YQB Jour 14 - National Road Race weekend

This year the Canadian Road Bike Championship is being held in Québec City. However, I didn't know that until I was walking home from class earlier this afternoon, and I saw this.

YQB Jour 13 - "I climbed my suitcase"?! and other tales from my French class

Today I just finished my second week of class, and am at the midpoint of my stay here in YQB. I will give you a glimpse into the life of a French immersion student.

The school is located in the heart of the Old Town, 30 minutes walk away from my home. I have four hours of class everyday, and I spend the rest of my day wandering around the city, and doing my homework. The course is focused on conversation, and my biggest challenge is understanding what other people are saying. I learnt a lot of vocabularies in the past two weeks, and I can really feel my French improving. I have not dreamt in French, yet . . .

The majority of students come from Switzerland (German speaking), Mexico, and the USA. It's interesting that the Swiss don't go to the French speaking part of Switzerland or France to learn French, but fly all the way to Canada. They told me the French speakers there are not as welcoming and helpful as Canadians. Also, the courses in Europe are twice as expensive. Finally, by coming to Canada, they get to travel around North America before heading home. Sounds like good reasons to me. Besides those three main countries, there are students from all over the world. For example, I met my first Liechtensteiner here. Not surprisingly, she works at a financial company that manage trusts for "really rich guys".

Most of the students are under 30 years old, and one girl in my class is only 17. At the age of 25, I am already the second oldest person in the class. I feel old.

As for climbing my suitcase, it was a case of confusion cased by multiple definitions of a word. The word "monté" usually mean to climb, like to climb up a mountain or climb into a bus, and that was the only definition I know. So when I saw the sentence "J'ai monté ma valise" in my homework, I was thinking "I climbed up my suitcase"?! What were the authors smoking when they wrote that? However, the word "monté" can also mean to lift up something, like lift a suitcase up to the overhead bin. This is one definition I will remember for a long time.

Finally, we have this strange creature in every classroom. Does anyone know what it is?

YQB Jour 7 - An Introduction to Québec

When I got off the train at YQB, I've been on the road for six days, getting only five hours of fitful sleep each night. I was tired and getting agitated. I didn't care to admire the stained-glass ceiling of the historical train station, nor was I interested in the sculpture and fountain outside. I just wanted to get to my home for the next four weeks, shower, and get a good night's sleep. I strapped on my backpack, readied my map, and started the last three kilometres to a real bed. As soon as I pushed open the doors, the first thing that greeted me was not the fragrance of flowers in bloom, nor was it the romantic sound of the French language. It was the heat. The unexpected, sweltering, humid heat. I tried to cheer myself up by telling myself that I get to spend four weeks in the most European city in North America, and I ought to enjoy every aspect of it.

The first aspect of Europeaness I experienced was getting lost in the hopelessly confusing and winding streets. After I finally found my bearings, I had to deal with the terrain. Part of YQB, including where I'll be staying, is on top of a cliff. The train station is not. There are numerous steep roads and staircases that connect the upper and lower parts of the city. By the time I climbed the equivalent of a five stories building with my heavy backpack, I was ready to aggressively vocalize my feelings. However, I promised myself I will speak French at all time while in YQB. Since I don't know the French words for 'cliff' or 'stairs', nor do I know how to swear in French, I kept my mouth shut and kept walking. I would later find out it was 36°C including humidity that afternoon.



45 minutes later, I arrived at the neighbourhood I'll be staying at. It's a very quiet residential area, with lots of trees and beautiful old townhouses. I found the house, rang the bell, and a cheerful Québécoise greeted me. Before I could take off my backpack and rest my weary legs, I realized, to my dismay, her apartment is up a flight of steep narrow stairs, on the second floor.



En fin, je suis arrivé!

YQB Jour 6 - Vancouver to Quebec: Power Sightseeing

During my trip from Vancouver to Quebec, I stopped in Sudbury and Ottawa both for logistic reasons and to cram in some sightseeing.

Sudbury is a mining city in Northern Ontario. It started some 1.85 billion years ago, when a giant asteroid hit the region and produced the mineral-rich Sudbury Basin. Today, Sudbury is a major producer of nickel. I visited the mining museum, and the famous Big Nickel. Based on my 10 hours visit, I find the people warm and hospitable, though the drivers aggressive. The town is very spread out, so be prepared to walk a lot.



Ottawa is pretty, and the traffic surprisingly light. I seldom have to wait for cars when I jaywalk. :) Unlike Sudbury, Ottawa is very walkable, and there are many trails along the rivers and canal. After two days of exhaustive power sightseeing, I treated myself to an Ottawa special, the Beaver Tail. It's a fried dough twice the size of your palm, topped with sugar and cinnamon. Yummy!

YQB Jour 5 - Vancouver to Quebec: Sitting All the Way

Bonjour from Quebec City! I know I haven`t updated this site in a while, and I hope to catch up this weekend. In this installment, I`ll describe my trip from Vancouver to Quebec. I`ll cover Quebec City in depth in future articles.

Background: I got 5 weeks off from work, and decided to travel across Canada and then learn French in Quebec City for 4 weeks. Also, to spice things up, I will not fly there directly, but will travel overland. That way, I'll get to see the breadth of Canada from ground level. After much planning and changes, my final itinerary was to take a train from Vancouver to Sudbury in Ontario, spend the afternoon and evening there, then take an overnight bus to Ottawa. I will spend one day in Ottawa, tour the city, and take two more trains to Quebec City. This overland trip will take five 24hr periods to complete.

Since the price of a sleeper on the train is TRIPLE that of a seat, I spent my nights sitting in the "Comfort" class. It may actually be comfortable as long as you don`t have to sleep in it. I tried different recline angles, a variety of footrest positions, and an assortment of body contortions. I even walked around the car studying how other people, including the train attendants, sleep, and I still got woken up every few hours throughout the night. Amazingly, I slept better on the greyhound bus! Go figure.

Before you think I regretted taking the train, the seat is really my only complaint. Almost everything else about the train is great. Many of the amazing sceneries I saw can only be seen from the train. Travelling by train also allowed me to appreciate just how broad and varied Canada is. I enjoyed seeing the transition from the Rockies of BC and Alberta to the Prairies to the woods and rocks of Manitoba and Ontario. Canada is a beautiful country, and I feel so privileged to be living in it.







Although we didn't have the best weather, the view was still magnificent. Taking the train is a very relaxing way to travel. Forget about cell phones and emails. Just enjoy the scenery, talk to fellow travellers, read a book, or do absolutely nothing. Schedules become irrelevant. It doesn't matter what time you get up, or eat, or sleep, because everything you need, and everything you can do, are right there on the train. The train also stops at several stations everyday where you can get off, stretch your legs, and maybe even do some power-sightseeing.

Bottom Line: Taking the train is an excellent way to see Canada. However, either be prepared for some discomfort, or fork over the money for a sleeper.

YQB Jour 0

After 5 days of travel, I finally arrived in Quebec City. What a trip! More on that and Quebec City (YQB) in the coming days.

Où dans le monde est Eddie maintenant ?

I'll be going to Quebec City tomorrow. Stay tuned . . .