Discover Prompts, day 8: Curve

Years ago I went to Montreal to do a short course in French. While there I got the news that a family friend was hospitalized near Van Horne. Without wasting time I asked another friend how I could get there.

She said, ‘Ranu you have to take two buses, number 55 and 56.’

I thought about it and realized I had no experience travelling by bus. I gave up the idea.

‘Why not I walk to this place?’ My mind whispered.

The problem was I knew nothing about how to get from point A to B. I didn’t want to get lost, so I took the help of a road map which I bought from a store nearby.

I got ready and started walking , there were a lot of twists and turns, boldly I carried on. Suddenly I noticed a building a few yards away. I was excited and kept following the road that led to the building. I opened my eyes and was delighted to see it was the hospital I was looking for.

I went in took the elevator and met the girl who told me about the two buses.

I went to see our friend Pearl Duclos, she was surprized and happy to see me after many years.

I told myself, ‘Life is not a straight line, it has many curves and twists, only those who are able to struggle are the ones who are ultimately successful.’

My visit to Montreal

Montreal, the home of the French language, looked more friendly than years ago. Whether one likes it or not, no one can deny how pretty it is.

This time things were different, they greeted me with three languages ‘Bon Jour,’ ‘Hello,’ and ‘Buenos Dias.’ The first one  still scares me as I’m not capable of speaking without rehearsing, ‘what’s the easiest one I can tackle without embarrassing myself.’ is my pal   English, I learned it when I first went to school at age five. It’s no credit to me but my Dad who thought it can help me in the future.

Third, ‘Buenos Dias,’ i.e Spanish, suddenly motivated me to take some courses, which I did.’ But forgot a lot as I did not practice.

I know there are other languages spoken in Montreal, these are the main.

Each morning I visited the malls, supermarket and sometimes a drug store, for food, clothing and cards for people I met.

I spent three weeks with my friend, she cooked and took me to visit her friends. I almost felt I should make Montreal my home. Then the urge to do so died down, as I missed my home, my daughter and the three felines:   Gabriel, Raphael, and Sophie.

I am back in Newfoundland, catching up with time difference.

…………………………………….. 🙂

 

Daily Prompt: Lazy learners

Is there something you’ve always wanted to learn but haven’t gotten around to? What is it and what’s stopping you from mastering the skill.

I’m very fond of learning a variety of languages. When I was studying for my Master’s degree, I saw a lady in the university walkway.

I was curious and enquired who she was and what was she doing in our university. One of my classmates informed me she was a French teacher.

I immediately followed her to her classroom, introduced myself and expressed my desire to learn French.

“You are two months late chaman,” she said.

I begged her to take me, I promised I’d make up the time I lost. She allowed me to register.

From the first day I joined Madame would ask me questions to make sure I was making an effort to learn. It went well, she was pleased.

Then there was no more opportunity to continue. I registered in a different university to study Bachelor of Education. The opportunity to continue with French was not there.

After my marriage I joined my husband in Montreal. I was thrilled I’d get a chance to improve my scanty knowledge of French.It didn’t happen as we moved from Montreal to Gander, Newfoundland, where my husband agreed to work as an ophthalmologist.

I was also lucky to get the job as a teacher. I did short courses in French arranged by our Board of Education, it wasn’t enough. What I needed  most was fluency in speaking.

I tried to learn Spanish too, I did some courses, found it easier than French, but after a year of correspondence courses I had to give it up. I had too many things going on in my life, teaching, house work, helping my children to be better students and last of all baking.

With this many things on the go, French and Spanish had to be dropped.

……………………… 🙂

Daily Prompt:Break the Silence

When was the last time you really wanted( or needed )to say something, but kept quiet? Write a post about what you should’ve said.

Yesterday we went to watch live tennis, we bought our tickets in June. The day started with rain, I’m an optimist and told myself, well we still have time the skies will clear out and we will watch the match. It wasn’t our lucky day. The rain kept falling. I was tired of standing around, trying to stay dry. My daughter realized our tickets allows us to go to the lounge in case of inclement weather.

