americans, it really is not easy to make them understand and appreciate good cooking!
In the afternoon, we visited the Parliament, another nice building. We took the tour, which required us to go through several metal detectors and even officials searching us for explosives or other items that might cause damage to the nation of Canada! We went through the House of Commons, the Senate, the very nice library and were allowed to take pictures. The whole inside was beautifully (and tastefully, for once!) decorated for Christmas! We also went up to the peace tower and visited the Memorial room, where the people who died for the country are commemorated. John McCrae, the Canadian soldier who wrote the famous poem "On Flanders Fields" is probably one of the most direct links between Belgium and Canada and he is honoured there as well.
After that we strolled along Spark street, an open air mall, we took the bus home and had a nice dinner.
As all the Conlon girls are Jane Austen fans, we watched the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice and had a lot of fun, imagining to live in the 1800s!

Friday, December 22

Yesterday, Margaret Mary, Laura Grace and I went to the Museum of Science and Technology, my first science museum ever and it was worth it! We spend 6 hours there, and really, it was not boring at all! At one point, I even considered studying science and for those of you who know me a bit, that is a big step! The museum gave an overview of the development of scientific experiments and inventions with lots of interactive displays. The feature I liked most was 'Autopsy of a murder', a room where you had to be the chief inspector and solve a murder by finding clues. In the meantime, you learn about the different techniques that are used to solve crimes. It made me realise that investigative journalism is still alive in America and is a realistic option!
When we got out of the museum at 5pm, Ottawa's streets had turned into skating ranks... It's a Canadian phenomenon, called 'freezing rain' and as the name reveals, it is rain that freezes onto the ground. Everything is covered in a thin layer of ice. You see cars slipping, and gliding over the streets, it is very difficult to stay upright and extremely cold. You just wish to be indoors basically. I was shocked to see how dangerous it is to go out by car in these weather conditions. I don't think it is an easy country to live in during wintertime.
When we got home, safely, we had dinner and a very nice conversation about cheap clothing and holiday shopping!
We watched one episode of the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice and went to bed, exhausted from a very full, interesting and quite challenging day!

Today is Saturday. I am talking to my family, even pa has bothered to come down to our house to see me, on webcam that is. They are all getting ready for Christmas, and so is this family. Tomorrow will be dedicated to getting the Turkey stuffing ready and relax for a peaceful and joyful Christmas!
I hope your Christmas will be merry and filled with gifts of happiness and good cheer!
Happy holidays everyone!

Goodbye melancholy and the Nutcracker

Saturday evening 9pm. I'm in my room, just had dinner and for the first time, I actually don't want to write this post... The feeling that everything is coming to an end, that the term is really over, that I am going home in less than a month is a bit overwhelming and, as I had expected, not the feeling I want to have at this point. Of course I am happy to see my friends and family again, but I think that we all want to hold on to something that worked out for you, something that made you happy, something that taught you a lot. And this whole exchange experience did work out for me and did enrich me in a way that I had not expected. So, now I realise that this is one of the last posts I'll be writing, I do have to ask you to excuse me for throwing in a meloncholy thought or cheesy line hither and thither.

Last Wednesday, only a few hours after I got back from Montréal, the group said goodbye to Lydie, Aurélie and Jessica, yes, the 3 Françaises. We went out for dinner in the Green Room on Bloor Street, had some drinks and a few 'French' laughs. The majority of the gang took off to a club, but I said goodbye to them there, as I still don't like clubs, wild parties or dancing (which prooves that, deep down, I'm still the same person as the one that left Belgium on September 6th). We had a lot of fun together, over the semester and those three ladies were kind of the center point of the group. Great people, and I felt quite sad walking home afterwards, knowing that they will be back for the second semester, whereas I will be in Leuven... I am sure I will see them again, once we're all back in Europe but at least it didn't feel like a goodbye-for-ever. And by the way, once you have lived in North America, the distance between France and Belgium, really isn't as challenging as it used to look!

On Thursday I worked on my bachelor paper, mainly. I am reading Pride and Prejudice for the umpteenth time, and this time I have the perfect excuse! It is unbelievable how rich that novel is, and dear gentlemen, may I remind you that it was written by a WOMAN, over 200 years ago! The language, the wit, the irony, the humour and the uncertainty about whether Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth are getting together or not (even when you perfectly know they do end up marrying each other every time you finish the novel) make this Jane Austen story one you should absolutely read before you leave this earth. Really, I'm serious, read it, you won't regret it.

Friday, more of the same. In the afternoon I had a coffee at Timothy's World Coffee with Charlotte. We covered a wide variety of topics, ranging from driver's licences to Christmas cards. On our way over to her appartment, we stopped over at Honest Ed's, because I wanted to take a picture of Ed's little paradise-on-earth and take the tour of his surreal shop. You really need a video-cam to capture the whole atmosphere, and I attempted at doing so by just taking some pictures to never forget the level of craziness and lunacy that is acceptable in Canada. Lynette, Charlotte and I cooked a very fine meal together and spent a very pleasant evening chatting.

