Time for an update!

Wow, I can't believe I haven't updated this thing since March! It seems like things have been an odd mix of busy and slow here. In some ways not much has been going on, and we have really settled into a comfortable routine. But there have been a few fun events here and there, and we're enjoying ourselves as always!

Let's see, where should I start? I guess I'll go back to where I left off and work my way forward. In March it was still cold and there was some snow on the ground, although it was starting to melt a bit. It was very slushy outside, and we spent a lot of time inside. I had fun taking some pictures of Callie though.



I guess it's an indication that April was pretty quiet, too, as the only pictures I seem to have are of the silly birdhouse I made! I remember that in April there was still the occasional snow flurry, right up until Easter, although the temperature had obviously started going up since it was possible to sit outside without a huge coat on. The birds had started coming back to the city too, though ironically it was the seagulls that reappeared first. By the end of the month most of the snow had gone, and the temperatures started feeling human again. The highs began getting up into the 40s and 50s in the daytime, and it seemed like the entire population of the city was looking for any excuse to get outside in the sunshine, us included!

In May, I was lucky enough to get to spend a week in Arkansas, although David couldn't come because of his summer schedule. I visited Devil's Den with the family:



Had a ton of fun out with the gang on a Tuesday night:



Got to shop with Hazel and then have a nice dinner with her and Derek:



And generally I just enjoyed having some time to unwind, shop, eat, and visit all the people I've missed! It was a really great trip, and I have lots more pictures on Picasa if you're curious.

Last weekend we celebrated a friend's birthday here, and she insisted we all go out to a Salsatheque for an evening of dancing. It was my first experience with Latin dancing, and let's just say I need a bit more practice! But it was different and fun, and everyone seemed to have a pretty good time. I don't know if David and I will go back any time too soon, but hey, we tried it!



So now it's June, and the city is really waking up after the long winter. Everything is completely green, there are trees and flowers and grass, and yes, I am experiencing some allergies!



But it's really beautiful, and already winter feels a long way away. The weather has started to turn really gorgeous, and at last we can leave home without a coat or even a jacket. On Friday David and I met up when I got off work to go to Mondial de la biere Montreal 2009 - Montreal's 16th beer festival! It was right downtown in Windsor Station, and since we went at around 5:30 the crowd wasn't too bad. It was a bit expensive, but we got souvenir glasses and tried a wide range of crazy beers.



My favorite was a rose cider, but I think David enjoyed a nice Carlsberg. Neither of us particularly enjoyed a German beer that tasted like smoky sausage... very bizarre! The festival was great though; there were tents inside and out, and the crowd on the grass in the courtyard really reminded us of good times at Bonnaroo last summer!









Toward the back of the courtyard we were pleasantly surprised to find a cart selling Beaver Tails, and since I didn't get a picture from the one we got in Ottawa a few months ago, here's one so you can finally see what I'm talking about. Yum.



The longer we stayed the more crowded it got, so we eventually finished our beers and headed out. I couldn't believe the line out the door as we left, but it wasn't surprising for a Friday night. On our way out we went through a little park where we saw a very bold squirrel chowing down on some leftover fast food, which was kind of cool and sad all at once. Then we went to see Star Trek again (yaay), came home and had cookies and milk, and generally had a very enjoyable Friday.





Well, in just a few days we will have Darby and Stephen up for a visit, which we are really looking forward to. Of course, now I have to go arrange the apartment so they won't have to sleep in the uninsulated storage room... I'm sure they'll appreciate it. Anyway, hopefully I can put up some pictures within two or three months of their visit and give you all a more punctual update! Miss you all and hope it's sunny and summery where you are!

-Shannon

February was a busy month!

Hi everyone!

