Do blondes really have more fun?

In Montréal, apparently that is the case: "ma blonde" is "my girlfriend" in quebecois. Charming but pretty random. Class and the city are treating me pretty well. Even though I was supposed to do "rigorous" sightseeing on Monday afternoon, I kept putting off eating all morning long, so by the time I actually ate, I was completely famished. So I went in search for food and then went shopping at the supermarket. The supermarket, of course, continues to be the place with the most culture shock. One would think the language would be more difficult to get used to, but that doesn't bother me very much at all. What is pretty kooky is realizing that there are about three separate locations for the same type of food in the market: want bread? There's three different places in my local grocery store for bread. Same thing for lunch meat. And let's not even get started with cheese: there are about five cheese areas. So my day got absorbed by random errands and everything.

Yesterday was the first day of class. By far the hardest thing is trying to say something and having to fight back Portuguese and Spanish vocabulary. C'est trés interessant. The students are fine and so is the teacher. The style is not the Berkeley one I am accostumed to attending or teaching in, but it's pretty easy. I definitely want to fight my overachieving impulse. Today I was asked if I wanted to switch to the next level, and I was like "hell no!" Yesterday I went to the gym, and I was wiped out. I basically ate and fell asleep like at 8:30. There was still light out when I fell asleep. I figure I needed it. I dreamt of yelling at someone in my class b/c they were annoying me. I didn't write anything yesterday, but I was feeling nice. Today I'm not feeling so nice: one of my classmates is really annoying me. She's definitely en Belén con los pastores - and I mean, for real. Le voy a tener que prender una vela a la pobre. I'll do my best to be trés patient, but I can't guarantee it. She asked me a question today in class, and I said something snarky back. But the teacher laughed b/c she liked what I said, so whatever.

It's supposed to rain like cats and les chiens this afternoon - in fact, it looks pretty overcast right now. But I'm going to walk around a bit today and try to get some pictures. After all, following Ethan's logic, how else I will I be able to prove that I was here?

I hope everyone is doing well! Much love!

À bientôt!