aaah aaah aah aaa all the way home

"If life brings you to it, it will bring you trough it"

I find this to be both comforting and true. Except maybe when it comes to Montreal traffic. It's hard to come out of it alive. I'm strongly for sharpening the driver license test in this province. Not that I think this is a matter that is being discussed anywhere else than in my head, but if I could vote, it would definitely be a yes.

November is almost over. Time flies when you're having fun. Feels like my life mostly circles around Spanish homework and bachata. I love how music just flips things around all of a sudden. You can first listen to a genre of music and think that it all sounds the same. Like an ever lasting song. You don't know when and why it started or when and why it doesn't end. This was how I felt about my dearest Dominican's bachata music. I tried to be polite and let him listen to rhythms from his country. Now all of a sudden it is me who will ask for it when together in the car or hanging out at home. I basically bachata myself out of bed every morning, the thought of being able to listen to it when driving to work is the thing that makes me stop the snooze and get up. Montreal traffic is way calmer to bachata. At work, I can't wait to bachata myself home. Doing grocery shopping to a puppy voiced soft male latino artist just for some reason goes smoother and I end up buying more fruits and vegetables it seems. I even bench press at the gym to these seductive soft tunes. Before it was rock, the harder the better, to pump that needed force into my muscles. Now it's just aaah aaaah aaah aah aah aaaa... all the way back home.

It is Romeo Santos who has opened this new window into a magical bachata land, where traffic is smoother, seances clearer and dreams possible. He has a voice that first comes off as a bit too baby soft but later turns into a kinda addictive...hmm I don't want to say drug but something forbidden that you end up craving for. Maybe like that really, really good glass of wine, that just gently slinks into your body, mind and soul and takes away all worries and regrets and replaces them with pure,positive and possible images dancing around in your brain.

He is known for his great lyrics and as my Spanish is nothing but great yet, I find it very helpful to watch these videos with lyrics to the songs, that a kind stranger put up on YouTube. A different kind of Spanish lesson and a nice break from the homework that is given to me by my enthusiastic Bolivian teacher.

So life brought me to crazy Montreal traffic and it gave me bachata to help me get through it...at least for now.

take it as it comes

Last week's Monday, people in the U.S. were celebrating Columbus day and we here in Canada thanksgiving. We had a day to be thankful for and I think most of us were. On the 12th of October we got to enjoy a day of sunshine and +24°c. Pretty darn lucky, I would say. I decided to spend the day by biking around enjoying autumn views of Montreal.

While biking around, I was thinking to myself what a rollercoaster of a place this is. You can't get bored as you never know what's ahead after the next curve. This goes for the weather, the people, the city, the culture, the everything. Unpredictable and full of surprises. Good and bad. Focus on the good and forget the bad, is probably how to deal with it.

Five days later it was down to 0°c and snowing. That's a pretty surprising difference. Just take it as it comes and enjoy it. 

People here are just as moody and unpredictable as the weather. You better hold your ground and be careful who you open up to. Then again, in a situation when you least expect it, kindness might be handed to you in the most curious way. Just take them as they come and enjoy them... or avoid them... or a little bit of both.

"take it as it comes and watch it as it leaves"

humans and flies

I have learned some valuable life lessons lately. They haven't been handed to me in a very pleasant form but I guess one wouldn't learn from them as efficiently if they were served in a glass of champagne.

                        "You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar"

I got handed this metaphor over the phone from Toronto. This phone call was not my life lesson but it came at the convenient moment. I hadn't heard it before and I found it fitting splendidly well. I see it ever so appropriate thinking about career moves and work environment in general. So I took a long look in the mirror and made a note to myself to add a bit a sweetness to my flavor.

Another little idiom that I stumbled upon by accident when practicing some Spanish verbs was this one.

                                         "En bocas cerradas no entran moscas" 

"In closed mouths, flies don't enter". Funny how flies are so present in figurative speech. I don't suffer from having my mouth open too much but I enjoy being reminded that silence is golden and often a good weapon of choice. 

I find myself a bit wiser and more humble this week than last week. One can only hope it was lessons lasting for life as the mind can be not only forgiving but ever so forgetting.

To remember is that love is what matters and stress kills, so enjoy your beloved ones and relax, that makes you not only happy but very wise a person as well. 

A hat trick or two

This past weekend was a grey and rainy one. I got a reminder of the reality of Fall and I wasn't really enthusiastic about it. What spun my mood to happier thoughts was a movie date at the Montreal Forum. This movie theatre used to be an indoor hockey arena. Opened in 1924 and closed in 1996. It was the home of the Montreal Maroons and later on the Montreal Canadians.

I like the feeling inside the building, you can sense that once upon a time a great deal of action went on here.
I'm not a fan of Hockey, I leave that to others but I do enjoy a nice piece of history.

The enthusiasm in the picture therefore originates from the atmosphere of the place, along with the the movie I saw and the company I saw it with and perhaps a little bit from the fact that I for the first time got to enjoy candy from a funny little thing like this.