We went on the hunt looking for the lounge after about ten minutes we found the place, we walked in ,there were people sitting at tables,there were four chairs in each of these places, the ones who occupied the tables reserved two chairs for their bags and the other two for themselves to sit on.

I totally understand these people sitting on chairs which is exactly what one must do, I failed to comprehend why the other two vacant chairs were filled by their bags.Everywhere I turned around it was the same story.I wanted to let them know how mean they were,  I didn’t, I went all the way from St. John’s to Montreal to watch live tennis not to argue about lack of decency on the part of these so called hot shot elites.

I moved on further, I found a man sitting at a table with three vacant chairs, I was exhausted at that point, I built enough courage to ask him, if he was holding those chairs for someone. “No, he said you can sit on these two, but I’m holding one for my wife.”

I was glad I spoke or else, no one would offer. 🙂

…………………………….:)

 

DP Daily Prompt: Take That Rosetta!

If you could wake up tomorrow and be fluent in any language you don’t currently speak which would it be?Why? What’s the first thing you do with your linguistic skills?

My preference would be French, I’d love to speak it fluently. My daughter and I take yearly trips to Montreal, it would be thrilling to be able to speak it with the locals.

It helps if one can speak the language of the locals, on the bus , at the store, in the restaurant, I wouldn’t have to say,”Can you please speak English, I do not understand your language?”

My ability to speak the language opens new doors for me, I can listen to songs, read stories, watch a movie. These are some of the things I miss the fun  when I visit a place and am unable to speak the language of the native.

ps://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/04/16/dp-daily-promp…that-rosetta-2/

 

DP Daily Prompt: Cupid’s Arrow

Write an ode to someone or something you love.Bonus points for poetry.

I’ve been to a number of cities, the one I love the best is Montreal. It is neat and clean, there are places to go and see.I never get bored here, once I land there, I take a trip to the farmer’s market, watching people buy and sell is a lot of fun.

There are chocolate shops, vegetable stands, fresh bread of all kinds  on display. I buy a small basket of vegetables to cook and eat in our rented apartment, I remind myself not to waste food, I stick to buying enough for one day.

I visit the chocolate shop, it has so many varieties, I’m tempted to buy a few of each variety but I don’t. My mind whispers,”Ranu sugar is bad for you.”

I leave the shop right away.

Next I visit the famous bread shop, I buy my favorite cheese bread to bring home, one for my neighbor and three for me. I put them in the freezer to keep them from getting stale.

I always promise not to buy clothes, it is tough to stay away, so I buy one ,two or even three. Next thing I realize, I do not have enough space in my suitcase, so I go off to buy a suitcase.

Oh my, I remember the lines I learned in “Moral Science”, temptation is an inclination to commit sin which needs an effort of the will to resist it.

I certainly lack that will power when it comes to shopping. Shopping, visiting different places in Montreal makes me happy.

Then on my walks I hear the locals speaking French, I cannot join the conversation , I’m lacking fluency in the language. I walk away thinking I must devote some time to learn French.

Before we know it we are back home, talking about how much fun we had and also make plans to go back next year!

“Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone :).

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/02/14/dp-daily-prompt-cupids-arrow/

 

 

DP Daily Prompt: Spice of Success

If ” failure is the condiment that success gives its flavor”( Truman Capote) how spicy do you like your success stories?

I like my success stories to be spicy enough to satisfy my ego. I may or may not have written about this story before, I like reminding myself I am very lucky.

Sometime ago my husband got a job in a small hospital in Newfoundland, while he’d be away all day at work, I stayed at home with very little to do. I looked at it this way, how many times can one spend time cleaning and dusting, it was only two of us and the house needed cleaning once a week.

I was bored, I applied for a teaching job the principal said: “you are over qualified.”

