Monday, June 15, 2009

driving and Montreal

Hmm, turns out my driving experience is all rural experience--from the edge of Cornell to the research farm doesn't even involve going through Ithaca, or encountering hardly any traffic. So I am still terrified of city driving.
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Montreal was great, we were there for a short time and want to go back. Halfway there I realized they speak French there and that I should be studying the phrasebook I brought. I took jr. high French over ten years ago and studied three languages since, so it's pretty buried and I could hardly remember pronunciation. But I used it! I always started in French, sometimes they switched to English but mostly they smiled kindly and spoke slowly and I bumbled along and guessed what they were saying and with my reply. It was humbling but exciting.

When we were looking for a hotel, I walked past some guys and my ears perked up. Their language sounded familiar!

"Uds hablan espan~ol?"
"Si, claro."

And so I got directions :)

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