You put a 25 cent in, turn the metallic handle around and out comes the candy. A very moderate amount, perfect for my diet.
The movie, me and my handsome date also known as my Dominican went to see, was "Mr Holmes". A nice little movie from the point of view of Sherlock Holmes. We both really enjoyed it.

This place, my Dominican and the fact that Sherlock Holmes wore hats, brings me back to a fine summer day when I took my handsome man for some hat shopping to a store that has been open since 1932. 

Started up by Honorius Henri and Jean-Maurice Lefebvre and still run by the family, more precisely the grandson of the latter, the shop became famous thanks to their love for sports and very much so hockey. In Quebec, when a player scores three goals in a single game, it's called "a tour du chapeau" ("hat trick"). In 1950s and 1960s Henri Henri took the habit of offering a free hat to every player who completed the hat trick at the Montreal Forum. Maurice Richard, apparently a very famous player, had a nice little collection of them. What I myself find even more interesting is that famous people such as Robert de Niro, Marlon Brando and John Travolta have shopped here. And so did I, when I decided to buy my sweet little darling a newsboy cap. 

Summer is more or less over, a more rainy and grey season is upon us and I wouldn't mind a few tricks or two to keep my hat dry and my thoughts positive. I think I will use the good old trick and flee into the great world of splendid fictional private detectives. It's an old family recipe and I will feel proud to honor it.   

milk on a hot downtown roof

After 3 days of sun, +30°c and careless time off work, I come to the office on Tuesday morning and got asked about my weekend. I tell my colleague that I finally saw that big bottle of milk. Been here for a year and only made it to the bottle this weekend, shame on me. She looks at me asking, "what milk"? I tell her "the big bottle of milk, right there down town next to the Bell Center". I show her this picture.

She informs me that she lived here 30 something years and didn't know it existed until our conversation. It made me feel less bad about my 1 year delay in my chase of that big white bottle.
The bottle is a water tank for the fire system of the building. The building used to be a a dairy plant under the name "Guaranteed Pure Milk". The owner had this unusual design to a water tank built as a publicity stunt to restore people's faith in milk. This was back in the beginning of 1900 when several cases of food poisoning occurred that later lead to the law of having to pasteurize all milk. This famous or perhaps I should say hidden famous bottle of milk from the 1930 was reborn in 2009 when Héritage Montreal came to its rescue. The dairy had closed down in 1990 leaving the bottle to rust on the roof. I'm very happy there are associations like this in Montreal that understands the beauty of Art Deco. I'm equally happy that my boyfriend was kind enough to join me and kiss me under the bottle. 

then comes Monday

September is knocking on the door. So much has happened this summer. Flew to Finland and had a great time, went to Ottawa and had a great time, was hanging out in Montreal and its surroundings and had a great time. Tomorrow Fall starts. September is still considered an Autumn month at least according to my Spanish book, I say it's pretty darn hot for its cool reputation.

This first week in September they announce +30°c and sunny here in our great city of Montreal. I will embrace it and show my gratitude with more relaxing moments on the beach around the corner "la plage de l'horloge" http://www.vieuxportdemontreal.com/activite/plage-de-l-horloge  

Next weekend is a long one, on top of it all as we have Monday off. We will be celebrating labour day. Find it a splendid idea! Wouldn't mind celebrating it more often. 
I will continue the next day with celebrating education and starting my second level studies in Spanish at McGill University. I'm proud to announce that I made it through level one and its final exam including my oral presentation about Diego el Cigala "El principe del flamenco". I'm rarely proud of myself but learning my fifth language does give me a certain amount of satisfaction and doing so at such a high ranked University makes me walk proud, at least every Tuesday until December, starting next week.

  
While hanging out a la playa this weekend I was trying to remember what I learned during level one and was practicing my Spanish on the very basic level I am. Our 2pac has very different schedules during the week and we basically only see each other during weekends, except some random cranky mornings during the week. So I tell my dear sweetheart with a sweet smile on my face thinking I'm being cute "Todos los sabados y domingos estamos....hmmm enamoradas...enamorados" My dude gives me a look like "what the f****" What do you mean we're just in love on Saturday and Sunday? What are you doing during the week???
"Oh sweetie, my sweet sweetie"... trying to give him a few "besos of patience". I'm just practicing my Spanish here, don't take me so seriously. Thanks to the warming sun and the fresh breeze from the St. Lawrence river, my dude forgave my poor level of Spanish pretty fast. Level two at University is clearly needed but I doubt it will make me feel any different about my random cranky Mondays but it will absolutely upgrade my Tuesdays. 

most of a Sunday

After Saturday comes Sunday, that's something one can count on, weather is another thing. I took my man by the hand on one of the recent cloudy and rainy Sundays and visited a fascinating building in the Old Port of Montreal, Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel. 

