I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I never knew....
ok, so a little update on life as i shamefully haven't been in touch with most of you for ages :$
Immgiration:
-firstly, still no papers. we met with somebody from our MPs office last Tuesday though to ask for an update on our file. Whilst the MP can't pressure CIC to go faster, they can at least get us an answer of where my file is; and the formal request will hopefully have the effect of hurrying theie little butts up a bit.
French:
-my French course is over, woohoo! Tuesdays and Thursdays are now a dribble-free zone. in the end it was actually doing more harm than good, listening to the mistakes other people were making on things i'd already learned through assimilation, and making me doubt myself, so i'm glad it's over; i was pretty glad i couldn't go to the last 3 lessons because of Ross being here.
-we watched my first (pause-assisted!) film in French the other night, Les Rivières Pourpres, which was really awesome. Sasha had already seen it a while ago, so i was able to pause when i needed to read the subtitles more slowly; it took about twice as long to watch it, but all those who have learned another language will appreciate my joy at this! it was mostly a case of word order and grammar, as there was a lot of French slang, some of which Sasha didn't understand either. it was fun as Sasha was surprised at how much i could pick up, e.g.- 'un globe oculaire is a-' '-n eyeball?' .... 'you know écraser is to-' 'run over? mm-hmm...'
-I was quite determined to try getting through above meeting in French, though Sasha said it would be ok if I couldn't manage- but i actually understood everything pretty easily, and speak for myself when i wanted to; obviously in such a formal setting, everyone speaks nice and slowly and clearly, but it's still a fairly complex subject talking about immigration thing and my visa application, so i was really pleased with myself.
-in short, whilst it's still impossible and really frustrating in many situations, i'm just enjoying the sense (finally!) that i'm at least on the way to understanding more and expressing myself more fluently.
Marina:
Marina arrived in Ottawa late on Saturday night! It was sooo good to see her, and we gave each other a big cuddle. she was pretty shattered (bear inmind she has twice the jet-lag of us lot when we come here, and her flights got messed up and then she had a bus-trip...). we all went to our respective homes after we'd welcomed her. Ugo managed to get a whole week off to look after here and settle her a bit, so yesterday they rang to see if i wanted to go shopping with them in the Rideau Centre in town, as he gave her some gift certificates as a welcome present, so i got to spend the afternoon with them, mostly gabbing with Marina and catching up, in French for Ugo's sake, though i'm looking forward to kicking my very rusty Russian into shape when it's just us girls! she's in pretty deep culture-shock right now, and i think is pretty relieved that someone else understands the feeling of being a foreigner in at the deep-end- the feelnig is mutual! on top of the friends reunited feeling, i think we're both very happy to have someone else in the same boat, and i'm feeling more cheerful than i have done in a very long time :) they're coming to dinner on Thursday, and we're doing smoked salmon and the champagne we've been saving (from our wedding , for her arrival) as a starter, and then roast turkey, and then home-made praline and cream ice-cream in caramel baskets for dessert! we're getting to be a pretty good cooking team me and Sash, and i'm really looking forward to making the caramel baskets, as it's pretty cool making caramel, though very time-consuming.
