We’re still alive…. and having fun! It’s been a while since I last posted. Many things happening… securing a lease contract, furnishing a house, applying for our IDs, getting our credit cards and cellphones, driving around and familiarizing ourselves with the city. We wouldn’t be as fine if not for Tito Phil and his family. (So Mom, that’s another family to include in your prayers, they’ve been most helpful to us, very warm people.)
We learned a lot this past days. We learned about the city. Last Tuesday was a free day for us. No meetings, no commitments so we walked around downtown, kids in tow.
We went inside the compound of McGill University. Public education from preschool to secondary is free to residents of Quebec, while post-secondary education is heavily subsidized.
We also learned that June 24 is La Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day (St. John the Baptist). St. John the Baptist is the patron saint of French Canadians, which is also Quebec’s national holiday. Tito Phil picked us up and we took the Metro to South Shore.
Oh, we got the keys to the apartment Thursday night last week. Riel and Tito Phil brought some of our boxes there. (They came back at almost 1am.)
So while Riel and Tito Phil were out, below was what the twins were doing.
There is no elevator in the apartment. All these were brought up to the third floor, hand-carried by Riel and 60yr old Tito Phil. Riel honestly hopes that he would be as fit as Tito Phil when he reaches that age. Impressive.
Saturday morning, we woke up in a different hotel. We tried to extend our stay in Marriott from June 26 to July 1, our moving date. Unfortunately, Marriott could no longer accommodate us past June 26. The hotel was fully booked. Riel had to look for another hotel. Raf feared that if we didn’t find a hotel, we will be out on the street and sleeping in public toilets with our boxes. The movie “Pursuit of Happyness” made an impression on him.
We’re moving tomorrow, July 1. We still don’t have our furniture, except for the couch we got from Ikea that arrived yesterday.
And today, we further explored the city —> towards the East side.
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We will be offline in the next two weeks or so until our internet subscription gets going.
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KQOTD-1. Aboard the plane there was turbulence, Marco said loudly to his brothers: Hey guys, did you feel that? It’s like your ‘birdie’ went up to your tummy! I want to do it again!
KQOTD-2. After explaining about the International Date Line coming from the Far East to the West, Raf (confirming): Oh… so when you cross the date line, it’s like crossing to yesterday, right? Me: Yes, something like that. Raf (curious): What happens when you’re in the middle of the date line?
KQOTD-3. After explaining to the kids why we had to buy even the littlest thing for the apartment because we’re starting from nothing and building up slowly, Raf compared it to a video game: Oh… so it’s like you accidentally deleted a saved file and you’re starting all over again.