I just got back from a family trip to Quebec to celebrate my 25th wedding anniversary. It was a very memorable trip. There are three connections that I can make to education, since this is ostensibly the theme of my blog.
"I am a glass of water" - Multilingualism
My husband was a bit anxious about travelling to Quebec because, although he can read and write French better than I can, he doesn't speak the language. I wasn't worried for 3 reasons: 1) I felt like I could speak enough French to get by, 2) we were going to areas frequented by tourists, so there was a good chance workers would speak English, and 3) we had a completely bilingual person with us.
Turns out that my French is not quite at the level I thought it was - at one point in Trois Rivières, I told the server at a restaurant that I am a glass of water rather than I wanted a glass of water. It really challenged my comprehension skills. It reinforced for me how important it is, when learning another language, to be immersed but also show patience and gentleness with non-native speakers. At least my French was up to par enough to assist some fellow tourists at a St. Hubert's restaurant order off the menu. They came from India and planned on hitting all the major Canadian cities over a 23 day period!
"No Service" - Technology
We rented a wonderful cabin in rural Quebec, near the village of St. Raymond and about an hour away from Quebec City. It was very remote and private. At night, the only sound I heard was a loon calling from the lake - gorgeous! The cabin had wi-fi but no phone service, so I couldn't make any calls. I deliberately did not bring my laptop so that I could truly disconnect.
 |
| Diana & James at "Le Grand Duc" |
On Friday, we drove to Quebec City. Our party got split up, which usually would not be a problem. This became a huge problem. Friday was the day of the immense Rogers communications outage. I couldn't make any phone calls or texts out to locate my fellow travelers. I couldn't use my phone's GPS or map programs to find our way back to the cabin. Thank goodness we found a pay phone at the Quebec Tourist Bureau to contact the others so we didn't spend the entire day looking for each other in the busy streets. Getting back to the cabin was not as simple. Many roads in downtown Quebec City were closed because of Festival d'été de Quebec (Quebec City Summer Festival July 6-17). Big thanks to Philippe from l'Hotel Normandin for giving us excellent directions to return to our provincial home base. This experience reminded me that we are very reliant on technology, and it is important to have a Plan B (and Plan C) in case things fall apart.
 |
| Walking in old Quebec City |
"Je me souviens" - Class Trips
I am the only member of my immediate family who has ever been to Quebec City. I was there in 1988, as part of a high school trip. That trip, even though it was 34 years ago, made its mark on me. Although we didn't do that many things while we were in Quebec City, the best moment was a replay of an event from that trip long ago. We ate at Restaurant Aux Anciens Canadiens - the oldest house in Quebec, from 1675. When I was a teenager, I ate tourtiere. This time, my daughter had the tourtiere and I had a delicious salmon pastry. The maple sugar pie was INCREDIBLE. It was my favourite moment from that day.
 |
| With the dessert menu - delicieux! |
In addition to Quebec City, we went to Montmorency Falls on Saturday - another place where my high school tour group visited. I promise you that I didn't spend the entire trip just recreating moments from my teen years. During our 5-day jaunt, we went to a cheese factory, took walks near the cabin, used paddle boats, ate at amazing local eateries (include Ti-Oui, which had yummy ice cream) and spent time together as a family - those were new-for-2022 activities. The big "touristy" things, however, were replicas from my earlier trip. Visiting sites I saw in my youth demonstrated to me how important (there's that word again) these class and school trips can be to young people. These memories last a lifetime. For me, it made enough of an impression that I wanted to return and share the experience with others and I did.
 |
| Mary at the Quebec provincial legislature building |
 |
| Peter playing pool at the cabin |
 |
| Diana & James with Ti-Oui's mascot |
Thank you very much to the people that accompanied me on this special trip. (Thanks also to Francis for taking care of the TL AQ while I was gone!)
No comments:
Post a Comment