Too Much Fun!

It’s been an incredible week! After getting back from the retreat on Sunday, I went to a movie night with some girls from Church.

On Monday night we went to Rachel’s to celebrate Chinese New Year by ordering Chinese food – very fun!


Tuesday night I go to hiphop lessons, Wednesday night Bible Study, Thursday night House Meal.

Friday night I went to The Mouse Trap, performed by McGill law students, with Hayley – my housemate.


Saturday went to Tower Heist with Yaser and Jesse (more housemates)....


...then to Igloofest which was insanely awesome! Here's a blurb from the website,

"You are invited to the igloo kingdom to enjoy performances from the best artists of the electronic scene, a unique and punchy audio-visual ambiance, a wacky ski suit competition, and an electrifying atmosphere that is guaranteed to give you the hottest nights of winter!!!"

The atmosphere was sweet, and the visual set up and music were fantastic.


The drumming controlled the lights, there were ice bars and visual displays all over the place.



Toasting marshmellows on one of many fires.

Weekend Retreat

I live at the “House of Friendship” and on the weekend we had a retreat to a chalet north of Montreal. The van in which we went had two dvd players built into the roof, and was very much a vehicle of luxury – needless to say it was an enjoyable journey. We drove past many ski fields in a row, it looked beautiful with the strips of white and lights down the mountain. The chalet was very flash and a photo is below.

I baked a banana cake for dessert and had to substitute milo for cocoa for the icing, which was interesting but seemed to turn out fine. It is interesting all the little differences between here and New Zealand - they don't have milo here, and I frequently have to repeat myself so people understand what I'm saying. On Saturday, we went snowshoeing on the lake, which was lots of fun! When we returned to Montreal the snow had started to melt, it's quite slushy now.

You Look Amazing Today!

The title of this post was inspired by (or rather is a direct copy of) a beggars sign. Another smooth move by the French Canadian’s was a waiter blaming his mistake on being distracted by the beauty of the customers he was serving (a girl and her Mum).

A lot has happened since I last posted. Here are some odd bits and pieces; I am really enjoying the hymns at church, with He Hideth My Soul and It Is Well With My Soul being added to my list of favourites; the other day my hands got so cold that when I was back inside they hurt incredibly, and the snow has turned into ice - which is very slippery; I am a compulsive saver and only just had my complimentary Air New Zealand lolly; I had Dr Pepper and pepperoni pizza in one sitting which felt very North American; and spent the weekend on a retreat, which I will tell you about in another post (breaking it up to make reading more manageable :)


It is awesome to see this cross each time I go out, and it lights up at night. I will have to look up how it got there; it seems out of place in irreligious Montreal.


I bought skates in a Salvation Army store (for a bargain of $7.99) and an evening last week a housemate took me to the rink down the street. It is a lake frozen over and is beautiful! Again forgive that it is blurry, it is the only one I have of me and I want to prove that I am actually
here. Also you can see my nifty skates.


I am very much relieved that there is more to my education than marketing and management - property is an incredible thing.

You Snooze You Lose

I had a lovely time earlier this evening finding treasures in a thift store to make my room more homely (I'm picking up the lingo - Auntie Sue, a little girl corrected me and told me to say "cookies" instead of "biscuits"). I had looked at a basket that I thought would do nicely as a laundry basket and went back for it, but as I waited for a woman made her way down the aisle so I could take it she beat me to it.

I moved on Wednesday to my new home and am enjoying it very much. There are six other people and every Thursday we have a house dinner. Next weekend we are going away for a retreat. I found Ralph Lauren sheets for a bargain at Winners and feel very flash when I sleep. I like shampoo's that smell like fruit and managed to get shampoo on my face when I was trying to choose one. When I first arrived, and had not met the others, this note was on the whiteboard. I had a chuckle - the small writing says "as if we wouldn't?".

My classes have been enjoyable, with funny "profs" and what looks to be intense courseloads. I found out today why I don't have classes on Fridays. At Auckland classes are assigned to rooms across the university according to size, but here the classes are held within the departments building (no trekking across campus). It turns out that no classes are scheduled on Fridays in the Bronfman building because the donor Charles Bronfman stipulated that no classes be held on the Jewish sabbath. Thank you Mr Bronfman. Below is a picture of the view I had when I was doing my readings in the library.

The last two days it's been snowing quite heavily. I like the lights in the trees. The bottom picture is a bit blurry but you get the idea, it's pretty.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if all new developments had green roofs! In the bank the other day I found myself looking at the ceiling and wondering why they had chosen that particular shape, and what the building and planning regulations were. I am so incredibly glad I picked up property, I really do enjoy it. How awesome it would have been to be able to have studied property here!

