Speaking French in Canada

Let's talk about the confusion that I have about the francophone community in Canada.

First truth: when you think of Canada, you think of a bilingual country. Well, it is, there are people speaking French and there are people speaking English. And they all have learnt both in school. It just that there are historically anglophone cities and francophone cities, and practically, the ones living in an anglophone city, very rarely speak French or just don't speak at all (and vice-versa).

But there is the so called Official bilingualism in Canada that describes the policies, constitutional provisions, and laws that ensure the legal equality of English and French in political and juridic institutions of Canada, protect the linguistic rights of English and French-speaking minorities in different provinces, and ensure a level of government services in both languages across Canada.

I was terribly surprised to see that assuming that bilingualism, a lot of French-speaking people in an anglophone province would get mad if there is no waiter in a restaurant that can speak French. And they would speak French only or just leave for an other one.

I have to admit that before I came to Canada, I had in mind that a lot of people would be perfectly bilingual in every part of the country, but let's face it: how can you expect 34 million people to be fluent in both French and English, especially when a dozen million are immigrants and already speak a non-French, non-English language.

From the census in 2011, 98% of the population speak either English or French, 59.7% (57.8 speak English only) are native in English, and 23.2% are native in French (22.1 speak French only). 17.4% are considered bilingual English/French. Most of the canadian kids receive basic knowledge in French until high-school.

Just to make a point here, neither French nor English are actually native language in Canada, but the numerous aboriginal groups speak a lot of other dialects that are only considered with an official status in the Northern Territories. Most of these dialects have disappeared or will not survive in long term. English and French are spoken languages in Canada only since the 17th century. And I will just remind non-canadians that Canada is presently governed by the Queen of Great Britain, as part of the Commonwealth.

Most of the time Canada-wide firms have a name in English as well as in French, also for their advertisements. This means that I ear or read many French words everyday and most of the time I don't understand what they mean or I laugh so hard from the translation. There are also time when I get angry at the let's-translate-everything conspiracy.

Same on every edible product, everything needs yo be specified in both languages. And that's when it becomes strange and funny. Because there are different French languages spoken in Canada:

- French spoken by immigrants from France (they claim the right to frenchesize every word);
- Quebec French have their own dialect (old French);

- and Francophone outside Quebec (they are taught french French but speak something cruelly different from both French and Quebec French). 

There are pure French minorities in english-speaking regions as well as pure English-speaking communities in Quebec.

In France when you watch an american movie that has been translated in Quebecois French, you always get scared when they say names... they can't hide such a strong american accent that you couldn't hear until then. On the other hand, for the French-speaking community here it is unforgivable to see any English word that is not translated, may the translation be literal and mean something or not. Even better, French movie that made it over the Atlantic have for a title, the litteral French translation of their English title... one example: Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain in France, Amélie in North America. And best example of all: The Hangover in North America became Very Bad Trip in France and Le Lendemain de veille (litterally, the day after the eve) in Quebec. Good struggle when you're looking for a movie at your nearest video store!

But you also have the people from France living in an english-speaking city. What scares me all the time is when they try to speak street names... every rule falls off. For example, a francophone company would write its address in French... I always wonder how the english-speaking mail-delivery man manages to accurately route the mail.

When I first came to Toronto, I had to make orders on the phone... every company as a service in French... but this is Quebecois French... and while the waiting time to get the customer service on the phone was usually shorter, I eventually ended up spending more time than if I had gotten the service in english... just because our French v.s. Quebecois communication was scrambled. And both the customer person and I ended up getting upset because none of us would make an effort to translate in the other language that we would never thought we didn't speak.

I guess it's hard for them to find French speaking people for customer service, so last time I naively asked for Service in French, they got me someone in English accompanied with on a third line, a English/French translator who translated literally every single word I'd say. I kindly declined the service of the translator and managed it myself in English.

