Living In Quebec
Living in Quebec has been an...experience...for me. In both good and bad ways.
The best ways involve the people of Quebec. First, there's ALL THE EYE CANDY. Quebec men aren't afraid of facial hair...it's almost a given that a quebecker will grow a nice tight goatee or well-trimmed beard upon adulthood. They also live well, so are frequently big and beefy. Alas, so many of them are straight...
But WARM. If you've ever heard that the French is a very welcoming culture, you've not heard wrong. And therein lies my first problem.
If I smile a great big smile that shows a lot of teeth at an Ontarian, like I'm REALLY happy to meet him...and he smiles in the same way, then there's a good chance he's gay...'cause the straight guy will usually look away uncomfortably after a minute, or if he smiles back, it's not nearly that welcoming.
If a french guy smiles a great big smile back, it means nothing, because the Quebec people are really, really friendly. When they're happy to meet you, they really are *pleased*, not just 'okay, pleased to meet you, you can stop smiling at me like that'. So none of the tentative clues I've worked out for whether a guy might be interested or not WORK with quebec guys, and I've not yet gotten up the courage to try something more direct.
Do you know how *frustrating* it is to see all these cute, hot, sexy men and not be able to do anything about it???
But Quebec friendliness goes further. If I go out with my boss for drinks and I'm low on cash, he thinks *nothing* of dropping 50 bucks on me so I can have a good time. Literally, nothing. It's not a loan, it's a gift, and it makes him happy to give it. When we went to the birthday party of a co-worker, I later found out he was expecting to pay more than 80 bucks for the cab ride, all by himself, just so I could be with them. It was significantly cheaper, and I wasn't so poor I couldn't pay my share, but still!!
I might see that coming from a good friend, but though I've been to his house a couple of times and we go out for drinks, and I consider him a friend, our relationship isn't THAT close. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't either. I'm a friend, but not a 'good' friend...yet he's still that friendly and generous. And no, he's not rich. He makes about four bucks an hour more than me, which is not such a big difference, really.
Honestly, you should see what he *does* do for his good friends. I have, and it's flabbergasting.
But despite the wonders of the Quebec people and my sincere enjoyment living and working among them, I really hate living in Quebec. Why? Because I have to deal with the Quebec government.
When I first did my taxes in Quebec, I requested my information be sent to me in English, because my French skills were not so good as they are now, and because I didn't want to try to figure out tax jargon and possibly make a mistake. But no...they sent it in French.
When I was unemployed, and I collected EI, there was a mandatory first meeting to try to get you back into the workforce. Among other things, they show you all sorts of places that work to get you hired, including working on your resume, your interview skills, and training you in various skills. The first such organization they told us about was awesome...the average re-hire time was two weeks. Oh...but you had to speak French. The second place was not quite as good, but the re-hire time was three or four weeks. Oh, but you had to speak French. The third place? You could hear the scorn in the official's tone as she described this place...but if you spoke English, that was the place you had to go.
When I started making my plans for Massage Therapy (it turns out the biggest mistake was waiting a year to try to get my eye surgery, as I never got the surgery and it just wasted a year and all that I'd saved), I contacted the quebec Student loans program about my eligibility, and as long as I was a resident of Quebec...no problem! This year, I inquired about student loans...and all of a sudden there are problems. Massage Therapy does not qualify as a program for student loans--and unlike Ontario, there's no procedure to make an application to have a program recognized.
But wait! There's more! Even if it WERE recognized, I could not study out of province, unless I'd studied in Quebec for at least six months FIRST. Unlike Ontario, where I can study in all sorts of provinces.
And when finally, after weeks of difficulties trying to figure out how to afford school in September, and discoving that Ontario would pay my Federal portion of the student loan (not enough, but more than Quebec was willing to pay), and they needed a letter from Quebec describing why I was not eligible for Quebec Student Loans...Quebec sent me a letter saying I wasn't eligible...because I didn't live in Quebec!!!
Apparenly Aylmer, Quebec has seperated from the Province without my knowledge.
So if I'm going to school next year, I need to establish my residency in Ontario. I have a decent job--the only thing that prevents it from being a *good* job is the limited pay, as I really enjoy working with the people I work with, the job is one I'm good at, and I even earned a promotion, the first real promotion I've ever had. But family is closer to Toronto...and Toronto is a bigger place with lots of guys to meet, something I'm finding difficulty doing here in Ottawa. As I get older, it's become an unofficial goal to be started on some kind of career by the age of 30. Thanks to the wonders of the Quebec Government and its ability to disseminate false information, that's not gonna happen now.
