A Recap

Some images from the past two weeks.

(At the Montreal Jazz festival, one of many of the "spectacles" that the kids like to perform for us, roaming Quebec City on a rainy day)

Maple Leaf vs. Fleur-de-Lis

In all honesty, there are times here when I could easily forget that I’m in Canada. Yes, the plethora of maple syrup products is odd and yes the conversation among company will inevitably turn to hockey at some point, but all in all, I’ve found the US and Canada to be pretty dang similar. It is much more obvious however that I am in Quebec. I see the Quebec flag a lot. Much more than the Canadian one. The people love their language and are very happy to see an American trying to speak it. They have some of the weirdest slang expressions and ridiculous curse words that are unique to their dialect in this little section of the world. C’est cool! They protested the arrival of William and Kate here in Quebec because they feel no little connection to royalty and don’t want to have to pay for someone else’s good time. They have their own foods and their own holidays.

Last weekend was La Fête nationale du Québec (the national holiday of Quebec). The family and I made the 2 hour drive to Quebec City to better take part in the festivities. The holiday started out as feast day for Saint John the Baptist, a popular celebration for pre-Revolutionary France. But since only the French part of Canada celebrated it, the holiday has now become a source of nationalist pride. In fact, I had to look up the history of the holiday because no one knew why John the Baptist was being honored or what happened on June 24th that was wroth celebrating. On the eve of the fête, Guylaine and Richard’s nieces and nephews went out to celebrate the holiday with faces painted, bodies plastered in tattoos of the Quebec flag, and shirts decked out in messages like “Vive le Québec Libre!” There was a huge party on the battlefield-turned-park where the French and British dueled it out for the last time and Quebec surrendered. For the first time, this year it was declared illegal to bring alcohol into the park. To get around this people had gone into the park before the concert/celebration and buried their alcohol! People showed up with shovels to find their respective treasures and celebrate Quebec as the Quebecois love to do – with plenty of drinking.

This weekend was an interesting lesson in contrasts: Canada Day. The holiday celebrates the anniversary of July 1, 1867 when most of present-day Canada was united to form a self-governing British dominion. People did not celebrate Canada Day much. In the afternoon, we went to the Jazz Festival in Montreal (which was fantastic) and I saw maybe a dozen people wearing Canadian flags on their hats or shirts. That night we saw an outdoor concert with fireworks. The concert was very subdued and the fireworks were good but it felt incredibly weird to be watching fireworks to celebrate someone else’s independence day. In my sheltered mind, fireworks were reserved for celebrating the 4th of July and nothing else. And so while I had a wonderful July 1st, it did not feel like a national holiday whatsoever. It was miniscule, nothing compared to the Quebec celebration and barely observed by most people here. Last night I asked friends what they had done to celebrate, and they replied that they had done nothing! And so I’m learning about and debating patriotism – what it does for your country and what it means, why Americans find it so easy and necessary and what makes the Quebecois seemingly prouder about their province than their country.

Un Homme Rose

Un homme rose: literally, a pink man, this phrase is used to describe men who are domesticated, that is men like Richard.

Richard does all the cooking when he is home and takes it very seriously. Once I went with him to pick up fish for dinner and he was adamant that we drive to a different city to get the freshest fish possible. He also owns over 300 bottles of wine. Last Sunday we all went to a huge food and flower market to sample, smell, and spend. I would describe the market as an interesting blend of Earl May, farmer’s market, Whole Foods, cafes, and almost every ethnicity under the sun. It can be so disorienting to see a crêpe stand next to a Frites Alors! (stand that sells French fries) next to a Indian spices shop. What a place! But anyways, Richard was in his element here. He was sampling all sorts of foods and picking out the best items. We decided what to make for dinner based on our purchases. It was a delicious and fun experience.

The food and how meals are done here are one of the biggest differences between the US and Canada. The Quebecois take great pride and pleasure in their food. I’ve had a few of the Quebecois specialties now that I’ve been here, and almost all of them have been delicious – fondue with a special type of thinly-sliced meat, something like shepherd's pie, maple syrup treats of all kinds. One that I surprisingly didn’t like was poutine, a Quebecois death wish: French fries topped with cheese curds and gravy and other additional ingredients if you desire. I actually found this dish to be nothing extraordinary, but didn’t dare tell any of the people I was with for fear of being abandoned in downtown Montreal. The Quebecois are very serious about their poutine.

Why do I say meals here are one of the biggest differences? For one, we eat seafood probably 4 days out of the week. That doesn’t happen when you live in Nebraska. Secondly, dinner (although they call it supper here) is served in courses. We sip on wine and snack on a vegetable or cheese plate while the final preparations are made. The first course is then usually salad or soup followed by a main course and a side or two. For me, side dishes at home are often plentiful but consisting of one type of food – broccoli, potatoes, green beans, etc. Here we have usually one side dish but it is usually some sort of vegetable medley or rice casserole. Besides fish, duck is another popular main dish. Then comes dessert and coffee and a happy Meredith. Thank goodness for pink men!