There is one point I am confused about, is the claim francophones from Quebec make: they want to protect their culture and their language. And by doing so, they try to keep as much French as possible, and as I have previously stated they go as far as literally translating every single english expression. Just to cite a few: week-end (fin de semaine), snowboard (planche à neige), e-mail (courriel). These ones are ok (correct), but sometimes there is already a word in French to say it, but they had to put the literal translation from English into their vocabulary... and this is where I loose my mind. There IS already a French word to say melon d'eau (watermelon), this is PASTEQUE! There is already a word to say batterie (battery), this is PILE! What is the point? To me this is not protecting their culture, this is creating a new one.

While writing this post I discovered so many more examples listed here: this Wikipedia webpage is a gem! 

Don't take me wrong, this post is not meant to be an offense, neither for French nor English speaking people in Canada, I just try to understand or make a pattern. And I will certainly not feed any pro- or anti-Quebec debate, neither will I speak for or against its pride and independence.
I will say that I love Canada, the mix of cultures, of languages! I am trying so hard to stay here, multilingualism is so stimulating!

And to close that post, I will just notify that to apply for the permanent residency (in Quebec as well as for the the rest of Canada - the Quebec procedure is actually different) I need to pass a test in French that attests of my abilities to speak and write in my own mother tongue... just saying... and hope this will be french French... not some kind of quebeco-francophone dialect!

A few updates.

First, and I can say I did it! I entirely fixed my bike! It's been almost 6months that I wasn't using it anymore (I briefly fixed the old one but it ended up breaking both breaks so I was only walking for a long while). Following advices from the internet and from friends, I changed both break pads, break wires, both inner tubes and the seat! It's all brand new and it's working!

Before 30 I learnt how and fixed my bike! I've asked my dad to teach me the same thing on cars for a long time, but it takes a lot longer and we never found the time to do it for now.

Second, I just wanted to update some of you about the ending of the French elections. François Hollande (left-hand party, socialist) has been elected president. He took is functions on the 15th of May. He has nominated a left-hand government, but they shouldn't settle too much as the legislative elections are in June, to elect the National Assembly.

Third, and to continue on the creative path I've been trying to follow since February, Greg and I were official photographers at a wedding on the 5th of May. It was tiring (from 8:30 am to 4pm), my fingers were sore from continuously carrying the camera, flash, tripod and lenses everywhere. We took 2,400 pictures in total and that was quite and experience! We are not entirely satisfied with the work we've done, as are the newly weds. A few moments were very brief and mostly in a dark room, but we got a bunch of really good shots. We learn by trying, so now we'll be better for the next one (by the way, do you know anyone for the next one?).

And this wedding allowed me to score one more "before 30 thing": take a limo. The newly weds have booked a limo for the bride to ride the few hundred meters from her hotel to the restaurant, and then to drive them home. Because they wanted us to take pictures of them in the limo, we jumped in there! So here we were, visiting Toronto on a busy sunny Saturday afternoon with a loving couple.

Speaking of work, the work permit I was planning in applying for Canada is "sold out" so even if I have already sent a couple of job applications, I need to figure out something. It won't even be my B plan, I think I'm already reaching the E or F one... I won't stay steady, I have a couple of ideas in mind.

I've also been back into training and practicing sport. A knee sleeve, a few stretches and muscle exercices from my physiotherapist apparently helped, since I was able to fully run a 10K. I was a bit disappointed as my Nike GPS is a few hundred meters off and gave me incredibly good results during the run, and I discovered on the finish line that I run the 10K in 52min (my goal was to be below 50min). I haven't trained much and my knee still hurt at Km 7, but I should have been able to run it faster.

Since my knee hasn't entirely recovered and that I understood I need to change my way of running, Greg and I bought these so uncommon Vibram FiveFingers "shoes". We wore them for hiking 3 days in a row this week-end, and they really feel great! You're like a mix between Frodo, Spiderman and Avatar!! I love walking barefoot at home, and these shoes allow me to go barefoot on any surface!

