Au revoir Montreal, Bonjour Boston!

Dear Suzanne,

My apologies on the lack of posts for the last 3 days. My time in Montreal passed by so quickly and I barely got a chance to myself to sit and think. Now I’m here in Boston, sitting at the dining room table of a friend of my mom’s who generously offered to let me stay at her place. I arrived last night and was immediately taken to dinner – chinese food! – with her, her sister, her mother, and husband, and treated like part of the family. Food was constantly being replaced on my plate and I was thoroughly stuffed. And there was lobster! Just thought I had to mention that!

My weekend in Montreal was wonderful.

My first night I stayed at a hostel called La Maison du Patriote, which was located in Old Port (Old Montreal). It was a really funky place in a beautiful area. I would definitely stay there again for many reasons – it was clean, the space was comfortable and welcoming, and for the other hostelers. You would what I love most about hostels? It’s the chance to meet people from all over the world. At one point in the night, sitting in the common room were a Canadian (me!), two Americans, a Finnish, a Hollander, two Brazilians, and an Israeli. And you get a chance to learn first hand from others about their respective countries and to share stories about yours. Here’s one thing I learned: Finnish men are men tend to be on the more reserved side and usually wait for women to ask them out. I was told that there’s a saying that men will not say “I love you” until they are on their deathbeds. Although it’s an exaggeration, he explained, there’s definitely some truth to it.

After chatting, I ended up heading out to search for food with Anthony from South Carolina and Dean from Israel. After walking for some time, we found a Jamaican restaurant on St. Denis. We engaged the woman who was there – the owner, cook, and server all in one – in a lengthy conversation about Jamaica and learned first hand about the good and the bad about her country. Honestly, this is what I love about travelling – the stories you hear and the conversation you make with strangers!  Finally half an hour later, we make our way back out on the street, this time in search for some beer. We ended off the night in a bar listening and then eventually dancing away to Quebecois music. A very fun night indeed.

So there’s a little snippet of my trip in Montreal. I would share more but I’m due to meet my lovely host and her husband in Chinatown for some pho! Woohoo!

Okay, off now to do the first of many days of exploring Boston.

Until next time,

J

Farewell Ottawa! See you in 2 weeks!

Dear Suzanne,

It’s a kind of cloudy, murky day in Ottawa as I prepare to take off on my 12 day adventure to Montreal & Boston. I feel ready and excited to explore new cities and meet new people. It’s been a while since I’ve last travelled alone so I’m a bit nervous about that, but I know I just have to be willing to go outside my comfort zone and go for it!

There’s a couple of firsts for me on this trip.

(1) My first time to Montreal, Burlington, Boston.

(2) My first time travelling by rideshare. I found a ride on kijiji for $15 from Ottawa to Montreal – a much cheaper option compared to bus or viarail (less than half the price).

(3) My first time couchsurfing. I’m excited to try this for the very first time. After browsing the website and seeing so many positive reviews and what seems like positive people, I knew I had to at least give it a try. I was attracted by the openness and generosity of the couchsurfers, and inspired by many of their attitudes and philosophies (as far as I can tell by their detailed profiles). Not to mention the place I will be couchsurfing sounds pretty amazing and I can’t wait to meet the hosts.

So now I sit here at our kitchen table waiting in anticipation. It’s 2:15pm now and I’ll be off in exactly one hour!

Suzanne, I have one more piece of news for you. Your photo, which had previously been in the possession of my wonderful friend S, has now been lost. Somehow, while you were being handed off to my partner, you went amiss. I was sad for a fleeting moment since I had wanted a chance to take a photo of you as a memory and for this blog, but knowing that you may fall into someone else’s hands who may need you put me at ease. Although I may never see your face again, I’ll continue to write to you in hopes that maybe, just maybe, we may be reunited again!

Until then, keep blowing your kisses to the next people who happen to come across your photo.

Until next time,

J

Photo: Banana muffins baked for the road and to share with my fellow ride-sharers.

Sunshine, Coffee, and Musings

Dear Suzanne,

Today was a good day. I started off by preparing bolognese sauce for the slow cooker and then headed to a nearby coffee shop to read more of Constructive Criticism (CC) by Gracie Lyons. I’m still only halfway through, but I’m really try to read and understand the content this time. And I think I am. Although I already had been introduced to CC, had used it, and had seen it implemented, it just makes so much more sense to me now.

Let me give an example:

In Guideline One, Being Concrete, you separate the subjective from the objective. For example, a subjective interpretation would be “Sandra is selfish”, while an objective observation would be “Sandra went to the movies with her friends instead of cleaning her room”. By stating what was observed you avoid making judgements about the person. Simple, right?

After reading this guideline, I realized how easy it was to not focus on the objective observation. Think about it: how many times have we jumped to conclusions about someone and said “X is so [insert adjective here]” to ourselves? It’s easy to infer about the situation with the bits and pieces of information we have, but we must stop ourselves from doing so. Because if we continue making abstract judgements of others we start to label them, and labelling can lead to stereotyping, pigeonholing, and discrimination.

It’s a simple thing to do, but difficult at the same time (at least for me). I had always made inferences about someone or a situation and considered it to be an observation. I would think I was observing Sandra being lazy, but now that I think about it, that’s just an opinion right?

There’s much more to say about CC and Gracie Lyons’ handbook, but I’m going to save that for when I finish.

Another thing I wanted to mention is that I’ve decided to travel to Montreal on my way to Boston to meet my family. Originally, I was going to fly directly from Ottawa to Boston, but after taking a walk through the neighbourhood and talking with my mom I’ve come up with an idea. Here’s the new plan:

• 18th: Ride share from Ottawa to Montreal and spend 3 nights in Montreal.
• 21st: Bus from Montreal to Burlington, then from Burlington to Boston. I’ll spend 4 nights in Boston before I meet up with my family on the 25th.
• 30th: Bus from Boston home to Ottawa.

I’m going to have to get creative because I won’t have much spending money. So I’m going to have figure out a way to do this cheaply. And so far so good – travelling from Ottawa to Boston and back will only cost me less than $115. Hopefully I’ll find places to stay along the way so I won’t have to spend much on accommodation either.

So, today was a good day. Now I’ve got lots to think about, Suzanne.

Until next time,

J