It is one of the oldest churches in Montreal built in 1771 on the ruins of the original chapel built in 1655. Behind it all stands a strong determined woman by the name of Marguerite Bourgeoys. When I learned about this woman, I fell in love with the building even more. Nowadays it is not only a chapel but a museum dedicated to this same woman and absolutely worth a visit. 

The view is wonderful.

Again my favorite bridge in the back ground.

When I saw the building from the outside, I knew I wanted to see it from the inside but I had no idea it would mean a personal guided tour into the crypt under the chapel. We got the latest scoop of how the original chapel was built and information of the pre colonial time when it was the native Americans enjoying the spot. Archaeologists are still not done finding out more, the latest technology however confirms there is still more to be discovered and precisely where. The latest findings were from this winter, so freshly out of the notebooks of the archaeologists. Fascinating indeed.

For a cloudy and rainy Sunday, it was really splendid. I was happy the building had so much to offer and it is indeed going to stay in mind as one of the greatest spots of Montreal.

After our great discovery, we continued on the same street, Rue Saint Paul in the old Port and found a great terrace called the Jardin Nelson, where we enjoyed a glass of sparkling along with really nice live jazz music. 

Weather is what it is, it's up to you to make the most of your Sunday.

let there be night

Once upon the month of June I had a Saturday afternoon to myself and decided to go to the see the more touristy part of Montreal in the Old Port. It was a beautiful sunny day and I walked and walked.

 They have made a fun little city beach, same style as in Paris. Really adorable with my favorite bridge as a view. The white tower you see to the right is the Clock Tower built in 1919-1922 and dedicated to the Canadian sailors who died in World War I.

 I walked and sat down, walked and sat down. Couldn't stop enjoying the view. Who needs to travel when you live in a city like this? Felt once again that I was on a mini vacation but there I was on walking distance from my apartment.

This thing about living in the moment is so easy when the summer sets its mind to it. 
Day turned to early evening and at one point my man joined me from his own activities. There we were walking looking at the sun setting and embracing the moon joining our company.

We were both amazed by the this crazy feeling of being in another country. So we walked and walked.

We walked until my feet tried politely to wish my high heels goodnight. 

We walked until my feet kicked my pink high heels farewell and continued their way bare feet. 

A building caught my full attention both during the day and in the evening. Mystical and majestical it was and is. It spoke to me and so I decided I had to come back when there was less night and more light. 

to be continued once upon a Sunday in June

all kinds of wonderful

I feel I should start my writing... once upon a month...as that is how seldom I write these days. My excuse is that I'm enjoying every moment and as every moment is filled with such exciting and colorful beauty, it's hard to put to words.

Our Finnish-Dominican two pack, celebrated our 1 year anniversary with plenty of love, laughter and bubbles.

 My man once again went to get a delicious cheesecake from the same place as he did 6 months ago. 

June

December

He as well officially moved in with me

and as the bubbles made our hearts sing, we decided to start using each others last names and basicaly unofficially declare each other husband and wife or "my man" and "my lady" or whatever we feel like in what ever language we feel it in. Love is crazy, embrace it and enjoy it. Let the rest of the world live in sanity while you go a little insane.

We got to hear that we looked fabulous together that day with our matching outfits. We felt all kinds of fabulous as well. As we both have walked a hard, long and bumpy road to find each other, I feel we deserve to feel all kinds of wonderful, with or without matching outfits and happy bubbles.

One fine flamenco evening

There is a tall Spanish man, with gypsy inheritage and a splendid nose who walked the street of New York on the 9th of May this year. 

Ten days later there was a Finnish woman and a Dominican man walking the same streets of New York.

This Finnish woman had only a few weeks earlier held a presentation in Spanish about this same man at McGill University. The presentation being level 1 Spanish with level 10 enthusiasm for the man. So who is this man and what was he doing in Nueva York? 

He is the man who snaps his fingers on stage and makes you feel he is sharing the very profound wisdoms of life, while sitting on his bar stool looking tremendously majestic. He walks and sings under the name Diego El Cigala and is both called the "Prince of Flamenco" and "Sinatra of Flamenco" and is claimed to be the greatest Flamenco singer alive. I believe every word that is said about him and the very little I understand about what he is saying and singing. When I for the first time heard him sing "En esta tarde gris", I wanted to start every sentence in Spanish with it, that is why I was ever so happy when I figured out to start a sentence during my presentation with it. He sold out at Carnegie Hall in New York city. Impressive indeed. 

We, the Finn and the Dominican where however far more impressed by Diego El Cigala and his raspy but velvet like voice on the 6th of May. We got to be not only in the same city and that being Montreal but as well under the same roof at a concert hall at Place de Arts and enjoy his wonderful show. 

My Dominican was ever so sweet to get tickets to see this wonderful show but as well very sweet to get us red roses to make us fit this tango and flamenco flavored event.

A wonderful night that will remain in our memories forever. His music came alive in our hearts this fine evening and his flamenco fire will keep on burning way longer than the roses and his picture will stay up on our wall.

(All pictures of Diego El Cigala are taken from his Facebook page and therefore by great world class photographers)