i was hiding! en français!

bonjour les amis...

so, i am currently living in Montréal embroiled in intense training for the Canadian Armed Military Light Army Brigade.

Well, not really, but at times it feels like it! Pour élaborer: I am training for an internship with Cyberjeunes/Alternatives, a Canadian NGO with programmes throughout Asia, Africa, and South America. This training consists of full-time courses in graphic design (le graphisme), website and blog management (formation Web), database management (aka hell), video editing (montage), Portuguese classes, "mobilisation" (various conferences and boot camps related to the the social justice and equitable trade movements), and fundraising for our trip (levée de fonds).

My internship is going to be in Porto Alegre, Brasil:


Look at the little pink hipster building! (photo by Zórzimo Croquezz)

where I will be doing graphic design and public relations for an NGO called Canta Brasil. From my understanding (translated from portuguese --> french --> english) the directors run school programmes in the favelas (slums) to teach kids dance (specifically, ballet) and singing so that they have a better life and don't get involved in crime.

This is going to be fantastic.

Meanwhile, life in Montréal is busy, entertaining, and full of bikes. The last point is incredible considering the following:

1) drivers in Montréal do not signal when turning, even across three lanes of traffic;
2) the bike lanes can be described as sporadic at best, and, being two-way, are often more dangerous than taking your chances in the street with cars;
3) no one wears helmets, uses hand signals, or yields;
4) bike theft is rampant; yet seemingly 75% of montréal homeowners post "PAS DE BICICLETTES" signs on their gates, fences, poles etc. (I've even had servers come out of bars and tell me not to lock my bike to what I thought was just a post on a city street but was apparently private property.)


At any rate...being immersed in French is definitely demanding (all my training and 85% of my interaction each day is French, so that I experience some difficulty speaking English if the first time I say anything in that language occurs after 6pm), but often hysterical. For instance, did you know that the French word for "raccoon" is raton laveur...which literally translates to WASHING RAT?! Last Sunday, delerious after three days of early morning conferences in three languages, none of which were English, I nearly collapsed in a fit of giggles at this discovery. All my French compadres think I'm totally insane, by the way.

Side note: as I write this blog, the instructor is teaching us how Facebook works. Ecccchhhhh...

If it interests y'all, there is a blog that all the stagiaires (interns) have made, to give people an idea of what we have all been up to. Last weekend we participated in the Forum Social Quebeçois at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM)...you can read about it here.

c'est tout pour maintenant...
More photos/writing/french soon!

bisoux.