Adventures With Dad

Well, We left Montreal on Monday intending to land in Quebec City. The campground in Montreal was ok, but really expensive, and we had decided to move so that we could be in a less expensive campground, and spend the week there. Then one week in the Maritimes, and them homeward bound.

In Quebec City, the snow was (literally) 8 feet tall in much of the campground. There were a few open spots for us, but the more important thing was that they had no Internet. At that moment, we were about 45 mins away from Gina’s eLive session. This is a daily “tutoring” program aimed at assisting struggling kids. It’s good for Gina. She’ll argue and goof off with us all day, but ask her to work in front of a computer and she’s all over it. So she’s loving it, and it’s CLEARLY benefiting her in terms of her marks. So it’s good all around. But it’s every day, and it happens over the Internet, and Gina needs it, and Gina, Mom, and Dad are in a “contract” that says that Gina will NOT miss it, ever. Period.

So we dropped the camper at Walmart, and took the truck to a hotel, and ripped off their Internet so Gina could go to her class. During that time, Nicole and I called every campground, basically all the way out to the coast. We did find a few that were open, but none had Internet, and that’s really a deciding factor for us now. So we made a really hard trip back to the Flying J about an hour east of Montreal, thinking we’d use their Internet. They had none. After a few hours of being frustrated, and taking it out on each other (not really fighting, just basically having a long non-productive conversation) We spent the night at the Flying J, and now we’re back in the overpriced Montreal campground now. That will prove to be the most eastern stop on the Canadian portion of our adventure. From here, it’s all homeward bound. So although we all know it, I don’t think anyone has really verbalized that our trip is winding down now. We’re heading home. Kind of sad to see it end. At least I am. I know that’s more than a month away, and it sounds like our tenants might need longer in our house (which we’re OK with), but still kind of sad to know that yesterday we decided that we’re done, and we’re heading home.

We’re going to hang out in Montreal for a while now. I’m sort of starting to feel more comfortable with French. I certainly couldn’t have a “good” conversation, but I bought gas today, and even Gina said that the lady at the till didn’t know that I didn’t speak french until she asked me about windshield wiper fluid, and I had no idea what she was talking about. That was a bit of a give away, I guess. Actually, Nicole was even questioned too. She had asked a guy where is the Flying J. When she asked, she said pronounced it Flying Jay. In French, J is pronounced more like Gee, and the guy kinda called her on it. She laughed when she got back into the truck.

I will say, Nicole keeps shaking her head at me, and laughing, and giving me the “what?!!!” type looks when I speak in French. I actually see it as a good thing. I can understand more words now natively, meaning I don’t need to translate them in my head to understand them. This is good, because I can use French way better. The problem is, I’ll try to make sentences now that I wouldn’t have tried before, and I just don’t really have the grammer for it, so I really, REALLY , ***REALLY*** sound like a 2 year old. But clearly, I could learn this pretty easily now. I just need to be surrounded by it more. Another thing I’ve learned is that I can’t read it as well as I can understand it spoken, and I especially can’t write it.

As long as we’re in Quebec, we’re all French all the time in here.  The kids hate it.  Actually, I think everyone hates it except me.  But whatever.  Gina needs the practice, and it’s beneficial for Melanie too.  So too bad for them.  I think it just makes Nicole cringe when Gina or I speak.  Oh, well, she’ll get over it or I’ll get better.  Either way works for me… 

Tomorrow we’re moving again, still in Montreal, but somewhere about $20 a day cheaper. Which is a lot.

So that’s the status update for us. No Tours for the past while, other than a drive to Quebec City, and a sad, disheartening drive back again…

Over and out.