Today, (guess!) I worked myself through some more Austen-material, always a delight of course. I did laundry and talked to my sisters online. They both were in an extremely funny and slightly crazy mood, which is caused by exams, they assured me. I kind of miss them, I realised... the way they pull each other's hair, the way they start arguing (I could follow all this on webcam) over who gets to type, the way they hit each other one moment and hug each other the next, Julie's eyes, full of mischievous and adventurous plans and Fré's contagious smile... They're really one of a kind!
At 2pm, Katharina and I had tickets for the Nutcracker, performed by the National Ballet of Canada. It was the matinée performance, which included tons of kids, dressed up as if they were about to kiss the Queen's hand. All very American, I can assure you! The ballet was very good, I liked it a lot. Although I know the music and have seen the ballet before, I never grow tired of watching ballerinas, light as feathers, flying over the stage in a perfect combination of beautiful music and elegance of movements. It just takes away the worries that happen to be in your head and makes you feel quite small compared to those dancers and the composer who gave life to the story by writing music that still does the trick.
Lynette and Charlotte joined us for a cup of coffee afterwards and we had a nice and easy afternoon. At about 7pm, I said goodbye to Lynette, who's leaving for Hawaii early next week, and Katharina, who's leaving for the States when I'll be in Ottawa. Another two people that will be in Toronto, when I won't be...

I guess there's no point fighting it. My time in Toronto really has come to an end... I sigh and say goodbye... there's nothing else to do. Life goes on, luckily the memory stays.

A great weekend in Québec, je me souviens…

I am in the bus, heading back to Toronto, and my weekend in Danville/Montréal is definitively over now. Full and varied as it was, I am going to try to give you an idea of what I did, since I arrived last Friday.

First of all, this wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for Martine and Patrick, the niece of my grandfather and her French husband, who moved to Québec 26 years ago. They were as thrilled to have me over for the weekend as I was to be there! They really are gorgeous people, very busy with the restaurant ‘Le Temps des Cerises’ and their auberge ‘Jefferey’, but they are both equally friendly, always smiling or laughing and very light-hearted. I don’t doubt it is a hard life, but I think they have really found their little spot in life; they are undoubtedly happy.

When I arrived on Friday, Martine was running her little army in the kitchen in the restaurant. Patrick drove me to the auberge, 300m further along the road. I stayed in one of the unoccupied rooms of the auberge, with my own bathroom, internet connection and TV. Extremely cosy and clean, the difference with my room in Toronto couldn’t have been more violent. We had dinner, mainly leftovers from the restaurant, so quite a fine meal!

On Saturday, we did some food shopping for the restaurant in Asbestos, the next village. The name derives from the mine that used to be there, but is now used as a mine for other, less dangerous, materials. We had a nice lunch in the restaurant (Belgian fries! Real ones!). In the afternoon Martine took me and Gus for a walk :). Gus is the family dog, a big hairy fellow, looks a bit overwhelming at first but we made friends within the hour, wouldn’t hurt a fly. Danville is a very cute and very North-American village: wooden houses, shocking Christmas decorations (a wide range going from inflatable Santas and reindeer to flickering and multicolour lights!) and all this covered in a romantic layer of snow. It was absolutely beautiful. On Saturday evening, Martine and Patrick had to work in the restaurant, so I stayed at home, doing some ironing and watching Maman, j’ai rate l’avion, aka Home Alone!

Early morning on Sunday, because we had to go to Montréal (1h30 by car) to distribute ‘les confitures et marmelades’, which Martine makes. Patrick and two of the three daughters, Alexandra and Gaëlle, did some dégustations in several shops in Montréal to get their products on the market. Martine and I covered all of Montréal by car, so I saw everything I read about in Canadian Literature in real life: le quartier juif, the Square Mile, le Vieux Montréal, Rue Ste Catherine, St-Henri and so on. My personal guide Martine, a Belgian in heart, had something interesting to tell about nearly everything, which made me realise that she has really blended in in Canadian and Québecois life. We went to a Christmas tree market, had a nice lunch with Gaëlle and finished our day in the vegetable and fruit market. We drove home, had a really nice meal, I showed them some pictures of Nieuwerkerken and our home and even though we were all dead tired we had a long and entertaining evening.

Monday brought me to Canada’s other side: the natives. 60 km out of Danville there is a reserve and museum of the Abénaki tribe, which Martine thought I had to see. On our way over to Odanak, we visited Albert, the most unusual person I ever met. Albert lives in an extremely old (even to European standards) house, quite in the middle of nowhere. He grows flowers and specific kinds of bushes, which he sells to flower shops in Montréal. When we entered his house, it was as if we passed through a magical time gate that brought us back to the late 1800s. It reminded me a bit of the mining houses, such as the ones in Disneyland, near Big Thunder Mountain :) . Everything was so old, very cosy, small and very rural! I really couldn’t believe my eyes! Extremely intriguing and sobering to see how ‘back to nature’ can bring people so much satisfaction and happiness. We had a cup of coffee and said goodbye to Albert, whom I will most definitely never forget!

