And now we are here. And it’s been amazing!
Granby is amazing. Our friends, Pascal, Josée, Marie-Neige and Jade are
amazing. Our new home is amazing. We feel so fortunate. It’s hard to believe
that it could have worked out so well with so little planning. I’m usually a
big fan of planning ahead, but taking a leap of faith seems to be a reasonable
option from where I’m standing. It’s like we were meant to be here.
But let me
fill in some of the details of “here”…
Granby is a thriving francophone town (pop.
60,000) just an hour outside of Montreal, located in the charming Eastern
Townships, les Cantons de l’Est. It has a beautiful lake, Lac Boivin, in the
centre of town with a trail system that is perfect for strolling, biking and
birding.
A 10 minute drive takes you into the countryside with farms, vineyards
and forests. An hour’s drive took us to Mont Orford for camping by a lake with
stunning views of maple forests decked out in their Fall colours. We are so
inspired by the beauty that surrounds us.
And back in town, we’ve tried the
coffee at seven different cafes so far, most of them right on rue Principale, the
main street which I’ve compared to West 4th Avenue in Kitsilano with
its abundance of shops and cafes. And best of all, we can walk to this trendy
street from our house… it’s just around the corner!
And if you ask Charlotte what she likes
best about moving to Quebec, first she will say “playing with Marie-Neige”, and
a close second is “my new pink bedroom in our big house!”
Neil & I love to sit
out on our front porch in the morning after Charlotte’s been picked up for
school by Josée, sipping our tea and planning our day. Yes, life is good.
Of course there have been some challenges…
such as moving into an unfurnished home – including no stove & no fridge (apparently this is normal for rental units here); limited cutlery,
dishes & pots (just our camping things initially);
and a REALLY dirty house (Neil scrubbed for days!)
But perhaps the most
entertaining of all have been our ID challenges. We quickly discovered
that they
love to see lots of identification in Quebec. In fact, we found that I didn’t have
sufficient
ID to get a library card. (I needed a note from Charlotte’s school!) We
ran
into trouble renting a video because we’d left our passports at home!!
And in
order to register for French classes, they required our long-form birth
certificates – the ones with our parents’ names! Why? We just scratched
our
heads and left saying, “Merci.” Clearly there's a lot more for us to
learn here than just French! (And, truthfully, that's the way we like
it. Remember I said we were crazy!) Vive les différences!!
But we have a teapot now… thought you
should know. It was an important purchase, carefully considered. (This wasn’t
going to be one of my “jump in” decisions.) Anyway, I’m happy to report that after
viewing many hideous options at yard sales and second-hand shops, we’ve got a
good one. And I’d be pleased to pour you a cup from her
should you come for a visit. The point is, we’re settling in.
