1. Free water
Publicly accessible, free drinking fountains? Yes, please. Water-bottle filling stations in a church? Uh huh. (I actually saw this at my brother's church in Windsor, Ontario). Everyone thinks Germans are so environmentally friendly, and they are in some ways, and perhaps the governments policies are on a large scale, but in my day-to-day interactions there are many ways people I know personally are much less environmentally conscious than in Quebec. I am a rare user of cloth diapers here. Most people buy bottled (usually carbonated) water rather than bring a bottle from home (although that bottle is, of course, recycled!) I saw today, for example, that Concordia University in Montreal bans the sale of bottled water on its campus. In any case I am always thrilled on my visits back to Canada to get free water in restaurants. Not even a nasty eye roll from the waiter!
2. Customer Service
Speaking of waiters. I look forward to customer service again. Note I didn't say good customer service, just any. At all.
Slight exaggeration. But in most cases, really, no exaggeration. Hey, I'm used to it. My skin got thicker. I was brought to tears several times in my first year in Germany by a rude lady in the pharmacy or a bus driver who screamed at me in front of a busload of people cause I broke a rule I didn't know about. It's often like I am annoying people by coming into their shop. And if I ask them a question, I mean, what was I thinking?
3. Québec French
Since I was a little girl, hearing and speaking French has always just made me happy. On the very rare occasion I when I still come across a Québec accent you can't wipe the grin off my goofy face.
4. Reverse Culture Shock
I don't know if I am really looking forward to this, but I am curious about it. Germany has really become home to me, but as the months toward our move get fewer (4!) I am really starting to be excited about living in Canada again. I wonder what I will find difficult? What will be shocking? I am eager for my husband to live abroad for the first time in his life. I think he'll get to know me in a whole new way as we reconnect with my culture/s and language/s.
5. Exploring the City
At random times over the past decade I have had the urge to just move away and explore a big city with my husband (and kids. Don't worry, we're bringing them too). Museums, theater, parks, restaurants, cafés...I am thrilled about the variety of new things we'll be able to discover together in Montreal. I get bored easily and as much as I adore Konstanz, the local archaeology museum doesn't do it for me.
6. Multicultural Food
We live in a small city in Germany, quite rural actually. Although it is amazing that many of my son's 3 year old friends are bilingual and we have many international friends here, the choices in multicultural restaurants and multiethnic groceries is very pale in comparison to having lived in Toronto. Very pale.
 |
| Pic from Top 10 Foods to Eat in Quebec |
7. Poutine
And speaking of food. Real poutine, Québec's most famous dish. (I not-so-secretly prefer poutine italienne, the one from the little diner in St-Joseph-de-la-Rive by the ferry line-up to Isle aux Coudres).
8. Tire à l'érable
Hot maple syrup on snow, for the non-initiated. Stick a popsicle stick in it, wrap it up and enjoy. Best. Winter. Food.
I grew up on a farm where I helped my parents make maple syrup in our woods every winter, so I was born with a tire à l'érable in my mouth, you could say. No fake stuff shall ever pass my lips. Taking my husband and kids to a Quebec sugar shack next spring for some beans and pig fat covered in syrup is already planned in.
 |
| Note goofy smile. Someone must have just said something. |
 |
| He loved it. Bound to be a Québécois. |
9. Mountain Equipment Co-op
Old habits die hard. I worked in the Quebec City store when it first opened and also a stint in Toronto and I am still local to the brand. And it doesn't hurt that the quality and prices cannot be beaten by European outdoor gear. I still have (and use) some things I bought there in 2001, when I first got my membership card as a doe-eyed undergrad in the big city. I don't spend as much time living in tents as I used to, but just going to their store (or, gazing at their pretty things online) makes me feel fitter. Healthier. Outdoorsier.
10. Winter
Like, the kind with snow. (Ask me again in a year how this is going.)
