I cannot live and work overseas without coming to Canada at least once a year. This gives me the chance to see friends and family as well as soak in the familiar things from home. This is why I have up to now only accepted one-year volunteer postings, and it has worked out well for me. This time, I was in Quebec from July 17 to August 17 2010. This page contains journal entries of my time home.

July 10, 2011

Week 1 - family and picnic

On Wednesday July 7 we went to Atwater market in the west part of Montreal to meet up with our friend Karen. We knew each other in Nepal when we were both volunteers with CECI, so it was great after over 2 years to see her again... and for her to see how Rémi had grown. She also got to meet Simon, of course. We got a sandwich and salad at the market, ate outside then went for a walk along Lachine canal. We chatted and caught up on news, then we drove back to my parents' place. On Saturday I had invited all my friends to a picnic so that they could see Rémi and meet Simon. Last year many did not see Rémi because I didn't bring him to dinners with friends. We meet at a pool side that also had a nice picnic area, ate, talked and swam all afternoon. But the pool had strict rules - everyone had to take a shower every time they came in and every time they went to the bathroom. Also no smoking or alcohol, so some were miffed about that. But we had a nice sun and a lovely afternoon among friends...

July 11, 2011

Going to the apple orchard...

NathalieOur friend Nathalie has a 2000 tree apple orchard with about 20 varieties 20 minutes from my parents' place so we went to visit for dinner. The first apples should be ready in early August. We swam in their pool for a little while, then Thiery took the kids for a ride around the orchard on the 4 wheel vehicle. We had dinner with BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs, our first in Quebec so far. A a nice apple crumble for desert of course. Her 3 kids - Thiery, Tristan and Emily - and my boys played together inside and outside so it was a fun evening. Nathalie and her oldest son Thiery came to visit us in Vietnam in 2009 and we have been good friends since. As a single parent to 3 kids and her own thriving business with the orchard, she's a good example of a successful and dynamic modern woman!

July 17, 2011

Spending time with Aeriol and Marc...

On Tuesday my friend Aeriol came from New Brunswick to visit for 4 days, so I picked her up at the airport early at 7 am. We then went shopping at Aubainerie and at the shopping mall in Pincourt. Then lunch at Première Moisson which has great healthy salads, bread and yummy deserts. The next day we went to the Botanical Gardens of Montreal which was so lovely. The weather was perfect and we walked around and admired the different flowers and gardens. Then we went for lunch for dim sum at a famous downtown Chinese restaurant and stuffed ourselves with great food. In the evening, we had planned to go downtown to a bar to see live entertainment. But on the way downtown, an orange light on the dashboard of the car lit up saying "check the engine" so we had to turn around and come back home. The next day I took it to the mechanic and it cost 350$ to repair a sensor. We took the day easy and I gave her a Reiki treatment, went for lunch at Amir, walked around in Sainte-Anne de Bellevue and then prepared dinner with pizza and salad. On Friday, I drove her to the bus station and she went on to Montreal for some more shopping and walking around before catching her flight home. It was a lovely visit and I hope we make it a yearly tradition.

On Friday my friend Marc came over and we spent the day at a nearby camp site, Plein Bois. Again a lovely sunny day lazing around by the pool, catching up on each other's life, having lunch and swimming. The next day Marc came back and we took the boys to Le Sablon lake and beach near my parents. We had brought with us a picnic and found some shade trees and a table. We swam a lot, played ball and relaxed with the boys. They had loud dance music on all day and we had great fun.

July 20, 2011

Happy birthday dad!

70 years ago, my father came to this world, and thank God for that! On Monday July 18th, we invited his brothers and sisters to come and celebrate with us. Many of them came from his hometown 3 hours away from Montreal so it was a long drive for them. We had prepared lunch with roast of lamb and pork with mint and rosemary which turned out very nice. We sat and talked for awhile, then they went for a bit of sightseeing to an old mansion near here. I helped out a lot, being the main kitchen hand with cooking, serving and cleaning up. Then they stayed for dinner and our aunt Cecile had made enough lasagna for everyone, so I just made a salad. Plus of course there were many deserts - ice cream cake, upside down pineapple cake and Queen Elizabeth coconut cake. All in all it was a lovely day, very relaxed and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Happy birthday Dad! Cheers to you for many years of dedication to your family and your life...

July 21, 2011

Going to the specialist for Simon

We managed to see a specialist to see Simon and assess his condition of Hepatitis B. First we had to see a pediatrician who then gave us a referal. Usually it takes at least 1 year to see a gastro-enterologue but he managed to see us on July 21st. We had to first take Simon for an echography, then blood tests and everyone at Ste-Justine Hospital was extremely friendly, doctor included. His prognosis was much the same as our doctor in Vietnam - therre is nothing to do now and most likely his body's immune system will learn to control the virus. For now all we can and should do it take periodic blood tests to monitor the critical indicators for his liver and viral charge. He also stressed that the virus cannot be transmitted by saliva but with blood. The good thing is that now that Simon is one of his patients, we will be able to take an appointment with his directly next year.

