des terres de la neige

Since 2008, the Quebec Highway Safety Code provides for the following:

“Between December 15 to March 15, the owner of a taxi or passenger vehicle registered in Québec may not put the vehicle into operation unless it is equipped with tires specifically designed for winter driving..."

We knew that snow tires were required on vehicles registered in Quebec. My car needed new tires anyway, so last fall Nick found all-season tires that qualified as snow tires. Until recently, the reason for mandating snow tire use has been a mystery to us. The attitude toward snow removal here reflects my son's attitude toward cleaning his room..."it's going to get dirty again, anyway!";"Well, it's going to snow again anyway... "  This observation is not based on just my residential road...although I could have used snowshoes when Ellie and I went for a walk yesterday!

This is one of the main roads on the South Shore the day our movers came. I was going to get lunch when i took the picture...and I don't believe any plows had been on the road yet.

As far as the French thing goes...I passed a major milestone this week. At the grocery store the bag boy asked me "Souhaitez-vous un sac?" and I politely said "no" instead of responding with a blank stare. However, then the cashier asked me something in english, and I still couldn't understand her.  baby steps. I do have a translator app on my phone, which has been extremely helpful. L and I were  waiting in line for frozen yogurt at Ikea, and I managed to translate the sign:  "Désolé, nous n'avons plus de yogourt." before making it up to the counter. The language barrier does make normal tasks a bit trickier. I tried to deposit money into an ATM (which I honestly haven't done in years). I already feel like everyone is staring at the oddly-dressed American (I think I'm the only person in Canada without fur on the hood of my coat) and the envelope for the ATM deposit does not have a word of english on it. I didn't want to screw up a $500 deposit, so I boldly grabbed a deposit envelope and walked out the door (to my car where I could use my phone to translate without anyone watching).

I've recently discovered the "google goggles" app, which will do an internet search based on whatever you take a picture of, including translating text. So far, I've just tried it on some of Leif's books. Although not perfect, it's still better than I could do on my own...although the duck in the story was a bit funny looking, I'm pretty sure the author did not intentionally call it "funky duck".

Although Nick has been working a lot (he's currently on his second ship ride in a week), we did finally manage to get the "Rav Quatre" (Pronounced Rav Cat-thanks to the customs officer) registered. Now I don't feel so out of place when I make a stupid move in traffic...I just look like everyone else driving poorly.

There was a ton of paperwork that we had to take care of before even thinking about registering the car. After handing the massive pile of official paperwork over to the employee at the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), she handed us a license plate and a piece of paper smaller than an Ikea receipt (after $96 was paid). She did not hand back the pile of paperwork, which included our Car Title. This was a bit of a shock to us, but she assured us that when we return to the US, the little slip of paper is all we're going to need to re-import our car. She did offer to make us a copy of it, though.