My new goal is to learn to run in these and be able to run the 6K in Paris in September (La Parisienne). I'm still looking for a girl friend to join me!! (sorry guys, this is a female-only run!).

And finally, I experienced for real a north-american sport. It's like this sport that you see in every movie (no, not american football) but that you don't understand the rules (I don't understand the rules of american football anyway), nor why this guy in particular is a national star, while it's a team game... Anyway, we tried baseball... well, not exactly, we played Softball. Explanation for the newbie: this is the baseball rules, on a baseball field, with a baseball bat and a big baseball glove, a bigger (still tough) ball and a few softer rules (since I'm not sure of the rules for neither of them, I encourage that we both google them).

So far I can hit the ball... once every 5 to 10 pitch, and I can catch the ball when it's on the floor... My friends signed me up for a beginner league!!

THE 12 inches glove with the huge, tough ball.

World Turtle Day on May 23rd.

The Torontoist was looking for writers for their daily column, after a lot of hesitation I decided to apply. They asked for a description of who I was and a writing on what could be one of their Urban Post.
I somehow ran into the Ontario Science Center schedule that advertised for their exhibition on World Turtle Day, on May 23rd. I figured that could be part of my write-scientific-articles-for-everyone project (that I haven't yet substantiate by the way). Until today I didn't know there was a World Turtle ay, and I don't have any special love for turtles; one of my friend have turtle phobia, while an other is a big fan of tortoise. Sure, they're cute, and of course it's crucial to care about our environment, but I would have made a similar post if I had known that there was a World Raccoon Day (just googled it and a few people seem to be talking about it... sigh!).

So here is my Urban Planner writing on World Turtle Day:

Urban Planner: May 23, 2012.

Happy World Turtle Day everyone!

I'm still amazed there's a noticeable Day for everything, from International Woman Day (every March 8th) to US National Garlic Day (on April 19th). Anyway, May 23 is THE day to talk about turtles, and for once, not eat them. It is a great occasion to come discover what these strange hard shell animals have in common with their close friends lizards and crocodiles. The Ontario Science Center is featuring an expo on these reptiles for that special occasion!

Turtles have long been hunted for their eggs and flesh (which remain delicacies in Asia). But, while we instinctively think of turtle as endangered species, a lot others are more invasive than endangered. Most sea turtles are critically endangered, because of over fishing and also because they are trapped in fishing nets or because they are destroyed by heavy engines cleaning our coasts, the land turtles are less endangered, especially that cute little Red-eared slider that you neighbor cherishes as a pet, that doesn't want to die and that he can't trow in the pond behind your house or this thing will grow crazy and jeopardize every single other aquatic species in the neighborhood. 

There are a dozen of endemic turtoise species in Canada: most of them are mud and pond turtles but a few of them are also sea turtles. It appears that the largest of all living sea turtle – Leatherback sea turtle – also wet on our shores, in Quebec, New-Foundland and Labrador some time of the year. They cross the Atlantic ocean in a few days to get food. Their face is a love or hate scenario but you should be thankful because their almost sole source of food are jellyfish. They clean the ocean so you can safely swim in during the summer! Problem is, they can mispicture a plastic bag for a jellyfish and die from plastic bag ingestion.

Eventhough it can grow up to 3 meters  for 800 kg, and live for a few decades, this is a Critically Endangered species. They can't breathe under water, but they can dive for about an hour. They have that reputation of being very slow on land, but in water they can swim at a cruise speed of 3 meters per second (which is the pace of an average runner). 

This big sea turtle nests a hundred eggs in the sand at night, and then leave right away. They orientate toward their nesting place with the moonlight and artificial light can compromise their clutch as they will nest on land and not on the beach. The eggs hatch a few 16 to 17 days later, giving a 3 inches big turtle barely able to make it down the beach to the ocean. The temperature in which the egg has developed determines whether the egg becomes a male or female turtle. Until they are a few months they remain an easy prey and only 15% of the clutch makes it to adult.

