The coupon issue

(Québec and coupons: a love story since forever)

Today, me, Math an my in-laws went to a welcome party for "nouveaux arrivants au Lac-St-Jean". It's a happy hour with wine, fingerfood and the mayor of all the districts around the area, to welcome people from another countries who came to settle here. They do it once a year and they invite all the new families from the past year. The party is organized by Portes Ouvertes sur le Lac, an organization that helps new immigrants to find a house, work, school for the kids and even a translator, if needed. We had a total of 10 families - with me and Math counting as a family. The funny story I have to tell you is about the "Coupons book".

I'm going to open a parenthesis here to explain something: first thing you have to learn about the quebecers is they are crazy for coupons. They are not big spenders but they like a good special, like a hobbit likes food. It just comes together. And they like to talk about the specials and how much they paid for something (a hot subject for them). For the quebecers, taking care of your money is an important part of their life - absolutely different from Brazil, where the word "discounts" means "you-are-not-wealthy-enough-for-it-so-don't-buy-it".

So, as soon as I arrived, my mother-in-law came home with a big white plastic bag.

- What is this? - I asked in French

- This is a discount bag. You gonna get one of these every week in your mail box.

Imagine my face when I discovered I'm gonna have a big bag of papers in my mail box, every week, even if I never asked for one. It's like something that just happens in your life and you have to accept it. I was pretty sure I'll never use any of these coupons, because I would never have the time to check all of them. Everything changes and here I am, checking the discounts, until it becomes a kind of habit: the plastic bag arrives and you know it's time to go to the supermarket (we do the big groceries once a week).

So, resistent as I am, once again I react a little suspicious when Math arrived home, asking me to subscribe at Portes Ouvertes, to have access of the "Coupons book".

- What is this? - I asked in French

- This is a discount book, with all kinds of discounts everywhere in town. 

When I get the book in my hands, I understood why it was so precious. They gave you more or less $1000 in coupons to spend in every possible way - grocery stores, special cheese shops and even ski classes for free. They gave only one for each new family and only during this special gathering with Portes ouvertes sur le lac.

Even if I still have the brazilian suspicious girl living inside of me, now I'm starting to get really addicted to find good discounts - and tell everyone about it.

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If you want to know more about the Portes Ouvertes Sur le Lac and their amazing work: Portes Ouvertes Sur le Lac

If you want to know what is a Publisac and the kind of discounts you can find in it: Publisac.ca

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I barely arrived and next edition of the newspapers will have my photo, shaking hands with the mayor of the city. :)

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There's so many things happening at the same time, it is difficult to put everything updated here in the blog. I was kind of expecting this before I started but I never imagined how my life would change in such a short time.

Everything was good. Why change?

Last night, I was talking with my brother about this change of life. He told me how worried he was, because of that move to a small city, leaving my friends in Montréal and "anulate me" (his own words). I think people generally have the same opinion about this, so I want to set the record straight.

The past: When I came to Canada, I didn't have a lot of clue with what to do with my life. I dropped a good and safe job in Brazil (didn't pay much, but the place was really nice), a house and a relashionship to try something else. I was risking everything I got until there (not much, though) and I was in severe depression at the time. So, I pick all my money (it wasn't much, too) and I decided to take this big step. I can tell you it was the scarriest and best thing I did in my life. I proved to myself how much I can fight, how good my work is and how much I'm worth. Once again - I did it for myself.

The path of the warrior: I had so many amazing experiences it's difficult to explain. I practiced my humbleness, I learned how to ask for help when I needed it. I am grateful for all the things I've been through. I learned another Language, I made friends and they were always there, as my friends in Brazil.

So, let's jump in the future 1 year and a half later.
On dit oui pour la francophonie! I love Montréal, but I wanted a real francophone experience, something unfortunatelly Montreal can't give me. I want to live like a real québecoise, learn more about the culture and the people. It's another step, like jumping to another level in the game. I want to improve the language until the day I speak French as good as my English (where you have a lot of work to understand where I came from, as I have just a slight accent). I want to spend the winter in a place where you have snow from September to March - see, those people are born in the snow! I want to breath pure air, to have a garden, to buy a house - impossible things in Montréal. I love the cultural life back there, but maybe a small city gives me more about History and where they came from.
The future: I want to tell I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of changes, not afraid to find another job, not afraid at all to start all over again. This time is different, because all the struggle I had in the beggining, it went away. I already have the canadian experience, I came from a big city, I already speak French - actually, at this point, I'm fluent in 4 Languages, which is kind of impressive for them and I use this just to show off, hohoho!
The dark side of the moon: Another thing most of the people don't know is about how much I was working in Montréal. I tell this, because even with a good paycheck, it became difficult for me to go out. I was going to nicer restaurants, nicer places, buying nicer things but my quality of life was decaying. I think when you just get better things but always the same, it's time to rethink. I didn't travel so far to not enjoy the path. It was difficult even to go to shows - as I had to work early the other day. Even the huge quantity of things was overwhelming - sometimes, I had so many choises, I get stressed and didn't when out. It may sound ridiculous, but you have to buy tickets 2 months in advance to get a place (reason we lost the canadians game in Sep, 28th and the Unicorns show in a few days, with the tickets already bought). You never know how your day or your life is gonna be so, believe me, it has to worth a lot for all the stress.
Another funny problem you have there is the distance. Montréal is a long city and to delocate to one place to another, sometimes it takes 1h, 1:30h. Believe me, the public transport really works, but because of the distances and turns the bus gives (all the buses cover just a small area, so you are obliged to pick 2 or 3 buses to go anywhere far), after a while you want to never pick a bus again in your life. That's why Mile-End (my old neighborhood) and Plateau are so expensive: you have everything more or less near, so you save a lot of time and money in public transport if you have a bike.
The price is right: once again, Montréal is an expensive city. Rent is so outrageous if you live in a good area, it's impossible to think about save money and buy a house. Most of the people I know can't save money at all, they live in a small apartment, no forniture, that's it.
I'm the passenger, I ride and I ride: Since I came to Montréal, most of my friends moved or are moving to another city. My friends start to spread all over the world, so our big group shrinked a lot since last year. A few friends came to Alma and, even if I didn't have a Welcome Party as I had in Montréal, I think I'm gonna have another solid group really soon here.

So, this are the big reasons I decided to move. I'm not bashing Montréal, I love the city, I love to live there, but as everything, it has a good and a bad side. This is just for people who think living in Montréal is the most amazing-fucking-bad-ass-thing in the world (ok, sometimes it is), but it's mainly a city with the great things and problems all the cities have. Another time, there's my personal experience - I want to live the Québec fully and completely. I want to be part of the "experience québecois" and I really think the cultural path it's not just montréal-centric. It goes through the forests, food, rivers, beaches, snow season, autochtone culture, parcs, roads, Language and everything around in the Province of Québec.