It's been a while since we posted, but we have had a lot going on. February was a good month for us, what with Valentine's, a trip to Ottawa with friends, and experiencing a unique cultural festival! I'll start with Valentine's Day. The Friday before, David was sweet and surprised me at work with a lovely bouquet he picked out himself. On Saturday, we went together to a little "Cabane a Sucre," one of these little cabins that pop up all over the region to sell maple-themed products. After the first thaw of the season, the maple starts flowing from the trees, and all the syrup producers start going crazy. It's the best time to get super fresh maple products, and these little cabins sell lots of it. Things like maple syrup (obviously), maple candies, maple pastries and pies and desserts, and a special dessert that roughly translates to maple taffy. It's called "Tire d'erable," and you make it by wrapping an ice cream stick around thick hot maple syrup that is spread out on a board of fresh snow. We paid $2 each at the little Cabane we visited to try it. It was a bit too sweet for us, plus it didn't seem to cool quickly enough so it was sticky and drippy, but it was fun to try! (As always, I have more pics on Picasa!)





The weekend after that, Feb. 21, we went in a rented car with Jim and Mikaela for a long weekend trip to Ottawa. This was a very winter sport-y weekend, as we took part in some type of winter activity every day! On Saturday we went to Winterlude (or Bal de Neige), and ice skated on the Rideau Canal, which runs through the entire city. We skated 9 kilometers in a couple of hours, and enjoyed seeing the various attractions we could skate up to, that were set up right on the ice.



We went early in the morning, and it was much more crowded when we left than when we started! I think skating is much easier when you don't have a thousand other people around you... Anyway, after skating we walked through Winterlude and saw some amazing ice sculptures created by professionals from around the world. Some were a little melted, but most were very impressive nonetheless.





On Sunday morning, we embarked on a 4 hour cross-country ski trip. I think I speak for David too when I say, "Ok, I tried it, now I'm done with it"... It's like jogging in that it is very athletic and mostly just feels like a lot of work, but a little worse because you can't easily look around and watch all the things you are traveling past. When we stopped on the trail there were definitely some beautiful vistas, and they made for some nice pictures at least.









Did I mention that much of the trail was pretty steep? We stopped at this point, where it started looking a lot like the pig trail (except covered in snow)...



We stopped and ate a picnic lunch, sitting on David's coat on top of the snow, and then got up shivering and made our way back! Jim swears we all made great time getting back to the car, and while he might attribute it to improved technique, I think it was more like desperation for warmth... Once we got back into the main part of the city, we headed to the Byward Market to try a Beavertail, another local snack. Imagine funnel cake dough, but fried into a flat, long oval shape. Then, while it's still hot, put butter and sugar on it, and add toppings of choice... For me, it was Nutella, and for David it was apple cinnamon. They were seriously DELICIOUS! I don't have any pictures because we ate them so quickly... Then after our snack, and since Ottawa is kind of like Canada's D.C., we headed up to Parliament to see the government buildings. We were able to see the inside of the House of Commons, the Appointed Senate, and the Library of Parliament.







On Monday we went downhill skiing at Gray Rocks, a mountain that's a couple hours north of Montreal. David loved it; I liked it better than cross country, despite taking a few hard falls. I'd like to try again sometime, though! Unfortunately my camera took a roll in the snow during one of my falls, but I managed to get this pic before that, on our first ride up the bunny hill...



All in all we really enjoyed our trip to Ottawa, and it was a nice reminder that if we rent a car there are lots of places that aren't really that far away. It was also one of those trips that was pretty exhausting, and it was kind of a relief to be back in our apartment afterward!

Last weekend, Montreal hosted it's sixth all-nighter festival, called "Nuit Blanche," or sometimes "White Night," "The High Lights Festival," or "Montreal en Lumiere"! In short, it's a winter festival that culminates on a Saturday night, when many attractions throughout the city (like art museums, galleries, cultural centers, music performances, etc.) stay open all night and offer free or very cheap admission. We went to the Old Port area, where there was a huge ferris wheel, a big crowd dancing to a good DJ, lots of food and fire in barrels and all kinds of wintry things.





It was really, really cold, so we didn't stay outside for too long before heading in to see the Science Centre. There is just something cool about being allowed in for free and staying past midnight! It was goofy but we had a fun time in there, especially with this music table that let us mix our own songs using a touch interface and lots of things we could tweak. After we chased a 7 year old away, we stayed in there for quite a while. And then we learned about pulleys and gravity...