My life is turning into a musical

Today I went for a walk in old Montreal, and had soup and hot chocolate in the cute place pictured below. As I was getting up to leave, a girl who is in my property classes back home came in. Turns out she did an exchange to McGill a few years ago and is back for a holiday. As I walked out I busted into song, "Lord you are good, and your mercy endures forever". This, and the fact I wake up in the morning with worship songs playing in my head confirms that my life is turning into a musical.

This never happened in New Zealand.

The first week was a bit rough, and I found myself wondering why I had come - thankfully that has all changed. I am very much enjoying myself and glad to be here.

I really appreciate your prayers, thank you.

The dinosaurs head and tail moved, and it made dino noises

I know what you are thinking, I should be a chef. This is the first meal I have cooked here, the others have been musli or salad



This evening I went to a fireworks display, it was incredible and thousands of people were there

The Last Week

This week has gone so fast! I keep typing things, then thinking, backspacing, and retyping. To keep it simple;

- I went to a second church service on January 1st (evening) and really enjoyed it
- I have met a few interesting characters
- I have moved into a hostel and have stayed at two different hostels
- As soon as I moved into the first hostel I was invited out to find somewhere to play table tennis, which was lots of fun
- It is nice being around people in similar situations to me
- I went to a farmers market the other day and had a lovely time picking fruit and vegetables


- Though I was planning to make my first decent meal that night (with my newly acquired produce), I ended up with a cooking lesson and sharing someone else’s salad (with tomato, avocado, bocconcini, basil, olives, roasted pine nuts, balsamic vinegar and rainbow peppercorn)


- Been out to watch the hockey
- Had crepes for brunch, and saw some of Old Montreal


- Have played pool and sung karaoke with the other University of Auckland students


- Went to an exchange welcome, paid $2.50 at a small cinema to watch Johnny English 2, and babysat kids yesterday
- Having to be so independent is a new experience, and I am very much looking forward to God providing permanent accommodation - and being able to unpack

Other notes:

- The Metro is awesome

- There are lots of buskers and beggers

- Bird houses

- Bicycle lanes

- Valentines Day - they weren't quite finished setting up when I took this, but they have now and it's intense!

- McGill basketball (underground court)

My New Year’s Miracle

(Honestly – my eyes are prickling just thinking about it)

On the evening of the 30th I was referred to a church in my quest for something to do other than seeing the new year in by myself. I only had an email address, and promptly received an autoreply saying there would be no responses till a week later… unless I had an emergency, in which case I was given another email address. I gave the other address a go and soon received a reply inviting me to join them, I could metro to their place and I could go with them to a gathering at a friend’s in Chateauguay, a city south of Montreal. To get there required three metros, which meant I didn’t have to go outside once I got to the metro, and I didn’t have to navigate buses.

Everyone was so lovely and took an interest in talking to me, and they even dropped me ‘home’ after. I also had my first meal that was not musli or fast food. Apparently, 0.05% of the Montreal population is Christian, which may explain my struggle to find Christian flatmates, or ‘roomies’, online. My hosts from last night kindly offered to send out an email to the students in their Church making enquires about permanent accommodation – to which I contributed a blurb about myself – and I’ve just received a copy of what they sent. I now have two churches enquiring on by behalf.

I very much enjoyed going to Church this morning, it was an easygoing service because it’s the 1st of January. The first hymn was written in 1836, and we sang Great is Thy Faithfulness and Another Year is Dawning – which I particularly enjoyed and hadn’t heard before.

Another year is dawning, dear Father, let it be
In working or in waiting, another year with Thee.
Another year of progress, another year of praise,
Another year of proving Thy presence all the days.

Another year of mercies, of faithfulness and grace,
Another year of gladness in the shining of Thy face;
Another year of leaning upon Thy loving breast;
Another year of trusting, of quiet, happy rest.

Another year of service, of witness for Thy love,
Another year of training for holier work above.
Another year is dawning, dear Father, let it be
On earth, or else in Heaven, another year for Thee.

After the service, Phil, who I have been corresponding with via email, said that in a few days some students will be back and they have a core group that hang out regularly.

I’m not sure where I will be staying tonight, or the rest of this week, but I have chosen a hostel from looking online and am sure everything will be fine.

Unrelated to anything, tax goes up 1% today. And I enjoyed an inter-university basket ball game the other day.