Tidbits From the World

For those who visit my blog exclusively for the China pictures, don’t worry, even if I am currently in Montreal (for a short time anyway), I still have a lot of pictures of China and some unfinished articles that I just need to edit and publish! But today, I want to share a couple of pictures of Montreal, the second francophone city in importance in the world, after Paris, if we don’t include Kinshasa, the capital city of the Congo, where French isn’t the only official language.

In public places, atheists and believers battle against each other with slogans and advertisement. In this case, in the subway an ad paid for by a sceptical organization quotes Nietzsche, a German philosopher from the 19th century, the one who said “god is dead!“: “A strong belief only proves its strength, not the validity of the belief“. Another slogan that had been popular for a time for atheists and agnostics was “god probably doesn’t exist, so stop worrying and enjoy life“. That movement was started in London where such ads had been placed on double-decker buses. Believers respond to these attacks by giving out New Testaments in the subway or religious pamphlets.

In China I met a guy from Toronto who told me that each time he went to Montreal, he was bothered by the predominance of the Quebec flags that are everywhere to be seen, even on top or besides some government buildings. In comparison, Canadian flags are much rarer in Montreal than they are in other Canadian provinces, as I noticed in my short trip to Ottawa two years ago. On this photo, the Quebec flag flies on top of the Hydro-Québec headquarters, a company owned by the Quebec provincial government. The Quebec flag is not only the symbol of a province or a provincial government, but also that of Quebec nationalism, which explains this Torontonian’s irritation.

When I went downtown, I thought I was in China for all the construction sites I was seeing!

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A major difference between construction sites in Montreal and in China are the fences, which, in Montreal, are used only to mark the boundaries of the site, while in China they also serve the purpose of hiding the view from the construction. In Montreal and anywhere in the West, when there is a wall around a construction site, there is always a small hole where passers-by can take a peek into… I guess these holes were put as a result of accidents involving curious people wanting to know what was going on behind the walls! In China there are no such holes… maybe people are less curious there.

Metro newspaper. One second before, the commuter behind was reading the newspaper over the shoulder of the person in front of him… but I was not fast enough to capture the moment, unfortunately.

My ex-classmates from when I was a student at the university. Most of them have graduated already. I could recognize many faces on the photos… some of them I had forgotten already, but I was happy to see again. However, some people are still mysteriously missing…

A concert that will be the topic of a future post.

Each time I am back in Quebec, I eat at least one poutine. It’s like a ritual! But I definitely need to find a restaurant where they serve healthier poutines (if there exists such a thing). The French fries had been fried for too long so they turned dark brown, which means that they contained many carcinogenic substances as well as trans fats… Conversely, the gravy and the cheese were both delicious. That kind of food is pleasant to eat, but once you finish, you are left with a strange aftertaste in your throat. It’s as if you had just eaten a handful of raw fat that was finding its way through your oesophagus to your stomach… once a year is enough! Mc Donald’s poutines are much better. But they are way too expensive and too small.

Pizza… a “vegetarian” slice. Black and green olives, green pepper, tomatoes and mushrooms.

In the mornings I enjoy not being in China so I can avoid eating baozi/jiaozi (dumplings), jiamos (chinese sandwiches) or drinking bean milk… here I eat cereals with blueberries, raisins, almonds, soja seeds and milk… all mixed with a drop of maple syrup as the sweetener! mmm very good! Both healthy and tasty. I don’t miss beef dumplings yet!