Bonjour Hi!

"Bonjour Hi", the typical greeting when entering any establishment in Montreal, positively tickled me. For the first time in my life, I discovered an outside world that linguistically mirrored our own household. The trip to Montreal was the first chance of many to discover a new city: Nico and I are fleshing out plans to make this our next big move (with a potential pit-stop in Texas if the fates align). California was never my thing — it feels like 8.5 years ago I borrowed someone else's West Coast dream just to try it on for size and the zipper's been stuck ever since. A city with European charm that lets me flex my French and brings us several time zones closer to the City of Lights? Sign me up. There are arts, there's culture, and there's plenty of winter for me to bitch about. There aren't the neurotech opportunities of the Bay, but I don't think I'll be looking back.

The goal this weekend was to scope out some potential neighborhoods. But in the end, the goal for me was mostly staying awake. A red eye at the end of a sleepless week of work didn't kick things off in the best manner, especially when our hotel check in wasn't until after 3pm. After a short nap, my vacation properly began around 5pm on Saturday and ended two hours later when a work emergency arose. I postponed putting out fires to finish dinner and test out Ripple, one of the top-rated ice cream shops (the chocolate raspberry and raspberry cheesecake pairing did not disappoint), but then I had to grind from 10pm until 3am, while my work colleagues were none the wiser of my international whereabouts. Sunday morning tea at 10:30am precluded fighting that 9am alarm clock, which meant the entire weekend was a blur of sleep deprivation. Nonetheless, meeting up with folks with whom we could just be honest about our lives — our plans to move, our hopes for children via carriers, our failed embryo transfer — was all so wonderfully refreshing in stark contrast to the folks who fill my days at work and aren't allowed to hear the first bit of all this.

A whirlwind ~30 hour first peek at our future home city, Montreal.

We haven't figured out where we want to live yet, but we know it's over there. What a wonderful chance to get to know the country that surprised me by claiming me as one of its own last December. I love that I now have a light at the end of the tunnel. I cannot wait.