After the Science Centre, we headed to a big square (I've forgotten the name) where a couple hundred foot long ice slide was set up, and we watched people careen down it at high speeds. We stood back and enjoyed hot cider and hot milk+maple+chocolate (both delightful), and we walked around the square peeking at art exhibitions. There were tons of things to see, but with it being so cold it was hard to wait in the long lines to see every attraction, so we finally headed back home. By the time we got back to our apartment later that morning, it was March! It's hard to believe we are already three months into the year, especially since it doesn't feel anything like spring here yet! Mostly it is still cold, cold, cold - although I've heard rumors that it will warm up above freezing in the next week. We are definitely looking forward to that!

<3 Shannon

A few shots for comparison

I just thought it might be neat to show everybody a few shots illustrating how things have changed around Montreal since we got here last August. You all know that we've had snow in the last few months, but last week we got an especially strong snowstorm, which dropped over a foot of snow in 24 hours. (It's the same system that has many in Arkansas still without power, except ours turned to snow rather than ice.) Anyway, here are some pictures from around our apartment and the city, to show you just how green it used to be here! These pics are also on picasa, if you want to examine them more closely.



I hope you are all safe and warm!

Shannon

Finally back from the holidays!

Well, sorry I'm so behind in getting this post up, but it has been a busy few months (as I'm sure everyone feels)! It's hard to know where to start, so I guess I'll back up to December.

As most of you know, David and I were able to fly back to Fayetteville for a week around Christmas. We had a pretty crazy time of it, actually, especially where travel was concerned. Out of all our flights, both going and coming, all but ONE were either delayed or cancelled! On our way in, we arrived pretty close to our scheduled time despite all the weather trouble, and our bags were only lost for about 24 hours. We had a great time visiting everyone, although it was a pretty complicated week. We managed to see both sets of parents, both of my sets of grandparents, and even our friends in the short time we were home. I think everyone felt that it was sort of a teaser - just long enough to remember why we miss each other so much, but too short to feel like we spent enough time with anybody. Still, we were incredibly grateful to get to be home, and we certainly cherished our time with everybody. I think Callie was happy to reconnect with Byron, plus all her human grandparents! (: Here are some pics from our trip (and as always, there are many more on Picasa)!







Although it was really hard to leave, David and I managed to pack up all our gifts and fit everything on the plane (but of course we went over the weight limit on our luggage). We made our first connection on the way home with no problem, but our flight from Chicago to Montreal was cancelled "for maintenance"! We were re-routed through Boston and put on an Air Canada flight. Little did we know, Air Canada does not allow pets on their planes! So in short, they didn't allow us to board the flight, and our choice was to rent a car and drive, or to wait until morning to get on standby for a flight BACK to Chicago, then get on standby for a flight to Montreal... We rented the car! We had an interesting drive from Boston to Montreal, dropped the car off and got a cab, and finally got back to our apartment around 6:00 on Monday morning. What a trip that was!

After we got back, David had a bit of a break before school started up, but I went right back to work. (I took Monday off though, since I just had to get some sleep...) My office closed for 2.5 days for New Year's, which meant I really only had to work a day and a half after we got back before getting a 4.5 day weekend! On New Year's Eve I left at noon, and that night Jim and Mikaela came over to celebrate the New Year with us. It was fairly dorky, but definitely a lot of fun - shots, champagne, and Guitar Hero! At around 11:56 p.m. we put the TV on CBS so we could watch the ball drop in New York - we clinked our champagne, toasted the new year, each couple shared a kiss (aww), and then we went right back to Guitar Hero! It was great. (: We have seen Jim and Mikaela a lot lately, pretty much every weekend, and most of the time 2-3 others come as well, so there is a pretty nice social group that has really started to solidify here. Here are pics from New Year's:





In other news, it has been REALLY cold lately! This week has been milder, with highs around 10 and even into the teens, but the week before that was bitterly cold. We had a week straight with "highs" in the negative, and a constant wind chill of between -15F and -30F! I never took wind chill all that seriously until we moved here, and suddenly it is the most important thing on the weather forecast page... Thankfully we have lots of layers to wear, and our apartment has been pretty cozy, although we have used our little electric heater a few times now that the temps are regularly cold. This week, because it's slightly warmer, has been very snowy. It has snowed for several days straight, and is supposed to continue into the weekend. The accumulation hasn't been more than a few inches on any given day, but there is a slow, steady accumulation that probably won't stop until spring (probably mid-April, they say). The snow is beautiful in the mornings because everything is freshly white, but it does make getting around a bit tricky! Early this month we had "blowing snow" - it's not a blizzard, but it does entail high winds and painful bits of gritty snow constantly flying into your face. Here's how it looked outside, and how David looked when he got inside!





