A quickie

Today, in absence of more time and patience, I'll do a quickie. A quickie post, that is. You figured that already, cause you're smart.

This quickie will be a swift report of our trip to Montreal for the new year.

Dec 29: We arrived to Montreal, met our couchsurfing host Liga, and after leaving our stuff and talking for a bit, we went out again. We met with my high school friend Veronica for lunch, it was nice to see her after all this time, and hear her stories about her journey to Canada. Another educated brain that leaves Venezuela seeking better life conditions. And how can I blame her, I'm one of those too.
At night, we went to a couchsurfer's place for dinner, he made this cool indian meal, while we watched a Bollywood movie (actually the first one I see from start to end). It is quite an experience to see so many people dancing and singing for three full hours.

Dec 30: We headed to the Bell Centre to watch Cirque du Soleil!!! It was breathtaking!! The spectacle was so beautiful, it reminded me of the magic a kid can feel when hearing a fairy story. I'm sure I'd pay again to see another of their shows.
After that, we visited Dominique and Pierre, who are spending these weeks taking care of Felix, their 6 weeks old son. We had a really great time, just talking over dinner and spending time with the baby. We ended up staying with them that night, cause we didn't really feel like going out in the nasty weather and they were nice enough to offer the couch :)

Dec 31: We had a failed attempt at ice skating; the indoor rink was very crowded and we had to pay to get in, so we decided we'd do something else. We walked around the old city with Koichi, and it was an interesting walk. Many places were closed, though, and we ended up eating some fries at a not-so-special place. At least there was some beer :)
Later, we headed to this famous Smoked Meat place with Liga. After walking in the cold wind for quite a few blocks, we arrived to find the place closed, which was a pity. Hungry and disappointed, we continued looking for some dinner, only to find virtually everything closed. Our new years eve dinner ended up being shawarma and tabule. Not very traditional, but at least it was cheap :D
After eating we met a large group of couchsurfiers at one of the guys' place, and shortly before midnight we all migrated to the Mainline Theater which had organized a party. We received the year there, and it was fun. Very different from the usual family gathering with venezuelan music, but fun nonetheless. After a couple hours of not-so-festive music which slowed us down to the point of reminding us we were well past our usual bedtime, we decided to call it a night (the party's theme was 50's beach, so it was the beach boys and the likes). We couldn't finish the night without trying some 2am poutine, of course, which i must say was great.

Jan 1 started with a New Year's Gongyo, a traditional gathering of SGI. Montreal has many members, and the meeting was a very energetic one. My french must be improving, because I was able to understand some of the phrases in the messages they read :). After that, we went for lunch with some members to a nearby indian restaurant, which was great.
Tired and ready for a nap, we had the great idea to go to a nearby theater to get some afternoon sleep. The idea of sleeping in a movie that charges 2$ per movie sounds so intelligent when you just ate something bigger than your stomach. So, after walking for 20 mins in the middle of a snow storm and not finding the theater, we decided maybe it was smarter to take the nap at our host's place. D'oh.
After a revitalizing hour of sleep, we went for dinner to Dominique and Pierre's, and this time Koichi came with us too. It was a nice evening, lots of cheese and wine and food and dessert :D

Jan 2nd was our return trip, but before that we decided to join some SGI youth members who were having a long chanting session. We stayed for about 1 1/2hrs, and then went for lunch. They say third time is the charm, but we were luckier than that and actually found Schwartz open at our second attempt (the smoked meat place). The sandwiches were great, and the coffee later was even better. It was time to catch our bus already, so we ran home to get our stuff.
The trip was quick but we did a lot, and we had a lot of fun. It felt nice to be back home though, knowing what a packed and interesting year awaits us.

Soooo, if you got this far, you are either family or you get paid for reading this blog. You will be surprised that there are no pictures of this trip, but we seem to be bothering less and less about taking pictures. It takes some of the joy of the moment, I must confess, so I wont complain much. I promise to take a few pictures next time something interesting happens around us.

Good year to all, us included, and Ill stop typing before I lose half of my audience. I don't think thats exactly possible, cause I can't lose one and a half readers.

Au revoir.