Franglo

Like the image sometimes I feel like I am the middle of a blizzard of change (new language, family situation and city) but my mind and spirit are open for this new adventure. 

I survived the first full weekend with the kids or as I like to refer to it as French immersion weekend.  The kids do speak English and all the media they consume is primarily in English unlike my mother in law who just stares at me blankly when I try to speak in either language.  Elle ne comprit pas moi.

I was coming off a very full week of change with the adjustment to living with someone full time, working from home again, temperatures in the “feels like” forty degrees Celsius and the start of French classes, by the time Friday arrived I was very thankful for the weekend.  In addition, I had a project that needed to be uploaded by 2pm on Friday which caused a great deal of stress trying to get all of the information I needed to make this happen.  This is a very long way of saying that I was exhausted.

The kids were coming back after a few days at the cottage with their Mom, so they were also exhausted. Not sure what we were thinking but we decided the food truck festival in downtown Montreal would be fun experience.  We let everyone get settled and then hopped into the car on a Friday night to head into the city.  The kids are tired and hungry things started to go south when we hit traffic on the highway which is entirely expected in Montreal at any time of the day or night. We finally arrive at the festival along with thousands of other people.  The kids by this point are miserable; we are dragging them around the festival looking like someone just took away their prized possession.  They don’t know what they want to eat and the line ups are huge.  My other half finally decided gourmet grilled cheese will be the solution, so he proceeds to line up with the kids. I am gluten intolerant so grilled cheese is not an option; I decided to waddle a little further down the aisle to find something I could consume and settled on poutine.  After we all successfully eaten, things got a little bit better and the kids perked up and started to somewhat enjoy the concept. We hit a few more trucks for ice cream, gourmet mac and cheese, lemonade, wine and beer and then called it a night.  The morale of this story, foodie experiences are meant for adults to enjoy, next time we will be going without the kids so we can appreciate the culinary endeavor, take in the entertainment and enjoy a cocktail or two.

Saturday was more relaxing; we let everyone rest up a bit. The kids went on play dates, I worked on my homework and we ran some errands. Sunday there was more homework for me, cheerleading practice, picking up kids and a small family medical incident that he needed to attend to. After all we are the sandwich generation taking care of our kids and parents.  After everyone got home from the morning craziness we decided to take the kids for lunch and venture out to Sainte Anne de Bellevue to watch the boats come through the locks.

I survived the weekend; for the most part I know what is going on but at some point in the day your brain hits overload and starts to tune out.  They say the best way to learn a new language is to be immersed in it, but I do find myself wondering at times “Quoi” – what is going on? At least this weekend, no tears …..