j'ai oublier mon francais!

this year, for the first time during my time living in mexico, i have decided to use my christmas break to travel somewhere in canada! usually i am off to somewhere warm and sunny, but it is time for me to learn more about my own country. so, this morning, ginny and i headed to the train station and came to possibly the most european - and most cold - city in canada! of course, this morning, mother nature decided she should show her true winter colours, and a nice cold freeze came through. splendid timing, mother nature.

some highlights so far:

-i got my H1N1 shot yesterday afternoon and my arm has been killing me all day today! i am either a big baby or the shot was pure growing pains, because i feel like there is fire radiating down my whole arm.

-ginny and i didn't stop talking the entire train ride! i guess after months apart we had a lot to catch up on.

-at 7 o'clock this evening we were finished dinner, freezing so we actually came back to our little hotel (perfectly named, petit hotel). since we couldn't very well get into bed before 8, we have been sitting and appearing "busy" before it is appropriate for us to actually go to bed!

-we both completely forgot how to say absolutely all words and phrases in french. you wouldn't know i was in french immersion my whole life, because all that comes out of my mouth is spanish! i understand everything, but when i speak, it is a bizarre mix of spenchlish (spanish/french/english, in case you are a bit slow)... the words that i want to say don't sound like a language that i know! the sounds feel strange for my mouth to say. how do you pronounce oignon? a word that should be so easy all of a sudden - i can't think of how it should sound! french! come back to me!

-when we settled into our train from montreal to quebec city, we were immediately approached by a VIA worker, asking if we would trade seats with someone up at the front of the train who didn't want to sit backwards. of course, we obliged - but through a strange set of events - those seats had already been taken by someone else. thinking we were now seatless for the train ride, we were actually moved to first class! ginny had the guts to ask for drinks, and the next thing we knew we were riding in luxury with a personal table, rum and cokes and even free snacks and meals!

-on the train we were surrounded by spanish speakers! we came to quebec to hear french, but spanish keeps following us!

-the old town in quebec city is adorable, full of white lights and perfect views, but it is effing freezing. we walked for about 20 minutes to see a bit of town and find a restaurant and my face had almost frozen into position! i am certainly unaccustomed to being truly cold.

-our petit hotel is really petit! the rooms are nice but the lobby was pretty uninviting. we were greeted by a smelly dog and some seriously outdated wallpaper, and i was thinking, lonely planet, don't let me down! once we got to our little room (actually, little suite!), we were pleasantly surprised! i guess you can't judge all hotels by its lobby.

a bientot! (zut alors, i really did forget all my french. its like riding a bicycle though, right? right...?