We arrived in the reserve and drove through to the museum. Native Reserves are, as most of you probably picture them, NOT a bunch of tepees in a circle and savages running around a fire with tomahawks. They actually look like very normal Canadian villages, a bit smaller and a bit poorer, but other than that, just regular villages. The people are dressed as most Canadians – and I’m afraid that the cliché of the Canadian in a checked outdoor shirt is true – the only things that give away that they are descendants from the first peoples of the land are their faces and raven black hair. The museum gave a good impression of how the different tribes used to live and how things evolved to the present-day situation. There is a lot of discrimination towards Indians and they are considered to be a retarded group. However, efforts are being made to preserve their culture and knowledge, the museum being one of these. Other than that, some tribes make typical souvenirs that are sold in several gift shops in Montréal, the profits of which go largely to the fund of protecting their way of life and culture. I really was impressed to learn about Canada’s past and its efforts to secure its future.

We had lunch in Montréal with Frédérique, the first daughter. We walked a bit, dropped off some products downtown and in the early evening, Martine brought me to Alexandra’s room, where I stayed to visit Montréal. Cathérine, Alex’s roommate, works in a big hotel in the city as a guide for tourists, so we made a list of all the things I wanted to do on Tuesday. If it wasn’t for her, I probably wouldn’t have been able to visit everything that’s worth visiting in one day!

I woke up quite early on Tuesday to have a nice and long day in Québec’s biggest city. The sun was shining and a temperature of -5°, a truly lovely day to visit this city. I felt a very obvious tourist, with my little map and camera, but I didn’t really care! I covered all Montréal, did some shopping on Rue Ste Catherine and by 16h30 I was completely exhausted. I found a very cosy Second Cup, ordered a large latte and just sat in the comfortable couches and wrote a long letter to my grandparents. I had dinner with a friend of a friend (one of my friends in Toronto told one of her friends in Montréal that I would be there) in the city and by 22h30 I was back in the apartment. I packed my bags, watched the end of Cath’s film and went to bed.

After a profound night’s rest I got up quite early to catch my bus, which I am still in, at this very moment! We are halfway there. Every Canadian number/license plate shows what province the car comes from. And of course, this is accompanied with a little slogan (just to let you know, that we just passed a truck that is moving a house!!! An entire house! Prefab, brought to your door !). So, every number plate has a slogan, Ontario’s is Ontario, Yours to discover and Québec’s? Québec, Je me souviens…And I will remember this weekend!

End of exams and first day in Montréal/Danville

Unbelievable. Yesterday at 4 pm, I accomplished my 'academic mission'! Last exam (Littérature Francophone) went well, beter than expected! These last few weeks have been absolutely crazy. A couple of papers and then of course my 4-exams-in-3-days schedule. Madness! It was probably a good thing that I didn't realise 100% what was going on, I was just living on instinct. Get up, eat, study, eat, study, class, study, eat, exam, eat, study, sleep and that from Monday till Thursday. At 4, when I walked out of the examination room, I felt as light as a feather, worriless and quite without a new exam to get ready for!
I had Canadian Literature on Tuesday (6pm), which didn't go too well, unfortunately. I had a quite pleasing grade for that course so far, but I am sure my exam will take that considerably down. 18th Century Women Writing on Wednesday (3pm), which went ok, not great but ok. Should get a reasonable grade for that. Only two hours later we had to hand in our Mediaeval French-take home exam, which I hadn't finished yet. Quite a challenge, but I sent it 5 minutes before the deadline. Living on the edge has never treated me better! And then, my final Swift paper to hand in at 11, on Thursday and my last exam at 2 pm.
On Thursday evening I met up with Sarah, who happened to be in Toronto for a wedding anniversary. She lived in Steenberg last year and we have emailed since she left. We went to the Nathan Philips Square skating rink, but since it was -19° (taking the wind factor into account) we were in desparate need of something warm (anything!). We went to Eaton Centre and had a nice Starbucks Coffee, thank god for Starbucks!. Next, I took her to my tiny room, showed her the 23rd floor-view of Toronto's skyline and gave her a 5$ China Town bag to take back to Belgium with all my books and course notes. Thanks again Sarah! You solved my bag problem very efficiently. Hope everything went well, with both you and the bag!
This morning (Friday), I took the bus to Montréal at 9.30. It was only in the bus that I realised just how tired I was. I slept quite a lot, feeling the stress and pressure leave my system! Patrick came to pick me up at the bus terminal and we drove to Danville, the village (approximatey 2000 inhabitants!) where they live! I am so happy to be invited to their cosy home! Martine and Patrick have an 'auberge' and a restaurant, both equally homely. They live in one part of the auberge and the restaurant is about 300m away. They showed me my room, the gigantic TV and then, they had to rush back to the restaurant. I just watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on TV and sent some emails. I am going to start writing some letters and emails when I finish this post and just enjoy the serenity of a weekend without obligatory studying. Live in Canada hasn't treated me too bad, I guess.
Hope to hear from you soon! Some of you seem to have disappeared from this life! Let's hope it's just studying that keeps them occupied!