Leaving Quebec Province - Canada

The three months we have spent in Canada have been wonderful.  We have met so many wonderful Canadians and it is too bad that Americans do not hear more about our neighbors and their wonderful country.

Since September 15, the leaves have been turning beautiful colors of yellow, orange, and red.  Each day the changes are more dramatic and yesterday I heard Geese for the first time, and a few days before on a walk through the campground Walter and I could smell and feel Autumn in addition to seeing the obvious changes.

I have gained a new perspective on those immigrants to the U.S. that can not speak our language, can not read it, do not understand it well.  I have a great deal more admiration and understanding of what my parents and Walter's parents had to overcome when they came to America to make a new life.  I feel for all those Mexicans that have been moving to North Carolina.

You see a road sign and it is obvious that it is a warning sign, but you do not know what it is warning you of.  You want to buy a book, but all the books are in French.  You would like to see a movie, but they are all in French.  At the supermarket you can not figure out what cut of beef you are buying.  The liters and grams can really mess you up.  Butter is sold in one large chunk; no four sticks with measurements.  Also, it is sold as slightly less than one kilogram.

You meet new people, but they speak little English and you speak little French and how you would love to have a conversation with them, but it is just too difficult so you both smile speaking in your own languages, not understanding each other and then move on.

I will miss so much about Quebec, but I would be less than honest if I did not say how excited I am to be returning to the U.S.  It will be much easier knowing the language, understanding the culture, knowing what to expect, but I have grown in a way I did not expect; one of the things I cherish most about our new life style.

tg