We’re at the cottage. WE’RE AT THE COTTAGE! It’s been a weird summer for us. Between moving and renovating we have had very little time to enjoy the cottage or breathe. Now that the renovation is winding down and the house is sold, we moved to the cottage, which you could say is now home.

When I’m at the cottage the first thing I do every morning when I wake, is look at the lake. You never know what you’ll see. Some days it’s extraordinary, others it’s ordinary, but every day here is calming.

The world can appear to be completely chaotic, but if you stop to look around it’s really a beautiful place. Some time you just need to put social media aside, shut the phone off and just be.

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Amid the chaos of moving and renovating the apartment we are moving to, we took a much needed sanity break to visit my sister who was in Burlington for a conference. My wife has not seen any of my family in person for two years, so we jumped in the car and made the two hour drive from Montréal to Burlington to meet for dinner.

We arrived a bit early and took a walk through town and ended up down at the waterfront. We were immediately taken in by the charm of the city.

After meeting up with my sister, we wondered over to the Revolution Kitchen for dinner. A small vegan restaurant tucked away on an inconspicuous side street. With decor any Instagrammer would love, with food to die for. After dinner we walked back to the waterfront to watch the sunset and then took a stroll down Church Street.

Burlington is a quaint city which seems to have a lot to offer. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay long, but I think we’ll go back to explore more in the future.

It was a great visit.

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First off learning a new language is hard, time consuming and gratifying. Secondly, winter in Montréal is brutal but those who live here act like it’s no big deal. See images below.

Now that that is out of the way let me give you some background. Although a majority of people in Québec speak English it’s beneficial to learn French and is highly recommended by Québec immigration. So I signed up for classes. Classes are 6 hours a day Monday - Friday and each level is approximately 2 months long. When I started I thought I was in for an 11 week course. I recently passed the exams to continue on to higher levels, so I signed up to continue with the 2 and 3 levels. After the 3rd level I plan on reevaluating where I am and possibly continuing with levels 4-6 in the fall.

On top of learning a new language I decided to challenge myself to walk to class each day. It’s a 6km walk daily in sub-zero weather with wind that is trying to rip your face off. Good times.

If you’ve read this far you’re probably wondering, well, what the hell have you learned about the world? So here goes. My classmates are from all over the world. There are mates from Turkey, India, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Montenegro, Bangladesh, Italy, Russia, Vietnam, El Salvador, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Honduras and Mexico. I happen to be the only one from the United States.

There is a certain level of camaraderie that happens when you spend 6 hours each day in a room full of strangers from around the world, which leads me to the first thing I’ve learned.

What the media and politicians tell you about people from other countries could not be further from the truth. Every single person in my class has a heart of gold and is extremely supportive. Some are quiet. Some are very competitive, Some are loud. Some are very outgoing. What they are not is hateful or vindictive.

The second thing I learned is, when people from around the world are working toward a common goal nothing gets in the way. Religion and politics are checked at the door and everyone supports each other as we work toward fulfilling the end goal.

Thirdly, people from South and Central America are some of the happiest people I’ve ever met. Nothing seems to bring them down. They are always laughing and smiling. Unless their phone dies, then panic sets in. They love their phones. Don’t get me wrong, my classmates from the other countries are happy as well, but the South and Central Americans are always uplifting.

Lastly, even if you don’t speak the same language there are ways to communicate that bring you closer together. So rather than accepting what the media or politicians have to say about certain populations, why don’t you sit down and get to know the people they want you to hate.

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We all collect something. Some people collect baseball cards. Some collect seashells. Others collect tea cups. And if you’re rich enough, you collect cars and/or spouses. But why?

Some say it’s to connect to the past, to fill a void, to ease anxiety or for the adrenaline rush experienced during the hunt. Collecting can give us joy when done in moderation, but cause us pain when we over do it.

We sort our collections. We arrange and rearrange our collections. We display our collections. When we loose interest in our collections, we tuck them away in a box because they mean too much to us to sell or give away.

Humans have a tendency to collect inanimate objects so we feel joy. Maybe it’s time to collect the experiences of sharing a laugh, a story or a meal with fellow humans.

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