On May 23, at the Ontario Science Center, you will learn all about Ontario's turtles and where to see the endemic species. You will participate in saving endangered turtles lives through being taught everything about their disappearing habitats around the world and discover how you can help protect them. Awareness is the first step for a sustainable world.

And while you're at the Ontario Science Center check this out: you've always wanted to be part of a scientific project? make science discovery happen? get research go faster? Take this opportunity while you're at the Ontario Science Center in participating in the Research Live project!

Which post I would probably have accompanied with a picture like this one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/westbound/3888089606/

April Fimo projects.

I spent the last two weeks doing paperwork, arranging for the wedding photography work and doing fimo! Thank you Natasha for that great entire day playing with fimo and thank you Julie for introducing and teaching me the technics.

This time it will be a post with more pictures than text. All about polymer clay projects. 

First of all, big beads, made around aluminium foil. This was my first attempt in making beads with aluminium balls and with the cat wanting to play with them that didn't help in making them perfectly round. 

I also wanted to diversify in my macaroons collection, so this time they are smaller and 2 or 3 attached together. Since I don't wear earrings, I have no idea if they are heavy or not. Anyone wants to try they on?

Plus, a couple of tries with different technics, using sugar, aluminium foil and also eye shadow and stamp. 

My plan was to make flowers with polymer clay, and I'm quite happy with my rose. I will have to make it in different color gradients and make other shapes.

I said I would not do any figurine, but I ended up making these octopuses using different technics. I really like how they look like but they are so fragile.

The octopuses were a present for my boyfriend, who liked them so much he told me he wanted to try and make some more. So we ended up spending an entire Sunday afternoon making these 6 animals for the newborn of two friends of us. They were then put together as a mobile sculpture to hang in the baby's room. 

I'm happy with what I have produced so far with fimo, but I'd like you to tell me what you really think of it, which item you like and which ones you don't; which you would probably wear or expose at home, and which ones you won't. That will help me a lot! Thanks in advance.

Birthday cake pops

Today, my man has turned 30.

As a birthday cake I tried to make these very good birthday cake pop as we tasted them at Starbucks. Before you go any further, just keep in mind that they were unfortunately not as good as the ones you can buy, but it's just a matter of time until they become perfect! 

So it all started with a burnt, too dry and too flat cake. It didn't bode no good. But well, that's part of the recipe. You bake a cake and then you crumble it into piece to make several others, that's an idea!

Once I thoroughly discarded the burnt crust, the other fun part was making the cake crumbles. It's quite easy with hard, dry cookies, but it's very different with a semi-dry, soft cake. What a pain, any advice for next time?

Then you mix the cake crumbles with some kind of frosting. It was recommended a cream-cheese based frosting. For those who know my dear love, you'll know he absolutely doesn't eat anything that has some kind of cheese or cream in it (cream cheese is just the worst thing you could give him to eat). So I bought the recommended one and an other one ("whipped cream flavor" I thing). At the end they're just exactly the same in ingredients... Indecision taken, I would use them both, mixed half/half. It smells marshmallow, but would certainly compensate for my too dry too baked original cake.

Something I noticed in north-american desserts, is that whatever the savor, what matters the most is that they must look nice, colorful, like you spent much more time hiding the imperfection of the taste in decorations, than actually taking care of making it good. Cookies, cupcakes, birthday cakes with so much frosting you can't even tell what's underneath.

Anyway, my birthday pops were not as good as the ones they were supposed to mimic, but at least they looked like a north-american birthday cake. And for the record, the decoration part is actually the longest part of the recipe, I'm not a big fan of north-american desserts.

So now, there we are: colorful cakes, a few dozen candles blown and he is 30.

