Around 6am my eyes swing open. Again, it's far too early to get up and surely contradicts countless complaints I made all through the time I had to get up at 6.30am to go to work. This time I'm falling back asleep, yesterday I was too excited and probably jet lagged...
Around 8am I'm up making coffee, quickly chatting with my host Roxanne, who is actually off to work. A whole day in front of me and I'm equipped with food, music, wifi and heating, plus a bike and a metro card to further explore the place I flew to all the way from Europe! Full of energy, I'm pacing along the kitchen window, opening the backdoor for fresh air and watching the fat neighbor's cat watching me from down in the yard. Then the fury ball turns around and shits right into one of the grassy patches, at least covering it's business carefully after completion. I return to the table to write about the fascinating things happening to me in Montreal when the cat turns up at the window, silently meowing and demanding entrance. Sure enough! It' freezing out there, so we cuddle for about a minute until he wants to get out again. Guess what, after I release the cute but stupid thing, it shows up on the window and demands to be let in. Note to self: no cultural differences in feline behavior here.
Alright, this is just one amazing event I can tell you about. Basically I'm deeply content to be here in this cosy wooden house full of friendly people and able to have so much spare time to cuddle cats and watch them doing their business. As mentioned, it's freaking cold here and as I learned it's not a good idea to try out the freedom of not wearing a bra. But my sore nipples are a different story...
Since I got here, things have been smooth and I felt comfortable with almost every new thing and person. I'm staying with Roxanne (French-Canadian) and Ibrahim (Mexican), who couch surfed with me last year around my birthday. My party was one of the best experiences in Germany for him, so he's returning the favor by spending his free day taking me on a tour around the city. First we visit the nearby market and I shop as many fruits and veggies as my small backpack can carry, then we explore the area by bike, mainly looking at awesome graffitis. Since it's forbidden to wear headphones on bikes, Ibrahim brings his speakers, and the Tequilla song and other 60s rock music make the temperatures just below 0ºC more bearable. I love this way of seeing a city, though the roads are bumpy, many houses in need of renovation and due to the grey weather the scenery looks rather dull. Well, I wasn't forced to come here in November, right?
Taking lots of pictures of those graffitis (most of them are from a contest), we end up chatting with a man in front a a huge car I had quietly complained about, and he actually turns out really nice, showing off his brand new shirt. Ibrahim takes me to a bar and we have Poutine (aka Pommes mit Bratensosse), mac'n'cheese (not a computer but pasta) and some local beer in lack of a hot drink. Hey, it might be only 2pm here, but long after 4 in Germany, if you know what I mean!
They speak mainly French in Montreal and while I'm trying to learn some Spanish in preparation to Mexico, I get completely confused. "Vous avez finit?" - "Si claro!" - facepalm. I know about 200 French words and maybe 50 in Spanish, which doesn't help when meeting Ibrahim's girlfriend who speaks only French and Spanish. Roxanne speaks all of them, Ibrahim, too. Together we speak Spanglench. Also we have a fun night cooking, playing Schweinewuerfeln and watching the neighbor's cat getting stuck in the cupboard. I even get out my ukulele and play some songs, sponsored by the red wine Santa Julia. I don't even manage to read more than a few pages of my book before falling asleep around 11pm. I'm happy with this sleeping rhythm!
That should be enough to give you, dear reader, a detailed impression of my new old life of free time and wandering about. Hopefully you're all well and know I'm still thinking of you, especially when seeing dog graffitis and waving crabs, eating poutine, hearing Madonna's Material Girl or doing fitness! Which I will do right after breakfast. And then I will explore downtown Montreal and the underground city that arises when temperatures fall. Indeed, life is good.
PS: You will find visual impressions of my adventures at parhelia.smugmug.com
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