July 25, 2011

Going to the countryside...

On Monday Marie-Annick came to visit and we had lunch at Première Moisson (yes again!). Then we came back to my parents and I gave her a Reiki treatment. We were so relaxed that we took a little nap. Then we went to pick up the boys so Marie could see Rémi after 2 years and meet Simon. We made some yummy vols-au-vent for dinner with cream sauce and pork meat. Marie will soon return to Senegal so we hope to see her one more time next weekend....

What do you get when you put 5 adults and 5 boys ages 4 to 7 in one small summer cottage? A lot of action, screaming and running around! I had rented a nice place with my friends Anne, Louise/Tony and Véronique and our kids, 2.5 hours from Montreal in Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette. There were only 2 bedrooms and a sofa-bed in the living room and somehow we managed. We took turns making meals, cleaning up and managing the children. Even tho the cottage had waterfront access, that part of the lake was filled with plants and flowers so we could not swim there. We had to walk 10 min. to the shared beach which was lovely. We had sun all weekend, so the water was warm and we swam a lot over 3 days. We also talked, drank wine and ate great food. A great weekend with nature at our doorstep...

July 27, 2011

Going out to the bars with friends....

On Wednesday evening I asked my parents to babysit the boys and I met up with friends downtown at a pub, the Sky, for the 2 for 1 special on drinks. Violaine, Marc, Marie-Claude with her friend Nancy and Louise all came so it was great to chat and relax (we all left our kids at home!). Then we went for dinner at a deluxe fast food restaurant, Club Européen. And finally we went to see a drague show with Michel Dorion (photo left) which was a lot of fun and laughs. Marie-Claude's cousin also did a performance and he was very good. At 11 pm, I drove back home to Ile Perrot....Nights out on the town end early for parents when kids get up the next day at 6 or 7 am...!

August 4, 2011

A whirlwind of visit to friends...

The past week has been so busy every night visiting friends starting with last Friday when we went to Sévrine and François' place in Verdun. Their 2 boys and mine get along nicely - Rémi shared his new collection of Pokemon cards with Lucas, then they swam a bit in the small pool in the backyard. Both are busy parents running around, hoping to return overseas in the near future with a good job. On Saturday we met with Violaine at Parc Lafontaine and had a nice picnic. The boys played in the kids' area while we chatted. Sunday I went to Mirabel to meet Marie-Annick. Her parents are now part of a commune with 14 other people in their pre-retirement age of 50-60s. Together they bought 94 hectares of land and in only 2 years, they made an amazing garden open to the public called La Route des Gerbes d'Angelica. We had a lovely time chatting with her mum and getting a guided tour of the gardens, then we had a picnic. On Monday my friend Michelle came over and we went to Salaberry-de-Valleyfield to pick raspberries and blueberries. That evening, I made a lovely berry cake with tons of fruit. Tuesday we went to the Laurentians north of Montreal to visit our friends Ghyslaine et Pierre who have a lovely house in the countryside by a lake. Then Wednesday, I briefly met with Karen in Montreal. And through all these activities, shopping, cooking, laundry, taking the boys to and from day care/camp. And job hunting. So yep, definitely busy.

August 8, 2011

A final sprint in visits...

Our time in Québec is now coming to a close as we get ready to leave tomorrow. So the past week was busy trying to see everyone before we go. Last Thursday we had our friend Caroline and her 3 kids come to visit us at my parents' place. We met them in Hanoi in October 2010 and enjoyed seeing them regularly until they left Vietnam in April of this year. It was nice to see them again and the kids played together and ran around like wild animals! We had dinner with pizza, hot dogs and BBQ chicken and caught up on news. On Saturday we drove 1.5 hours to Joliette to visit our friends the Renés as well as Antoine and Géraldine with whom we were based in Burkina Faso in 2007. We swam and played in their pool for a long time, and of course caught up on news and future plans. Both families hope to return overseas in development in the coming years.

Sunday was the big day to celebrate my niece's 6th birthday. Like last year, we started the event at the community swimming pool and had fun in the water for a few hours. My sister had prepared a pinata so the kids had fun taking turns with a stick to hit the candy filled hard paper block. After many rounds, it burst and all the candy fell to the ground with a resulting ambush from all the kids. Then we went to my sister's house for the sit-down dinner. There were about 15 kids so a lot of action, screaming and running around - a big job to keep them "happy". Then the adults ate while the kids played in the basement. We had 2 beautiful and delicious cakes decorated with Princesses to sing Happy Birthday, and finally Jessica opened ALL her presents many of them with a Princess theme (like long Princess purple gloves). If you want to see more photos of our trip to Canada, you can go to check out the new Quebec 2011 photo album.