A Plug

Fabrice is a finalist in a Montreal comedy competition! There are 20 contenders now and votes will determine which ten get to compete on TV and then who will ultimately win a million dollars. Please help us rack up the votes! Go to http://ptitquebec.hahaha.com/finalistes.php and click "Votez Ici" on the video labeled La blague du concours des vampires. It's incredibly easy, you just enter your last name (Nom), first name (Prénom), and email address. Don't worry, I have been voting for several days now and I have not received any emails from these people.

Thank you in advance!

L'Eau De Javel

L’eau de javel: bleach

The family likes to watch a TV show called Génial! which is part Family Feud part Bill Nye. It is the only French Canadian show that I have liked so far. Two different families compete to see who answers the most scientific questions correctly. The answers are determined by conducting experiments and the explanation of a scientist. A sample question: Adding which of the following to the water in a vase will best prolong the lives of the flowers inside? A) a spoonful of sugar B) a Vitamin C tablet or C) a few drops of bleach. Answer: C!

The American

The weekend here was lovely, full of soccer games, bike rides, playground visits, and delicious meals. I met Richard’s son from his first marriage and his fiancé and enjoyed them both. When Alexandre, the son, heard I was from Nebraska he immediately started asking me about tornadoes. Apparently he is a severe-weather fanatic (they call him Monsieur la méteo, Mr. Weatherman). Other people’s reactions are just as enthusiastic, but for different reasons. Nude spa man had actually worked in Omaha for a few months but had few memories of it: the small airport, a ranch he visited one weekend, and the fact that the people were conservative. He was determined to make sure that I would take advantage of Montreal by trying new things and not being too “traditional.” I guess I crushed these hopes when I opted out of the nude spa visit. Richard and Guylaine didn’t know very much about the Midwest other than the fact that Midwesterners are known for not having an accent (which is incidentally part of the reason they chose me to come here). Richard had heard of Omaha though. He told me that he read somewhere that Omaha is the fastest-growing city in the US.

Everyone I have met has had one thing in common though when it comes to my home state: surprise. People are familiar with the two coasts and some of the bigger cities in the middle, but few people seem to think that people in Nebraska cannot be cultured or educated whatsoever. “You must be the only person there who speaks French!” Richard first exclaimed to me. Both Guylaine and Richard say I my French is great, better than their au pair from last year, and they are so puzzled as to how and why a Nebraskan would do this. I met a mother in the neighborhood yesterday who wasn’t aware that I was Fabrice and Ophélie’s au pair. She thought I was doing some sort of cultural exchange from a different part of Canada. She asked me which province I was from and when I told her I was American and from Nebraska she was shocked. She told me that it is very rare for Americans to speak more than one language, let alone to speak it well.

It’s not just my language abilities that surprise people though, it’s also my general knowledge of French and Quebecois politics and culture. Guylaine and I are friends on Facebook, where she is able to see my interests in various French movies and books. She was curious as to where and how I had learned this stuff. I suppose I owe a lot of my French pop culture knowledge to my high school French teacher, but I would still like to think that most Americans are still familiar with the movie Amélie or the singer Edith Piaf. At dinner Friday night I asked about the status of the Quebecois separatist movement. In the 70s, Quebec was very close to becoming its own nation; the final vote was actually split 49% to 51%. All the adults present were once again, surprised that an American knew about this. Likewise Richard was surprised when I asked about the large Jewish population of Montreal. I don’t know how to react to all of this. I guess I feel good to know that I’m perhaps dismantling the stereotype of the egocentric American who knows little beyond his own culture and history, but I also get angry. I just want to yell, “Yes it is possible for a Midwesterner and an American to know more than corn, the pledge of allegiance, and football. Why is everyone so surprised?” But then I wonder if perhaps their surprise is justified. How rare is my exception to the stereotypes? How many ignorant Americans have Canadians met that make them think this way? I know I’ve been lucky to get the great education that I have, but it seems like most of my friends speak more than one language, know multitudes about the world in which we live, and have studied or lived abroad. I guess this is part of one of those things they call the generation gap. Whatever the case, I hope the United States is one day not known for its ethnocentricity.

La Chouette

I'm going to try to start a Word of the Day sort of segment. This way I'll have a small record of what I'm learning and you will get a peek into my day. Who knows, maybe you'll even learn something!

Today's word: Une chouette (shwet)

I've heard chouette many times as an adjective meaning cool, but it is also the word for a female owl. It's Richard's pet name for Guylaine because she is a fantastic sleeper. The kids and I also came across this words while watching Ziboomafoo.