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Anybody has been overseas for an extended period of time knows this feeling…
You’re happy travelling, in fact, you’re loving it, but you’d give anything to go home for one weekend, to enjoy one of mum’s home cooked meals, to take a bath, and to see friends and family.
But once that time comes and you are at home doing these very things, the novelty of it all quickly passes and you realise that things really haven’t changed that much. Your mum still does her spaghetti bol the same way, even if she might have tweaked the sauce after reading some hot tips in Women’s Day. Your friends might have new boyfriends or girlfriends, but in essence, they are the same people you left behind. The biggest change might in fact be the new telly the family got installed while you were away…
After a weekend of enjoying these things, you think to yourself, yeah, cool, I’ve had my dose, I’m ready to be on my way again.
Well for me, the last week has sort of made me realise this is the same anywhere around the world. I just finished up eight days in Quebec, Canada, going back to my second home where I spent a year living in a host family about five-six years ago. And you know what, things were basically the same.
Sure, my old host family now live in a new house three blocks from where we used to live, my host-sister is no longer the seven year old I once knew but is now twelve, and the family have decided to add another little one to the family who is now four.
But in essence, my host dad is still the warm and caring person he was when I lived there. His jaw still cracks when he eats. My host mum still loses her shit while watching tv series, and knows how to have a laugh and joke, scaring me half to death when she barged into my room last night in revenge for kicking a footy into her back yesterday. The cat (fat fat Caramel) still malts everywhere, Rosalie is still kind and sensible, and St Georges de Champlain is still rocking with Dairy Bell icecream joint.
My group of friends have dispersed a little, studying here, there and everywhere, but we were still able to hang out like old times. My second host family were as familiar as ever, and it had me thinking, has it really been three years since I’ve seen these people, I would swear it was last summer.
I find it quite comforting to know that you can return somewhere after such a long time and feel so at ease, just like you used to be. Knowing that these places aren’t really going to change that much, except that everyone is getting a bit greyer.
It’s comforting for two reasons. For one, you can feel comfortable leaving home and seeing the world, knowing that when the time comes you will slip back into life very similarly as you left it before. And then you have the other side of the coin, which is that you don’t need to be travelling and seeing everything RIGHT now, because chances are it’ll probably still be there when you have the time (and probably more importantly the money).
Anyway, enough of the sentimental/serious stuff… To list off a few memorable things from my third trip to Canada:
- seeing my friend’s contemporary dance concert in montreal.
- eating poutine again, which is chips, gravy and this squeaky cheese, which has surely made my body ready (read: blinding) for the beaches in Spain and Portugal.
-catching up with two AFS friends, Agnes from Hungary and Firat from Turkey, who now live in Montreal.
-being silly with Lau Lau, the quebecois version of my sister, at Dairy Bell, in the car, in the house, playing tricks on her dad.
-going to Quebec city with Pascal, Rosalie and the two students they are hosting this year, Ploy (Thailand) and Andreas (Austria)
-cooking marshmellows in the backyard, swimming in the pool, sunbaking.
-dinner with the girls and then the cinema.
- exploring montreal and confirming that it is more hipster than melbourne.
- the smell of Grand-mère (the town where I went to school, not the smell of my grandma)… smells like wood.
- seeing the student protests in Montreal. massive.
- practicing my quebecois accent.
So… Plans for the next month or so…
Back to Lyon on a red-eye flight tonight. Justice concert tomorrow. Party party party in Lyon. Park times on Sunday. Death cab for cutie concert on Tuesday. Spain on Wednesday.
Rough plan of attack for Spain:
Madrid > Salamanca > Porto > Lisbon > Lagos > Seville > somewhere > somewhere > Barcelona.
Needing suggestions. Where to go/what to see/where to stay. facebook me them or email me. ta.
PHOTOS TO COME.
absolutely massive student strikes/protestations happening right now in quebec. they’re protesting against the 75% rise in university fees over the next 5 years, also against a new law introduced this week which sets strict rules for public demonstrations and student groups that organize gatherings, with big fines for violations.
I caught a bit of one on friday night, absolutely nuts. today marks day 100.
explosions in the sky. see you at optimus primavera sound.
(Source: vimeo.com)
lunch today at the cefala’s.. primi platti- spaghetti with wild fennel/sardines