But if nothing else, at least I can now swear fluently in French.
The best ways involve the people of Quebec. First, there's ALL THE EYE CANDY. Quebec men aren't afraid of facial hair...it's almost a given that a quebecker will grow a nice tight goatee or well-trimmed beard upon adulthood. They also live well, so are frequently big and beefy. Alas, so many of them are straight...
But WARM. If you've ever heard that the French is a very welcoming culture, you've not heard wrong. And therein lies my first problem.
If I smile a great big smile that shows a lot of teeth at an Ontarian, like I'm REALLY happy to meet him...and he smiles in the same way, then there's a good chance he's gay...'cause the straight guy will usually look away uncomfortably after a minute, or if he smiles back, it's not nearly that welcoming.
If a french guy smiles a great big smile back, it means nothing, because the Quebec people are really, really friendly. When they're happy to meet you, they really are *pleased*, not just 'okay, pleased to meet you, you can stop smiling at me like that'. So none of the tentative clues I've worked out for whether a guy might be interested or not WORK with quebec guys, and I've not yet gotten up the courage to try something more direct.
Do you know how *frustrating* it is to see all these cute, hot, sexy men and not be able to do anything about it???
But Quebec friendliness goes further. If I go out with my boss for drinks and I'm low on cash, he thinks *nothing* of dropping 50 bucks on me so I can have a good time. Literally, nothing. It's not a loan, it's a gift, and it makes him happy to give it. When we went to the birthday party of a co-worker, I later found out he was expecting to pay more than 80 bucks for the cab ride, all by himself, just so I could be with them. It was significantly cheaper, and I wasn't so poor I couldn't pay my share, but still!!
I might see that coming from a good friend, but though I've been to his house a couple of times and we go out for drinks, and I consider him a friend, our relationship isn't THAT close. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't either. I'm a friend, but not a 'good' friend...yet he's still that friendly and generous. And no, he's not rich. He makes about four bucks an hour more than me, which is not such a big difference, really.
Honestly, you should see what he *does* do for his good friends. I have, and it's flabbergasting.
But despite the wonders of the Quebec people and my sincere enjoyment living and working among them, I really hate living in Quebec. Why? Because I have to deal with the Quebec government.
When I first did my taxes in Quebec, I requested my information be sent to me in English, because my French skills were not so good as they are now, and because I didn't want to try to figure out tax jargon and possibly make a mistake. But no...they sent it in French.
When I was unemployed, and I collected EI, there was a mandatory first meeting to try to get you back into the workforce. Among other things, they show you all sorts of places that work to get you hired, including working on your resume, your interview skills, and training you in various skills. The first such organization they told us about was awesome...the average re-hire time was two weeks. Oh...but you had to speak French. The second place was not quite as good, but the re-hire time was three or four weeks. Oh, but you had to speak French. The third place? You could hear the scorn in the official's tone as she described this place...but if you spoke English, that was the place you had to go.
When I started making my plans for Massage Therapy (it turns out the biggest mistake was waiting a year to try to get my eye surgery, as I never got the surgery and it just wasted a year and all that I'd saved), I contacted the quebec Student loans program about my eligibility, and as long as I was a resident of Quebec...no problem! This year, I inquired about student loans...and all of a sudden there are problems. Massage Therapy does not qualify as a program for student loans--and unlike Ontario, there's no procedure to make an application to have a program recognized.
But wait! There's more! Even if it WERE recognized, I could not study out of province, unless I'd studied in Quebec for at least six months FIRST. Unlike Ontario, where I can study in all sorts of provinces.
And when finally, after weeks of difficulties trying to figure out how to afford school in September, and discoving that Ontario would pay my Federal portion of the student loan (not enough, but more than Quebec was willing to pay), and they needed a letter from Quebec describing why I was not eligible for Quebec Student Loans...Quebec sent me a letter saying I wasn't eligible...because I didn't live in Quebec!!!
Apparenly Aylmer, Quebec has seperated from the Province without my knowledge.
So if I'm going to school next year, I need to establish my residency in Ontario. I have a decent job--the only thing that prevents it from being a *good* job is the limited pay, as I really enjoy working with the people I work with, the job is one I'm good at, and I even earned a promotion, the first real promotion I've ever had. But family is closer to Toronto...and Toronto is a bigger place with lots of guys to meet, something I'm finding difficulty doing here in Ottawa. As I get older, it's become an unofficial goal to be started on some kind of career by the age of 30. Thanks to the wonders of the Quebec Government and its ability to disseminate false information, that's not gonna happen now.
But if nothing else, at least I can now swear fluently in French.