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Dwelling
In the last week of April and in the beginning of May I was looking for a new room.
I’m not satisfied with my room on Christophe Colomb, because of the rowdy neighbours, high price and lack of threes in the area.
For my new housing, I chose the area near Laval University, with a small forest and few cars. I marched up and down all the streets there and checked all the rooms that had the sign chambre à louer. The prices ranged from CAD 235 to 260, and most of the rooms were available starting from July.
Finally, I found a room for just about CAD 150. The price is low, because the apartment is shared by three other students. The students, two boys and a girl, seem to be nice. There’s not much furniture in the room, but the area and the price is very attractive. I decided to move there in the middle of May.
However, I may have a problem with my current landlord. When I rented my first room (where I still live now), I asked for a written contract (bail) because it was requested by the bank where I intended to open an account. Orally the lease was for an undetermined period, but the written lease I signed later was “fixed” for one year. I showed this lease to an “expert” at the Centre Multiethique, and he assured me that written leases were applicable only for apartments. As I learned later, that was wrong. Now if the landlord starts to demand that I should obey the written lease, I will have either to live in the room all the year, or find another tenant, or pay a fine (I was told that it's 3 months’ rent, i.e. CAD 855).
When I phoned the landlord to say that I was going to move, I didn’t understand clearly what she wanted, but she started to talk about the written lease, and that meant that she wanted to use it against me. After that I sent her a notice by registered mail (CAD 5.80) saying that I was going to move out in 20 days. Now I’m waiting for the reply. If she disagrees, I will seek legal advice.
François
One day, when I was choosing a loaf of bread in the "Metro" supermarket, I came across an interesting Québecois. He’s name is François and he is very interested in Europe, in particular Greece. He speaks Greek (ancient and modern), Latin, English. He holds the same views on the environment as me; that is why he doesn’t have a car; instead he spends money on travel in Europe. He’s 69 and not married. He lives just at 2 minutes' walk from me, on Franklin St. In the evenings he always goes for a walk about the city. I joined him twice. We walked about the Plain of Abraham, the promenade of the governors (magnificent view!), the High and the Low city, and discussed various topics.
Excursion
I had one more excursion as well. It was a bus tour for our COFI group as part of the Integration class. Here are the landmarks of the tour:
Photo: Petit Champlain St.
I have a new phone number as well: +1 418 683 4340 (it is shared, so ask Yuri)
Sainte Foy is a town to the east of Québec City, which has completely fused with the bigger Québec City, like many other suburban towns. The addresses will be changed officially in June 2004, then the name "Québec" will be used for for all greater Québec.
I'm quite content with my new room, the neighbours, and the area.
There has been no reply from the old landlord. It means they have let me go. That is very good news.
Photo: My new home on Rue Lienard
(P.S. Here I lived 16 months)
François
I went for a few more walks about the city with François.
One day we went to the park Domaine des Maizerets, which lies in Limoilou (half a kilometre to north-east from the city centre). This is a lovely place: a large park, with ponds and canals, and a lot of wild birds, ducks in particular. There's even a labyrinth made of bushes. It's a pity that this park is now surrounded by motorways.
After our walks we often have supper with him in his apartment and talk - in French, of course. One evening he told me of his stays in Greek monasteries and showed photos (the monasteries perch on steep cliffs and the monks avoid all contacts with female living beings). Then we discussed the politics of Quebec and the USA. He is vehemently against all American. In general, anti-Americanism is strong here in Quebec.
Book sale
One Saturday I visited a book sale organised by the libraries of the Québec City region. They offered for sale 130,000 books - somewhat outdated, but still in good condition - which were sold per kilo! It was held in a stadium at Centre of Foires.
Several rows of tables were arranged, probably half a kilometre long altogether, and a few hundreds of shoppers were picking the books. Many came with rucksacks; some were pushing boxes with their feet as they progressed along the tables.
This sale was held during two days. I arrived in the morning of the second day, when the price was CAD 2 per kg. At 2 p.m. there came an announcement that the price was lowered to 1 dollar. The people around me smiled happily because they had already picked a lot of books, and so had I!
I spent about four hours there, but couldn't see all even briefly. As a result, I bought 17.5 kg (40 books) - yes, for $17.5. The books that I chose were mostly on geography and history, e.g. three books on great rivers - Nile, Volga, and Mississippi (lavishly illustrated); and also books on Russia, Northern Europe, Italy, France, and Québec.
Museum of civilisation
As part of our Integration programme, our group visited the Museum of civilisation. I found this museum very interesting, and I especially liked the permanent exhibition on the history of Québec (life styles of the previous generations, such as the interior of a typical home; professions, disasters, trasportation, the church...). I was also impressed by two separate exhibitions: about the American Indians and the human skin. I will certainly visit this Museum again. On Tuesdays the entry is free.
Other events
Photo: Québec's City Hall
COFI
At our French classes we took tree exams (speaking, reading, writing), and
my results are 7 - 7 - 5 respectively, which means that I need to pay more attention to writing.
We were told that the average mark for this level was 6.
From 23 to 26 May we had a holiday, then we started the next level - 5th, which lasts till 17 July.
Museum of Québec
Francois invited me to an opening ceremony of an art exhibition at the Museum of Québec. The ceremony was attended by the Prime Ministers of Québec and France. Unfortunately, too many people had come (all with invitations), so the entry was cordoned off just before our noses. We took a stroll in the city instead.
I had visited this museum a few days before, and it didn't seem to me very interesting: there is a lot of space there, but too little art, and the art is mostly modern and abstract. A few canvasses of the classical art that I found there seemed like just nice pictures, as if there wasn't much idea behind them (I think my views are shaped by Russian art, which is very profound in meaning).
Other events:
Photo: The Museum of Québec
Source of the photos (except my house): www.aboutcanada.info
Next: June
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