the difference it makes
i am so lucky, and here's why:
the sun makes a huge difference. i feel these first days of mine back in montreal would have been sooo much worse without the sun. it's been a splendid beginning of october, so far, though i know we have to expect rain/cold at any point. i just want to be outside every moment of the day.
so here's chinatown in the sun, while i was going to ServiceCanada to wait in a very very long line to get my SIN number (assurance sociale, whoa!)
then i walked downtown a bit, on my still sunny way to the bank. this is place des arts, where all i like is the shape of those light contraptions, and the people like insects in the sun.
the following 3 pictures were all taken 100 meters away from my bank , close to the mcgill campus. first off, another nice cafe name:
then a statue that's new to me, but pretty typical of what you might expect to find (as statue postures go/ or in flesh) on rue maisonneuve at any given point in time:
and then, sudden movement! right between the sidewalk and the street (full of traffic), my first squirrel of this year in montreal popped her head from behind one of the decorative pots by the kerb. then she stood for a photo, very unconcerned and well-mannered. i took this as a good omen, am i allowed to?
so that was one day...i'm beginning to lose count. earlier in the week i used to wake up at 6 a.m, then it moved closer to 8 a.m. now i'm perfect where i am (sleep at midnight, wake at 8) so i'm trying to keep with this schedule.
having the time to adjust and indulge in it makes a huge difference.
i keep saying this, it helps that the temporary place i chose is in a feel-good neighbourhood (villeray), close to the metro and the market place and to all things of necessity. it helps to be waking up in a cozy room, with a window, in a well-lived-in space, to be speaking french to people who don't hold the quality of my french against me :), or just to be at my computer listening to routine friendly noises of nice people moving around me. i couldn't have chosen better.
another day:
(alice munro getting the nobel for literature makes a huge difference. i've been loving her and what she represents to me in literature since as soon as i set foot in canada. i remember reading "lives of girls and women" almost exactly 6 years ago, sitting on the grass by the side of the street in my neat and very strange-looking to me neighbourhood. she was what kept me grounded those first days. the thought that insights like hers are possible in canada, that her writing is liked and 'has made it' in canada. and see, now it's taken over the world!
i want to see alice munro in english on every possible shelf in romania now, quick!)
so after dealing with downtown 3rd day in a row (bank and phone):
having a phone makes a huge difference. even if i only managed one long-distance call last night, but god, was it worth it! i remember 2010, walking in the street, crushing fall leaves, talking talking to people far away. this has been part of what montreal has come to mean to me - being half somewhere else and aware of it all the time, but in a way that doesn't detract from the fact that i'm here.
(my mum asks why i need a phone plan with illimited talk within canada, since i have the internet. to which i'll let my not-in-montreal friends who hate skype/hate the internet/don't-have-headphones-anymore-because-the-bedbugs-ate-their-headphones answer.)
anyway. my point is:
- laughter on the phone touches me deeper than laughter on skype.
- radio on the phone!!! montreal music stations on the phone!! welcome back in my life!
then i felt the need to chill and gave up and went for a walk in parc jarry. had i avoided it before? probably, because of reasons. sentimental reasons. but it's as beautiful and, ah, flawless:
i think there are places (like people) that will always be good and amazing for me, no matter the associations. it feels good to recognize that something is intrinsically good for you.
it's really a bit like when they say "when you meet [THE ONE] you'll know." it's annoying a bit, and reassuring a bit.
how long til winter comes?
c.
the sun makes a huge difference. i feel these first days of mine back in montreal would have been sooo much worse without the sun. it's been a splendid beginning of october, so far, though i know we have to expect rain/cold at any point. i just want to be outside every moment of the day.
so here's chinatown in the sun, while i was going to ServiceCanada to wait in a very very long line to get my SIN number (assurance sociale, whoa!)
 |
| they might have had some sort of special occasion...not really festival, but something...cause i don't recall those flaglets hanging there on a regular basis |
 |
| this is the exit from china town, 3 hours later, after i got out of the line with a temporary SIN number |
the following 3 pictures were all taken 100 meters away from my bank , close to the mcgill campus. first off, another nice cafe name:
then a statue that's new to me, but pretty typical of what you might expect to find (as statue postures go/ or in flesh) on rue maisonneuve at any given point in time:
and then, sudden movement! right between the sidewalk and the street (full of traffic), my first squirrel of this year in montreal popped her head from behind one of the decorative pots by the kerb. then she stood for a photo, very unconcerned and well-mannered. i took this as a good omen, am i allowed to?
 |
| hi, cutie! fat and with a very fluffy tail, that's how i like them!! |
having the time to adjust and indulge in it makes a huge difference.
i keep saying this, it helps that the temporary place i chose is in a feel-good neighbourhood (villeray), close to the metro and the market place and to all things of necessity. it helps to be waking up in a cozy room, with a window, in a well-lived-in space, to be speaking french to people who don't hold the quality of my french against me :), or just to be at my computer listening to routine friendly noises of nice people moving around me. i couldn't have chosen better.
another day:
(alice munro getting the nobel for literature makes a huge difference. i've been loving her and what she represents to me in literature since as soon as i set foot in canada. i remember reading "lives of girls and women" almost exactly 6 years ago, sitting on the grass by the side of the street in my neat and very strange-looking to me neighbourhood. she was what kept me grounded those first days. the thought that insights like hers are possible in canada, that her writing is liked and 'has made it' in canada. and see, now it's taken over the world!
i want to see alice munro in english on every possible shelf in romania now, quick!)
so after dealing with downtown 3rd day in a row (bank and phone):
having a phone makes a huge difference. even if i only managed one long-distance call last night, but god, was it worth it! i remember 2010, walking in the street, crushing fall leaves, talking talking to people far away. this has been part of what montreal has come to mean to me - being half somewhere else and aware of it all the time, but in a way that doesn't detract from the fact that i'm here.
(my mum asks why i need a phone plan with illimited talk within canada, since i have the internet. to which i'll let my not-in-montreal friends who hate skype/hate the internet/don't-have-headphones-anymore-because-the-bedbugs-ate-their-headphones answer.)
anyway. my point is:
- laughter on the phone touches me deeper than laughter on skype.
- radio on the phone!!! montreal music stations on the phone!! welcome back in my life!
then i felt the need to chill and gave up and went for a walk in parc jarry. had i avoided it before? probably, because of reasons. sentimental reasons. but it's as beautiful and, ah, flawless:
i think there are places (like people) that will always be good and amazing for me, no matter the associations. it feels good to recognize that something is intrinsically good for you.
it's really a bit like when they say "when you meet [THE ONE] you'll know." it's annoying a bit, and reassuring a bit.
how long til winter comes?
c.
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