the F-word

It's been a while since I wrote. We were moving around quite a bit and I wasn't much by the computer. My husband had vacation and so we left our temporary home here in Mexico and went on vacation to our actual home in Quebec. Weird feeling, I have to say. Didn't quite feel like vacation but more like going back in time to how life used to be. We did get to do some fun stuff however, not only take care of tax declarations, bills, insurances etc. We started by celebrating Vappu with our happy Finnish crowd.

I dressed up highly patriotic and was excited as a little kid to see my friends again and get to dance like a headless chicken.

We walked through parts of Montreal waving the Finnish flag proudly. People who recognized the flag probably thought I was super proud of our junior U18 hockey team who a few days later won gold in the World Championships.
I was proud of them but only a few days later when I happened to be on the cross-trainer at the gym seeing the end of the game. I was cheering and happy for them and wishing that I had dressed up a bit more patriotically even that day. 

Our Finnish crowd really knows how to party. There were some none Finns as well at the party and I would be surprised to hear that they enjoyed the music as much as we did. My husband is a Finn a heart. He enjoyes most of it even more than me. If it wasn't for him I would never have danced humppa voluntarily. 

After an amazing night we had a few days of more serious stuff to take care of but we were able to squeeze some spring skiing in it as well. When you go up the ski lift in Quebec, it's the opposite from Finland. People are strangely talkative and often annoyingly curious. I had to go up the lift a few times alone and I remember checking out who was most likely talkative and who would let me be. I used to ski alone here before my husband took up skiing, so I know the drill very well. First ride, I chose well but second ride out of the blue comes a man sitting next to me. He starts talking about the slope conditions and the weather in French. I was thinking of pulling out the Anglophone card and pretend to only speak English but then I told myself not be rude and started speaking back, mostly just agreeing that the skiing conditions were fantastic and the weather amazing. And then happened what always happens...  -What a beautiful accent you have! -You're not from here are you? Men say you have a beautiful accent, women just inform you that you have an accent. I don't like to hear either, because then I have to explain that I'm from Finland. Often after this if I'm talking to a man we get into a hockey conversation. This time I dived into what first seemed pretty logic put then turned into a complete lie and I was so happy to get off the lift at the top and breathe out and apologizing to mother nature for my horrible behavior. The man asked me if I was there on vacation and as I kinda was, I answered yes. But then he couldn't understand why I spoke french so well, so I said well I have been here quite a few times. So then he thought I came there for work and I answered no, no, I just enjoy Quebec very much. Skiing is great here I said. He couldn't understand it as he along with 90% of the people in Quebec thinks Finland is right next to Switzerland and that we have the Alps right there to enjoy. I would love for that to be the reality but unfortunately it's not. They mix up Sweden and Switzerland and so I always end up explaining that we don't have any big mountains in Finland and especially in the south where I'm from it's really flat. So then the next question is why we are so good at skiing? Winter Olympics or World Championships in any sport is not my expertise. I love sports when doing them but I could not care less to follow it on TV as I don't even own one, so I'm highly ignorant in this subject. This year I however knew that Norway was way better than us, like they are most years, so I just told him that and then remember the golden rule and started bombarding him with questions instead. For a while I was safe and got to hear about his children and how they loved skiing but the conditions right now were a bit to rough for them. Then came the question we women close to 40 without children hate to get. - Do you have any children? I just said yes, yes and thankfully by then we came to the end of the lift and I got to jump out before I had to explain more about my imaginary children.  

I had a few other uncomfortable moments in Quebec. Here in Mexico as a woman you are a mujer, so when you go to the bathroom you need to choose the door than has the M on it.

 It took me a while to get used to this as M for me stands for man/men and the door much to be avoided. Now back in Montreal I went to a cool new restaurant with my friend. 

I go calm and relaxed to the bathroom looking first for the  letter M, I don't see it, so my brain starts digging for a reminder of where I am and the language spoken here. So I start looking for F instead. Femme, femme, where is the darn F? I see door after door but no F on it. I decide that I needed to do my thing so I just chose the door furthest away so I will bug as few as possible. The lock was broken and in the middle of my somewhat stressful situation a woman walks in on me and starts yelling at me to lock my door. I wanted to yell back that I did but instead I just said perdon,perdon, which should have been pardon,pardon. The little difference between Spanish and French. 
I was however glad that I had chosen the right door or then there was another ignorant woman who didn't know where she belonged. When I finally got back to my table and my friend and explained the situation, she laughed and said that yes sorry, I should have told you it's a unisex bathroom.

Then there is that moment when a person sneezes and you want to be polite and say; - bless you! In Mexico you say -Salud! and you get a smile and a gracias from a nice stranger. I love it.
But in Quebec when it happened I was still on Mexican mode and when a woman at the bar sneezed I by mistake blurred out; - Salut! in other words; - Hello! I just got a confused and annoyed look from this woman.

I'm so hopelessly relieved to be back in Mexico. Back to the sun and the warm, where I need to go to the M door and basically nobody knows anything about Finland, so they kindly leave out the Olympic games or any other sport questions. The country where I get to raise my glass and say Salud! and get smiles ... and when somebody sneezes, I again get to say Salud! and receive a smile. So rewarding. Salud, Salud, Salud! 

Splendid indeed. I feel so good in this country, I just wish this would not be temporary but my permanent home. 

(btw this time most pictures taken either by my husband or my friend)