Christmas:
we're going to Québec City on Saturday, and spending Christmas Eve with Sasha's mum's family. then on the 25th we'll drive the remaining 3 hours to Rimouski and eat the Christmas meal with Sasha's dad's family. i was really disappointed that we have to drive on Chjristmas day, but it's unavoidable if we want to see everyone, and when i made myself think, i realized that we can make it a really good thing, as me and Sasha will get to have part of Christmas all to ourselves, we can play carols and feel Christmassy, and it'll be a little break for me from French. plus, we get to see Rimouski again, and it'll hopefully be very white :) i'll also get to listen to lots of jazz probably, something i'm getting pretty into under the influence of Sasha's very musically connected family :)
Over here, Christmas Eve is the biggie; it's the day when you stay up late, you eat lots of traditional dishes -like pork leg and meatball stew, cretons, rillette, paté, sucre à la crême, doughnuts, pecan pie, sugar pie... well, you get the picture, lots of meat and sugar - typical Québécoise cuisine! - and you open your presents.... yes that's right people.... heresy i know, but over here present day is the 24th... :o then the 25th you have a big breakfast (croissants, more paté, cheese, breads, fruit if i'm lucky! ..), and then start preparing for the actual Christmas meal..... i know it's going to be crazy at André and Regine's, they are real gourmets, and we're having elk for the main course! i've never eaten elk before, and they cook such delicious food that i know it's going to be wonderful. also, André always makes a plum pudding on boxing day for the next year, and having tried som in the past year, i can say it's extremely good. it's different to our kind of Christmas pudding, it tastes more of plum-my goodness and less of mincemeat and peel.... something i'm definitely going to be having a big piece of :) Sasha's also threatened to make me try eggnog, something i've always thought would be absolutely gross! i think i'll try and avoid that one! :D
i have to admit that so far i've found it really hard to get used to the idea of doing Christmas differently. I know Sasha did it for me last Christmas, but it seems a bit like adding insult to injury after the last 6 months of cultural immersion.. but i've made up my mind to make the best of it and enjoy it as a new cultural experience, and a time to be with the family, especially to see Grandmêre and André and Regine :) i'm sure that going into it positively, thinking how exciting it is to be discovering traditions i can take part in will really make it an exciting Christmas, rather than getting upset that everything's not as usual. it'll be fun to think of how we can try and blend our traditions for our future kids so that they get to have twice as much fun as all the other kids! :)
New Year's Eve we're going to spend here in Ottawa, and we're going to see Marina and Ugo and have a present exchange with them :) whislt we still have the rented car from our trip, we're planning to go and have a look around the local areas 30 to 40 minutes from here, so we have a better idea of which areas we'd like to find a house in when we look late next year, so that'll be something nice too.
And Finally:
... on a festive note, i'm going to the post office to collect the parcel mum and dad sent me, and i have a mission to obliterate the customs label before i can read it, with a permanent marker, as neither me nor my parents want the surprise spoiled!! more soon :)
Immgiration:
-firstly, still no papers. we met with somebody from our MPs office last Tuesday though to ask for an update on our file. Whilst the MP can't pressure CIC to go faster, they can at least get us an answer of where my file is; and the formal request will hopefully have the effect of hurrying theie little butts up a bit.
French:
-my French course is over, woohoo! Tuesdays and Thursdays are now a dribble-free zone. in the end it was actually doing more harm than good, listening to the mistakes other people were making on things i'd already learned through assimilation, and making me doubt myself, so i'm glad it's over; i was pretty glad i couldn't go to the last 3 lessons because of Ross being here.
-we watched my first (pause-assisted!) film in French the other night, Les Rivières Pourpres, which was really awesome. Sasha had already seen it a while ago, so i was able to pause when i needed to read the subtitles more slowly; it took about twice as long to watch it, but all those who have learned another language will appreciate my joy at this! it was mostly a case of word order and grammar, as there was a lot of French slang, some of which Sasha didn't understand either. it was fun as Sasha was surprised at how much i could pick up, e.g.- 'un globe oculaire is a-' '-n eyeball?' .... 'you know écraser is to-' 'run over? mm-hmm...'
-I was quite determined to try getting through above meeting in French, though Sasha said it would be ok if I couldn't manage- but i actually understood everything pretty easily, and speak for myself when i wanted to; obviously in such a formal setting, everyone speaks nice and slowly and clearly, but it's still a fairly complex subject talking about immigration thing and my visa application, so i was really pleased with myself.
-in short, whilst it's still impossible and really frustrating in many situations, i'm just enjoying the sense (finally!) that i'm at least on the way to understanding more and expressing myself more fluently.
