week 5 recap

Well, this was our 5th week in Montreal, and it's beginning to feel like "home". We've finally got a handle on the grocery shopping situation...I think we only spent about $50 on groceries this week! YAY! Monday night we went to the B-52s' free concert to close out the jazz festival, and MAN, were there a lot of people there! I would estimate about 100,000, we were all squished together and I never saw the end of the crowd in any direction. Who knew they were so popular? We stayed for about 12 songs, didn't get to hear Love Shack, but Roam was played. I got pretty annoyed by the people smoking cigarettes and marijuana so close to me, so the hour we spent there was enough for me. We also got hot dogs as our tribute to the 4th of July!

This week at work I spent time making summary sheets for each of the CDs in the orchestra's discography--35 in total. I had to type up the track listings, get excerpts from reviews, and write up some important points about each of the CDs. I first did it in French, and then I got to do it all over in English. That task took me about 3 days, and then I had to translate the musicians' dress code, go through the old concert programs and catalog how many of each we were keeping and how many were being thrown away. My final task of the week was double-checking the tax receipts that were to be sent out and using the postage machine to get them ready to be sent out! Another exciting week :). There was plenty of drama regarding the ridiculous demands of the marketing director, as well as some issues with the musicians' union "La Guilde", but by Friday afternoon everyone was in their usually silly mood. I feel like I'm really beginning to form some good relationships with the girls that I work with, and I can definitely tell my French has improved--it's nice not being stuck using French I and II vocab/structures all the time!

Last week James started coming to pick me up from work in the afternoon, and this past Thursday he showed up with flowers for me, brie, a baguette, and Skip-Bo for a date in the park. It was really sweet and a complete surprise!

a quick trip across the border

Since today was Canada Day and I didn't have to work, James and I decided to take a day trip to Vermont to do some outlet mall shopping. James needed a pair of Brooks Brothers khakis for Steve's wedding at the end of July, some new tennis shoes, and we needed to get an inflatable air mattress for our overnight guests over the next few weeks.

We were stopped at the border for almost an hour--it was strange to see so many cars from Quebec going into the US, which is probably what took so long. After satisfying my craving for some Mexican food, we hit up the Essex Outlet Shoppes in Essex Junction, VT. James managed to find a pair of Nikes on clearance at Dick's, Brooks Bros. had khakis 40% off, and he got a dress shirt from the Polo Ralph Lauren Outlet for $20. I bought some clothes that were UBER cheap at Osh Kosh for Danica--and luckily there was a post office right across from the outlet mall so I mailed them right off! The best part of this whole excursion was....there is no sales tax on clothes in Vermont!

We (unfortunately) had to swing by Walmart to get the air mattress, and boy, was that a "Welcome the USA" experience. There were so many loud, overweight, and just plain embarrassing people there--it was driving me crazy being in that environment. And let's remember, my regular Walmart is in Shelbyville, TN...I should be used to an eclectic crowd...but this was a whole new level of strange.

One interesting fact about Canada that we noticed A LOT--July 1 is not only Canada Day, but it is also "Moving Day". Every lease expires/is renewed on July 1, so EVERYONE is moving in/out on this day--and who can blame them? No one's working, so it makes sense...but it does make driving difficult.

We returned to Montreal around 6:30, ate dinner, and hopped on the metro to head down for our first taste of the Jazz Festival. WOW, were there a lot of people! We saw some good acts--a lady with curly red hair who recovered from a double lung transplant to sing really awesome 30s still swing music--Alex Pankerman was her name, I think. We also heard a rock/blues guitarist play who was also really good. And it was all for free! We found out the B-52s are playing a free concert on July 4th, so we'll definitely make a trip back for that!