This Summer [3/4] - Solo Trip: Montréal & Portneuf

 MONTRÉAL 

Montréal was the most spontaneous part of my trip. A super memorable one too! 

Montréal happened because I got to know Myriam (she is a Montréaler!) and also Jeremiah who had plans to explore Montréal. Me and Myriam prepared many dishes together, and I could feel my taste buds unlocked new sensations with Pâté Chinois (Québec style shepherd's pie), bagels (fried with coconut oil and dipped in maple syrup), homegrown cherry tomatoes baked with potatoes and onions :9 Myriam fed me really well (yumz yumz), and I really enjoyed preparing food with her!!! 

Also, Myriam has a super bubbly personality and she is super considerate. She made sure her friends spoke English when they came over (although they usually spoke French), and she changed her plans to have Shrooms at her friend's place (instead of having her friend over) just because I don't engage with Shrooms T_T.  

I spent my first full day exploring Montréal with Jeremiah! We hiked Mount Royal and explored the old port, old town, Jean Talon's market, downtown, and Chinatown :) ((The trees and lookout point filled with skyscrapers at Mount Royal screamed Singapore though🤪))

I stayed in on the second day to just enjoy life indoors by myself. Did my laundry and volunteered to vacuum the house :) The original intention was to catch up on my Singaporean commitments but spent the time making art using Myriam's art supplies --- (side note: HER ART IS BEAUTIFUL 😍) I painted a family portrait for her and drew a plane with our plane number on her art apron. Then, I found dinner at a yummy Punjabi restaurant nearby.

I spent the last full day with Myriam. We toured La Cabane, Myriam's previous workplace, a super cool space that caters to homeschoolers #siteVisit :) We also bought the first bagel in my life, and I decided that my favourite bagel flavor is 'all dressed' with cream cheese spread!!! We parted ways because I got stuck in a children's bookstore and Myriam had other plans. I love how inclusive the titles were! :)

Myriam's place is super clean, tidy, cosy, nice smelling, lack of clutter, and has natural sunlight. The energy within the space was one that was comforting and healing. Her place is now the benchmark for my dream house :D Truth is, I did zero planning for Montréal. The farm I originally connected with could not host me anymore and I was trying to reach out to other farms. I thought to myself since I did not have a fixed date to reach any farm, why not go explore Montréal? The initial plan was to intrude for two nights but it dragged on to four because I was still trying to connect with other farms. But!!! This is a blessing in disguise!! I got to know Myriam better and had so much fun with her and her community :)) 

PORTNEUF

I carpooled back to Quebèc City (at 120km/h hohoho) and my host Julie brought me to different parks on our way to her house. She also treated me to "real poutine". According to Julie, it has to have fresh cheddar that creates a sound when we chew on it :D 

My original plan was to WWOOF - work for a farm for accommodation and food, but did a Workaway at Julie's when I couldn't find a replacement. It was another super spontaneous decision but #noRegrets

The culture shock was real: outside shoes were worn indoors. The house was also filled with sand and dog fur and clutter (I have been too pampered at Myriam's xD). Yvon and Julie were nice hosts, and their family members and past Workaway travellers were cool people. But, Portneuf was the first place that gave me an emotional low tide, I even had thoughts of counting down (but I didn't because I didn't want to math).

I felt incredibly left out by the French conversations; certain terms were translated to me here and there but I couldn't relate because there was no context ;-; I have always been conscious of language-based microaggression in SG, and this experience as a 'language minority' wasn't a pleasant one. The grandson was super rood too, I remember he snatched my slippers and also kicked me in the arm as he shouted "SMELL MY FEET!" in perfect French ʕ⁠ノ⁠•⁠ᴥ⁠•⁠ʔ⁠ノ⁠ ⁠︵⁠ ⁠┻⁠━⁠┻ I wasn't in the position to handle his behaviour but it got me thinking about strategies I would use to respond to such a child if he were in my classroom #howToTellPplImAnEducatorWithoutSayingImAnEducator #CantHelpIt #WorkHazard 

However!! I managed to resolve these difficult feelings and become at peace again after taking some initiative on my part 😌 Apart from coming up with a random game to play with the grandson (despite the language barrier - I gave up on the audio translators), I also asked them about their French conversations. Apart from cooking and going on many road trips together, we played a dice game that taught me 1-10 and 100/0 in French :) We had a mini language exchange where I taught them some mandarin! They struggled with the intonations while I struggled with words that contained throaty sounds or needed me to roll my tongue #NonExistentOralMuscles xD

Some things I helped with around the house were cleaning, organising the scrap materials and decomposed leaves in the yard, and assisting with the woodwork :) Yvon was very on about fulfilling my wishes of wildlife spotting. He would bring me to deer hotspots on foot and by car. Although we didn't manage to spot any deer, I'm still very heartened by his efforts :D (I think I might have seen the silhouette of a moose in the woods we drove by but I'm not excluding the possibility of it being a delusion that stemmed from my wildlife-spotting daydream xD).

Time flew by really quickly, and I'm glad I had this experience as part of my solo journey :)

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Highlights of the trip home include: Flight cancellation, San Francisco for the night, 29+24hours trip was no joke hahaha but nonetheless grateful for the smooth resolutions/journey :D