- Everyone is very impatient to cross the street. I have never seen so much jay-walking and disregard for cars in my life (except in New York City). Also, people will stand way off the curb before they cross the street - just close enough so that the cars will nearly drive over your toes.
- There's barely any pedestrian crossing signals (the walking man and the hand), but that's okay, because no one would even pay attention anyway.
- While we're on the subject of driving, barely any lane lines exist on the road. If the line is worn off, it's okay, I'll just make my own lane. Or wait, this lane is big enough for two cars? Cool, I'll drive in it too!
- It's no use standing politely and waiting to be asked "Can I help you?" No, you must interrupt in order to get attention.
- I have seen so many stereotypes walking around this city: men wearing berets, little old ladies in head scarves carrying armloads of flowers, women with baguettes sticking out of their purses, don't get me started on all the Jewish men...
- There are no refried beans to be found anywhere in this city.
- Alcohol can be bought pretty much anywhere: grocery stores, depanneurs... Wine is cheap.
Ah this city is a crazy place to live. But lots of fun. And have I mentioned that I've almost been here an entire month already? Wow.
posted by Maresa @ 4:46 PM
2 Comments:
dude, speaking of crazy driving... did I ever tell you about the time I drove up to Montreal & back from Pton, solo, in one weekend, to see Caitlin & Kiri? I drove through an endless snowstorm, kept alive by redbull, and when I finally entered the city limits I called Caitlin to see where she was - randomly with one of her friends as well as my high school friend Kalman. So Kalman tried to give me directions over the phone but he doesn't drive, so he didn't know the one-way streets (or anything, really), and kept sending me the WRONG WAY on streets like - oh, nothing major - ST LAURENT - and I had every angry quebecois cab driver in montreal screaming "tabernac!" at me... not good times. I was ready to douse Kalman in boiling oil by the time I finally arrived (having decided to ignore his instructions and follow my own basic knowledge of Montreal geography, which is actually half-decent.)
AARGH!
The thing that confuses me most about the driving there is (1) the parking laws, about parking on different sides of the street on different days, and (2) the lanes that sometimes go one way and sometimes go another way, depending on the lights.
Haha, wow, St Laurent! That reminds me of the time I tried to drive up Government the wrong way...
Yes, the weird centre lanes!!! They're all along Parc! So weird!
P.S. Tabarnak is my favourite French word I've learned. When I get hammered I just want to run up and down the streets yelling, "TABARNAK!!!"
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