All things considered, we are still feeling very happy here. We are lucky to have a nice place, means to pay our expenses, and even a growing social network. I think as the winter wears on, we will have to fight a bit of cabin fever when we feel trapped in our apartment, but we are trying to encourage each other to go out and be active. We hope to plan a ski trip sometime soon, maybe when the weather comes a bit further out of the negative range! In the meantime, we are keeping busy - aside from work and school, we have finally started our French class! We meet downtown twice a week in the evenings, and it seems to be a really good group of people. So far we really enjoy it, because it's good to see new people and the class has really been pretty fun so far. We only signed up for six weeks to start, but we will likely add a longer session once this one ends.

Well, that's about all I can think of for now. I hope everyone is warm and happy!

Shannon

Let it snow!

As you might have guessed from my title, the snow has started falling in Montreal. We had already gotten a couple of (retrospectively inconsequential) snowfalls, but last week was crazy! On Tuesday (Dec. 8) we got several inches, and from that Wednesday to Thursday we got 25 centimeters - that's right, almost 10 inches in a day! Before and after:







David and I are handling it pretty well, if I do say so myself. We both have snow boots (and boy am I glad we got them BEFORE the real snow started), plus gloves, hats, scarves, and coats of course. As long as we wear layers, the cold isn't so bad, but the wind on face/nose/ears can be brutal. We have already had days where the wind chill is -20F, and that's pretty tough! I had forgotten how totally bizarre it feels when the inside of your nose freezes. Thankfully the apartment is warm and we are generally pretty cozy, and David has even shoveled and salted our stairs already. The only one having trouble is Callie, who hardly knows what to do with all the snow. The first time David took her out in it, he set her down and she just sank straight in... now we have to clear a place for her so she can even have her head above the snow! She walks so gingerly across the ground, shaking her paws after each step, and looking at us so reproachfully.



It's interesting to see how the city changes with the weather. Everyone is required by law to have snow tires, so there are cars on the road all the time even when there is snow/ice all over the roads. It's strange snow, too - gritty, slushy, but not really wet. Since we had freezing rain recently, now it's sort of like having a couple of inches of damp sand on top of solid ice... it's pretty tricky to walk on!! And it's not just pedestrians who have trouble with it; anytime I'm outside there is a car within earshot that is squealing its tires, trying to get out of an icy parking spot or to accelerate from a stop. Cars are even less likely to stop when the traffic lights change, too - often times they just sort of continue sliding through the intersection. Generally I've been impressed though; I haven't seen a single traffic accident yet, so obviously they have some idea what they are doing. The reliability of buses suffers in the snow, however. The city didn't plow streets or sidewalks overnight when it snowed so much, so that morning I waited forever for a bus that never came, before I finally just walked the half hour to the metro. (Walking takes much longer in the snow.) It made me late for work, where I realized that pretty much everyone else was late, too! So at least it wasn't just me having trouble with this weather.

Despite mild discomfort and a little inconvenience, I think we are both really enjoying the snow. It's very pretty for the most part - except for the brown slush on the roads, which Quebecers call something like "slotch." I can't spell it but I can kind of pronounce it - it's a lot like "slush." (: I am looking forward to when we have the chance to ice skate outdoors, and to go skiing on a nearby mountain! That will definitely be an adventure.



Last weekend we hosted (rather unexpectedly) a secret santa Christmas party. I cleaned in the morning, bought/dragged home/decorated a Christmas tree in about an hour in the afternoon, and then had just enough time to fix appetizers before the party started! I actually MADE appetizers - a roasted garlic hummus dip and these little broccoli/cheese/egg mini crust-free quiches. It was all pretty good, too! We had Joan, Jesse, Meg, Ryan, Mikaela, Jim, and Pascale here.



