Wednesday, May 6, 2009

O Canada

We had the most incredible time in Montreal, Canada!

It was so much different than what we thought it would be. It was much more like Europe than America. Everything was in French, from the TV programs, to the food in the grocery store.

It was a complete immersion into the French-Canadian life.

We are very grateful to our friends Bea and Tobias for enabling us to experience life in another county. Tobias brought us everywhere, from playgrounds to ice cream shops, to Tim Horton's. It was a wonderful vacation thanks for our dear friends... The apartment was gorgeous and met our every need. The back veranda was delightful to relax and have morning coffee and the shower was like visiting a spa. It was heaven!

I've come to believe that travel is one of the greatest ways to embrace diversity and learn about other cultures. You can read about far away places in a book, but until you actually go there and smell the air, smile at the people, eat the food and touch the flowers and old buildings, you can't fully understand where it is you are reading about.

Living a free, joyous, Radical Unschooling life, we are able to accept offers to travel at a moments notice. I am so grateful that we are not tied to an institution that we have to ask permission to remove our own children from and explain orselves to anyone. Those with kids in school do not often see how much the institution controls their lives. I am so graeful that we are truly free, in the purest sense of the word. I wish everyone could know such freedom.

When we travel as a family, we love to learn everything we can about the culture. We researched the countries specialty foods before we left and tried everything we could get our hands on when we were there. From Poutine, to croissants, to gellato and pastries, we took it all in enthusiastically.

Devin wanted to spend time in Chinatown while we were in Montreal, so we made a day of it and tried all the food we could there. Bea introduced us to Dim Sum, which was delicious. We visited all of the shops and bought Devin a pair of authentic Chinese jammies. He loves them so much.

We also visited a famous bagel shop in Montreal. Montreal bagels are very different from NY style. They are cooked in a brick fire oven and we were able to watch how they were made. They were so yummy!

It was a great trip and one our family will remember forever.














4 comments:

Bea said...

Thanks Dayna! I was great meeting you and your family!

A funny anecdote about the stop signs: Quebec is the only place on earth where they say "ARRET", in other French-speaking countries they actually say "STOP"

bisous!

Bea

Elizabeth Porter said...

What was the name of the famous bagel shop?

Viniyogini said...

I grew up just outside Ottawa and spent a lot of time in Quebec. My dad used to take me to baseball games in Montreal and just across the bridge from Ottawa to Hull was THE party place to be when I was in highshcool.
So fun to read about your Quebecois experiences! Oh...and Poutine is one of my most favourite 'bad for you' foods of all time. Nothing like deep fried starch covered in fat and starch and dairy to make you feel alive!

love and light you sparkleres! Can't wait to hang with you all in London and let our families make a wild ruckus together!

xx
Tracy

Lauren said...

Ooh, fun trip! I'm Canadian (from the Toronto area) and we love Montreal. At least you can get around Montreal in English which isn't true for a lot of Quebec!

I like Bea's post, I was thinking the same thin when you posted the stop sign, even in France they're 'Stop' signs. Just Quebec that is unique and has lots of rules enforcing using French on signs!

Glad you all had so much fun in my home country :D