Where I came from higher the qualification the greater are the possibilities of getting a job, one thing made me happy i.e the thought, we were only there for two years and after completing the second year we’d be back in Montreal where our good friends lived.

A year was barely over, when one day I received a call from the superintendent of the school board, he wanted to come to my house to see me. I was surprised to know he wanted to come to my house to see me.

He came with the principal of one of the schools, they asked me a few questions, told me they had vacancies for two teachers, one in grade four and the other one in grade seven. I was asked my preference, I favored grade four, I was told they’d let me know in a day or two.

Before I went upstairs I looked out and found both of them discussing something, I was about to go upstairs when the door bell rang. I answered the door and saw the superintendent, he informed me that they’re pleased to hire me to teach the fourth grade.

I was delighted, soon after my husband called, I gave him the good news and this was the beginning of my teaching career!

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/dp-daily-promp…ice-of-success/

DP Daily Prompts: Ready,Set,Done

Our ten-minute free-write is back ! Have no mercy on your keyboard as you give us your most unfiltered self( feel free to edit later, or just publish as-is).

We were walking along on the streets of Montreal’s downtown shopping center, my daughter’s friend mentioned a book she read which she loves. i wanted to know the title,my daughter replied,The time traveler’s wife,Mom.”

I said, “i want to read it.”

We found a book store and luckily the book was there in the shelf, I bought it and came back to our rented apartment. I opened the book read a few pages,decided I must read it when I’m home.

Here I’m home I managed to read two chapters but not sure it’s as good as they say, told myself finish the book and then decide if you like it.

I’m not convinced it’s such a good book, I haven’t found time to read it from where I left off.

I have prompts to do,songs to translate, food to cook, take my afternoon nap, when will I finish reading the book so I can decide if I like it just as much as they do!

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/10/23/dp-daily-promp…readysetdone-2/

 

365 Writing Prompts: Blogger in a strange land

What’s the strangest place from which you’ve posted to your blog? When was the last time you were out and about,and suddenly thought ,” I need to write about this!”

I am posting from Montreal now.I came here six days ago, I posted first couple of days from here, then there was a problem, I lost the internet for a few days, I was unable to write my prompts.

Montreal is larger than the city where I live. Most of the people speak French, there are a few English speaking people as well.

We visited a few interesting places, there are good shops here, the prices comparatively are cheaper here than where I live.It is one of the ten provinces in Canada.

There are a few different means of transportation within the city: bus, subway and taxi. I like the subway best, it doesn’t take very long to get to different places.

It’s a cosmopolitan city, you can hear all kinds of languages spoken. Since Canada is a bilingual country one must know both English and French to be able to find jobs.

The best thing here is the variety of foods we can get.

To us the main attraction is the “Farmers’ Market.” Here the farmers bring their produce and are eager to sell them,I saw some customers buying a variety of vegetables filling their carts, most of them live here.we only bought a small amount of vegetables to eat here.

I’m enjoying walking around, it’s fall and the leaves are colorful and look beautiful.

Soon we’ll be going back to our home, it’ll be fun talking about our adventures to our friends.

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/10/12/365-writing-pr…a-strange-land/

365 Writing Posts: Six one -half a dozen of the other

Write a six-word story of what you think the future holds for you, and then expand on it in a post.

I can see a visit to Montreal in my future.

We get our call from the creator of this universe, “I have given you the necessary intellect to build your future, it is up to you how you use it.”

Whatever I needed to do I feel I’ve kind of achieved,now it’s time to enjoy the fruits of my labor. I’m hoping to go for a short trip to Montreal.

We had a very rough winter where I live, I therefore deserve some better weather in Montreal, it may not be what I expect, though a change of scenery can help.

I hope to, God willing make arrangements to see the beautiful city,Montreal. Visit the farmer’s market which is our main attraction. This will I hope energize us to face the coming winter.

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/365-writing-po…n-of-the-other