Marina:
Marina arrived in Ottawa late on Saturday night! It was sooo good to see her, and we gave each other a big cuddle. she was pretty shattered (bear inmind she has twice the jet-lag of us lot when we come here, and her flights got messed up and then she had a bus-trip...). we all went to our respective homes after we'd welcomed her. Ugo managed to get a whole week off to look after here and settle her a bit, so yesterday they rang to see if i wanted to go shopping with them in the Rideau Centre in town, as he gave her some gift certificates as a welcome present, so i got to spend the afternoon with them, mostly gabbing with Marina and catching up, in French for Ugo's sake, though i'm looking forward to kicking my very rusty Russian into shape when it's just us girls! she's in pretty deep culture-shock right now, and i think is pretty relieved that someone else understands the feeling of being a foreigner in at the deep-end- the feelnig is mutual! on top of the friends reunited feeling, i think we're both very happy to have someone else in the same boat, and i'm feeling more cheerful than i have done in a very long time :) they're coming to dinner on Thursday, and we're doing smoked salmon and the champagne we've been saving (from our wedding , for her arrival) as a starter, and then roast turkey, and then home-made praline and cream ice-cream in caramel baskets for dessert! we're getting to be a pretty good cooking team me and Sash, and i'm really looking forward to making the caramel baskets, as it's pretty cool making caramel, though very time-consuming.
Christmas:
we're going to Québec City on Saturday, and spending Christmas Eve with Sasha's mum's family. then on the 25th we'll drive the remaining 3 hours to Rimouski and eat the Christmas meal with Sasha's dad's family. i was really disappointed that we have to drive on Chjristmas day, but it's unavoidable if we want to see everyone, and when i made myself think, i realized that we can make it a really good thing, as me and Sasha will get to have part of Christmas all to ourselves, we can play carols and feel Christmassy, and it'll be a little break for me from French. plus, we get to see Rimouski again, and it'll hopefully be very white :) i'll also get to listen to lots of jazz probably, something i'm getting pretty into under the influence of Sasha's very musically connected family :)
Over here, Christmas Eve is the biggie; it's the day when you stay up late, you eat lots of traditional dishes -like pork leg and meatball stew, cretons, rillette, paté, sucre à la crême, doughnuts, pecan pie, sugar pie... well, you get the picture, lots of meat and sugar - typical Québécoise cuisine! - and you open your presents.... yes that's right people.... heresy i know, but over here present day is the 24th... :o then the 25th you have a big breakfast (croissants, more paté, cheese, breads, fruit if i'm lucky! ..), and then start preparing for the actual Christmas meal..... i know it's going to be crazy at André and Regine's, they are real gourmets, and we're having elk for the main course! i've never eaten elk before, and they cook such delicious food that i know it's going to be wonderful. also, André always makes a plum pudding on boxing day for the next year, and having tried som in the past year, i can say it's extremely good. it's different to our kind of Christmas pudding, it tastes more of plum-my goodness and less of mincemeat and peel.... something i'm definitely going to be having a big piece of :) Sasha's also threatened to make me try eggnog, something i've always thought would be absolutely gross! i think i'll try and avoid that one! :D
i have to admit that so far i've found it really hard to get used to the idea of doing Christmas differently. I know Sasha did it for me last Christmas, but it seems a bit like adding insult to injury after the last 6 months of cultural immersion.. but i've made up my mind to make the best of it and enjoy it as a new cultural experience, and a time to be with the family, especially to see Grandmêre and André and Regine :) i'm sure that going into it positively, thinking how exciting it is to be discovering traditions i can take part in will really make it an exciting Christmas, rather than getting upset that everything's not as usual. it'll be fun to think of how we can try and blend our traditions for our future kids so that they get to have twice as much fun as all the other kids! :)
New Year's Eve we're going to spend here in Ottawa, and we're going to see Marina and Ugo and have a present exchange with them :) whislt we still have the rented car from our trip, we're planning to go and have a look around the local areas 30 to 40 minutes from here, so we have a better idea of which areas we'd like to find a house in when we look late next year, so that'll be something nice too.
And Finally:
... on a festive note, i'm going to the post office to collect the parcel mum and dad sent me, and i have a mission to obliterate the customs label before i can read it, with a permanent marker, as neither me nor my parents want the surprise spoiled!! more soon :)