Christmas is a good time for reflection, both on the year past and the times to come; perhaps more so than at New Year's eve. This Christmas is extremely special to me; difficult to grasp perhaps for someone who has grown up all their life being able to celebrate the season in some form or another, while for me, this is my first real Christmas! In 2008, I was able to receive presents, to go to my brother's house for Christmas dinner, and to write and receive Christmas cards; this year the occasion is far more important to me, as so much has happened in the interim and the festival has real meaning.
The 25th of December is a time when family can be reunited, people can show the spirit of giving and the excitement of receiving, and past ills can be forgiven and forgotten. In December 2008, I was struggling financially to even find enough to eat, 3200 miles seperated me from my beloved wife, and I was newly introduced to the outside world and all that went on within it. One year on, I have far more to be thankful for! I am reunited with my soulmate, and all our time at home is spent alone together; we live in a place of our own, which, while not a palace, is comfortable and more than adequate; we both have jobs, sufficient to pay the bills and have a few small luxuries; and I no longer have to live a lie, complying with a rigid code of conduct and a quasi religious order that interferes with one's relationship with God.
Of course, everyday life brings with it negative or difficult situations; after a muddly training for four weeks, I have been released "on the floor" at my call centre job, where I deal with customer service calls and attempt to boost the poor wage by making the occasional sale. The experience, as with my previous job, gives me an interesting insight into the Canadian people, as I speak to those from almost every level of society and creed on a daily basis. Through this, as when I have previously worked in customer service, I have proven that I have good communication skills, and wish to develop these further. Being unhappy with the job and regarding it as strictly temporary, means I am considering anything that may be an option. I would like to be freelance, to run my own business, but do not believe that I have the basic wherewithal to see that through. I do not know also what my trade could be, as I have worked in so many fields. This loss of direction is bad, and I hope, temporary. The necessity for working full time to maintain our household and apartment, means that I cannot study full time as originally planned, and this precludes most careers in medicine; my lack of French skills also makes things difficult, as there are so many jobs I am excluded from because of not being fully bilingual.
Winter here is a whole new experience for me, and I am pleased to say that it is mostly a positive experience! The first proper snowstorm happened just a week ago, with eight inches falling overnight, and carpeting everywhere with a yuletide frosting. I found it very exciting to watch the process of deneigement commencing, a process which is taken extremely seriously here! Miniature snowploughs scraped the pavements clear, leaving large ruts of snow on the road; these were followed by tractors belonging to local farmers, with snow blowers attached, ploughing and clearing the car parks adjoining the shops opposite our apartment. Finally, at 3 a.m. a series of snowploughs and trucks moved in and scraped the street clear of snow, while the trucks carted the snow away like any other form of garbage. Accepted, there is probably no better time than 3 a.m. to perform this activity, but it does result in many broken nights for those who sleep light; it seems there is no way to perform this activity quietly either, so I will have to endure it!
Most of my commute to my new job is by bus and Metro, and I am thankful that our public transport is relatively efficient. In the words of one local, the buses "plough through anything" including people! My bus into Montreal takes me along the South Bank of the river, and it is fascinating to watch the film of ice on the mighty St Lawrence progressively turn into a sheet, a blanket and finally a thick crust of ice. Mount Royal stands out very clearly with its dusting of snow, and the town of Longueuil looks attractive in places.
When shopping in Ste Catherine, in the heart of downtown, I was treated to a less than pleasant experience which is helping me to understand why the "underground city" is so popular for shopping. I was hurrying to a store to obtain Sylvie's birthday gift, when I heard a crash on the pavement immediately behind me. Around ten feet behind me, and directly in my route, was a chunk of ice the size of a football, only partly shattered after its fall from one of the tower blocks. I was shocked that there seemed nothing but luck preventing a similar fall of ice from killing someone; Ste Catherine was not particularly crowded that afternoon, otherwise there would almost certainly have been a death or serious injury. That incident, and reports that many of the large structures' facades may be crumbling, makes me venture downtown with slightly more trepidation.
My new workplace is in a very Montrealais part of the Plateau de Mont Royal, and there are a good many Anglophones there, which makes me feel a little less isolated. The older buildings sit well with the dressing of snow, and were it not for the over-zealous parking attendants and sidewalk snow ploughs, it has a distinct urban charm. Finding a job with a large proportion of Anglophone workers has encouraged me to perhaps persist in finding a better career in a similar environment, as the wage seems very poor in proportion to comparable companies in the region. I have had many things suggested as potential careers, but I normally find a stumbling block to many avenues; I would love to be a doctor, but this would mean 7 years of university, years in which I would want to be raising a family rather than going to classes or studying at home; I would love to be a photographer, but almost everyone has equipment which would produce comparable results, and do not wish for a professional service; I am interested in two promising careers, which I am investigating in more detail: teaching English as a second language, as this does not require a great knowlege of the language of origin for the student; also, voice over and voice services: people inform me that my voice is very easy on the ears, and within Canada and North America, and English "accent" is a useful passport to being accepted by people! There are many applications for voice over, such as announcements, audiobooks, even public speaking. These two are very distinct avenues for a freelance career, and I will have to carefully look at the fiscal possibilities of such a job. I am learning not to be negative or dismissing of these ideas, as I could be missing out on earning more with my strengths.
It is almost time to go to work; with my current job, holidays are almost non-existent, as I am fresh from probation training; this extends to working Christmas Eve until 8pm, and presents a problem getting home in good time! At least I have the comfort of a warm apartment complete with two cats, Christmas decorations and presents, a wonderful wife, and the prospect of a Christmas in a place I can truly call my home. Great things to look forward to!
Let me sign off this post, which may be my last of 2009, wishing all my readers a Merry Christmas and the best of all that 2010 brings to you!