Everyone seemed to have a good time, and Mikaela and Jim stayed into the wee hours of the morning playing cards - including some good old E.R.S.! We had a lot of fun with everyone, and will probably do something again for New Year's.

Well, it is now Thursday night, and in just over 24 hours we will *hopefully* be back in Fayetteville! We have much cleaning and packing to do between now and then, but it can't come soon enough. For those of you at home - can't wait to see you!! For everyone else, Merry Christmas, and more updates to come after the holidays!

-Shannon

*More pics on Picasa (toward the end of the album)!

Ice Skating, Party, and Christmas!

Two great weekends in a row!

I guess I'm a little behind in my updating, but I know everyone will forgive me. So let's see what you've missed...

Two weekends ago (Nov. 22) I actually got a group of people to go ice skating with me! Mikaela & Jim (dating), Pascale and Alejandro (dating), Joan and Jesse (married), and David and I all made it out for an evening on the ice. Since it isn't that cold yet, we went to an indoor rink, and the 8 of us had a really good time racing around the track! Ok, some of us weren't racing... think "pulling self along the wall via handrails" speed for a few people. Most of us did pretty well though, balancing somewhere between cruising pretty comfortably and/or leaping acrobatically through the air over the five year old who somehow bolted straight into your path... Pretty amazing. Here's us on the ice, and several more pics are on Picasa!





After skating we felt a lot like you do after swimming (STARVING), so we got some dinner, and then all saw Bond in the stadium theater together. We had a lot of fun, and I think we are going to try that skating thing again outside when things start really freezing over!

Last weekend was Thanksgiving, kind of strange for us since we didn't get off work or school at all, and not too many people noticed. Thanksgiving isn't as big a deal in Canada as it is in the U.S., for some reason. Still, our landlords invited us downstairs on Friday for a not-typical but yummy Thanksgiving meal (roast beef, string beans, and twice baked potatoes), followed by a very competitive game of Scrabble! It turns out they have moved to one of their other apartments and will now be renting the one downstairs to someone else, and at present it is suddenly unoccupied. Kind of good/bad, in various ways. Unfortunately for them, they weren't moved out yet when we had our party on Saturday night! The same group who ice skated came over for an evening of Guitar Hero, a DDR rip-off PC game, wine, beer, pizza, cookies, and this card game that I think was called "Jungle Fever"..! Yes, it was as fun as it sounds. (:







Most everyone stayed so long they had to get a cab home because all the public transportation had shut down, which I took to be a good sign. It was nice to have people over for a change!

In other news, the weather is taking its sweet time getting cold - I think it is enjoying our fear and drawing out the inevitable. We got a pretty decent snow last week, with a couple of inches of accumulation. So far it only seems to snow at night.



The ground is so cold that even though it has been well above freezing (near 40) in the day for the last week, there are still blobs of snow around town that have turned into tiny glaciers - a little jagged and completely solid. It makes me realize that once the snow really starts, it won't go ANYWHERE for a while....

Regarding our household appliances, there is an exciting development. Our poor old stove has been slowly dying for the last month, and finally finally our landlords brought us a 'new' one today! They installed it while David and I were both out of the house, so I came home to a shiny-ish surprise. Ceramic top, too - fancy! Here are pics of the "new" stove, and the tragic old one, where it was left to die:





Despondent appliance aside, we are doing well here. David has just about wrapped up his first semester, which will be a great relief for him! I know there are a few seminars and papers to go, but he's almost there and things are looking good. Meanwhile I have officially applied to the MA program in Gender & Women's Studies at McGill, so I will have to find a way to not think about it as much as possible until I get the verdict sometime next year!! I'm keeping my fingers crossed though; I am loving the idea of being in school - and NOT at a desk - for a change!!

We are just over two weeks away from coming home for Christmas, and we absolutely can't wait to see everyone!!! It will be a busy week (Dec. 19-28 if you're keeping track), and we are going to make the most of it. In the meantime we are counting the days!

Happy Thanksgiving to everybody! Hope everyone is warm!

love,
Shannon