Montreal digs

Bonjour de Montreal!

I'm pretty sure that everyone who reads my blog is also on Facebook with me, and therefore knows that I've moved to Montreal. However, just in case, here's a quick recap of what's going on.

When I was first hired for my job in Toronto, it was only for an 8 month contract. The program wasn't sure if they'd get more funding from the government and so they couldn't hire me for longer than that. In addition, they told me upfront that if they got more funding, the job itself would move to Montreal and would I be willing to move too? Anyone who's ever done a job interview knows that the only answer to that question is always yes. I never had any intention of actually following through with it, but lo and behold, it turns out that I enjoy my job and decided to actually move!

So on June 29th (mere days after my return from Europe), I finished packing up and my parents and middle sister and her boyfriend helped me migrate to the new province.

First of all, let me say how much I adore my new apartment! It's on the second floor of a small apartment building and I have a balcony and I have huuuuuge windows. (Ugh, and said windows are open right now and it's monsooning rain. I've just put my headphones on so I can't hear the rain and won't think about the water filtering into my apartment, soaking things, etc...) It's much bigger than my place in Toronto. And best of all, it's $120/month CHEAPER. It has its foibles (e.g. the shower pressure isn't strong, the hot water takes forever, the oven is older than my parents, etc.), but nothing I can't handle. It's also really close to the subway, so it only takes me 30 minutes to get to and from work (that's 30 minutes from the moment I close my door to the moment I enter my apartment)! I have to admit though, I'm already missing my free laundry facilities. :S

Montreal so far is a lovely city. And I say this despite the fact that it's been raining 90% of the time since I moved here. (On Saturday I felt like I was caught in a flood!) It has so many patios and terraces. I just really like the vibe - it's like a more chill version of Toronto and with more culture. That being said, it's not without its intimidations. I speak some French, but I still get flustered when people talk to me. Whenever my phone rings at work I suffer a moment of "fight or flight" panic before I pick it up. I then stutter my way through a bit of a message before the other person relents and switches to English.

I've moved and lived in many other cities (e.g. Vancouver and Ottawa) before, but they've always been temporary relocations. This one certainly has more of a sense of permanence. And the bad thing about that is that I don't have a support network here - I know absolutely no one beyond a couple of colleagues. And considering that English isn't the most-widely spoken language, that means that it's harder (than normal) for me to meet people.

To increase my socialization prospects, I joined a group I found online. They are comprised of people who are new to Montreal like me, or who are "old hands" and are here to welcome the newbies. I went for coffee with them on Friday and I had a good time. Through them I also found out about a language exchange group that meets for dinners on Wednesday. I'll endeavour to go to some of those events just so I can improve my French. I'm tired of being embarrased everytime I open my mouth.

Now I have to admit, work has been a semi-daunting ordeal so far. I say "semi" because in the grand scheme, I'm doing the exact same job I did in Toronto, so it's not like I'm having to learn anything overly difficult. The daunting part is the getting acquainted with the workplace and socialization aspects of the new job location. On my first day of work I was shown my office (which was totally empty. It didn't even have a desk or pencil in it!), given access to the net, shown the lunch room and that was it. I was left on my own. I figured, "Okay, not a problem. I'll just leave my office door open, unpack, and I'll meet people sooner or later."

Well, it's been a week and I've only met about 3 people on my floor, one of them being my boss. This floor is a veritable ghost town! I just can't reach a happy medium. In Toronto the office was hectic because there were 3 of us, the phones were ringing and patients and doctors kept wandering in and out. Here, my floor is home to the offices of mostly doctors and clinicians, all of whom spend the majority of their time in their labs and clinics, so I never see anyone. It's the same with the student offices. Most of them are with their supervisors, those aforementioned elusive doctors and scientists. So I have to admit, I've been feeling a bit bereft socialization-wise.

To combat my loner-tendencies, I force myself to go to the lunch room everyday. I'm met with varying degrees of success each day. My first day, I didn't bother bringing a lunch because normally people go out for lunch or something with the newbie, or I figured that I could at least tag-along with a group who already had plans. Well, but the time 1PM rolled around and nobody had shown up, I realized that it was not meant to be and went out for lunch on my own. On my second day there was a whole table of ladies chatting in French but there wasn't any space so I sat with a couple of Chinese people, but they only spoke English and are preparing to move to the states. The third day one of the students from my program came and sat with me, and we chatted together with two other random people in a mixture of French and English. The fourth day there was no one, etc... Today was my most successful "socialization" day. I successfully sat and chatted with a co-op student from France for 40 minutes in French! Yay me! It's unfortunate that most of the people I've met are only "temporary" but at least it's getting a bit better.

So that's the quick run down on my quebec adventures so far. Maybe I should re-dub this blog in honour of its French slant now? Perhaps I'll call it, "Coureurs de Montreal" or "Mau dans la ville"... Nah, my French doesn't extend to bad puns yet.