Downtime

What is downtime? In a working environment this is the time when a machine is not working. If I carefully listen to what my IT manager tells me, this is the moment you want the less to happen as all your co-workers need an electric or internet access. Productivity is reduced if they're not connected even for a short period of time.

What if that was the opposite in your private life? What if that unconnected downtime made your mind more productive? 

I read that article yesterday on "The death of downtime", and I figured that May 1rst would be a good day to write about downtime. For the north-american readers, I will just precise that May 1rst is supposed to be the International Workers' Day, or Labour Day, well, it is in 'the rest of the world' basically. So yes, I think Labour day is the day to think about downtime as it is an official holiday for a large part of the world. Although Labour Day has originally been created to celebrate workers and protest for their rights, most of us use it as a day off, without caring about the socialist/communists/anarchists/proletarian (...) riots and demonstrations. They just use it to take time for themselves, even-though I'm not sure we can consider it downtime. Most of the time May 1rst would be part of a long-awaited and planned long week-end, where you drive to the other side of your country and discover this large and gorgeous national park you've always dreamt of visiting. Or in France you would sell Lily of the Valley on the side walk. I have to admit (for having done that once) that this actually gives you a lot of downtime. Anyway, let's use the opportunity of May 1rst to think about downtime.

The guy in the article, wrote that we "likely suffer from some form of acute downtime deficiency". Apparently we don't have enough time down. But what is it? Does that mean lying on the coach with popcorn? Is that like dreaming? Is that watching a stupid chick-flick movie? Is that spending a good hour outside, just hanging out with friends? Is that running twice a week with radio in your earphones?

We tempt to deprive ourselves from opportunity of total disconnection. Is that because time is money, is that because we are afraid of loosing an opportunity to do something while just taking the time of thinking about nothing? We need interaction with others, interaction with something, anything. We need to know what other people are doing at one moment, we need to know what other people think of what we are doing at that same moment, how well our tweet has been received and re-tweeted, if our work has been appreciated, if one of our colleagues is thinking of work while you seem to be enjoying a fresh air breathe on a sunny Saturday, we need to know what people think of the pictures we've been posting lately, or who will respond to my post. We play sudoku for 2 minutes while waiting for the metro, we eat in front of our computer or while watching TV... Besides the fact that we probably take less time to talk with each other, I think we also take less time to listen to our thoughts and think about them (think about thoughts... what a crazy idea). It's like it's not acceptable or socially immoral to actually not do anything for a few minutes.
We like to be busy, or look busy, but we also like to be distracted (I know I do, simply in writing that post, I think I checked my e-mails a dozen times, and the worst part is, I don't even wait for e-mail to come, it's just the pleasure of switching to one demanding thing to an other, much less). But in my opinion procrastination has nothing to do with downtime.

But then, is that like dreaming? is that what meditation is about? Is that like we need downtime to be creative, as kids need to dream to develop their brain? Do we need our downtime to be productive? Does allowing our brain to rest would make it think better? or is that the opposite? It's while not thinking of a certain problem that its solution presents itself. I think that we have less and less  downtime, and that makes us have some weird and clever revelations while in the shower or while brushing our teeth. That moment when you do mundane repetitive actions that allows you to do nothing else but let your brain wander in creativity.
As well as I found articles recommending unplugging (computer, phone, music...), or taking a daily dose of deep thinking to protect that state of no-intent, I also found articles advocating for turning up our downtime. Isn't it contradictory to speak about exploiting our downtime?

Why don't we try sipping a cup of our favorite drink on a sunny patio on a morning, just watching pedestrians on the streets, walking their dogs, and that amazing tree blossoming? I would say sit down and focus on anything, while I should probably say blur on nothing.
Sure, this sounds boring but it won't be long until your mind comes up with something unexpected, totally unrelated to that moment. Just let your mind go. If you've ever tried to meditate (just a savasana at the end of a yoga class and you'll know what I mean) you know how hard it is to be an empty mind (I can predict a few who would tell me they've already meet empty minds...), instead you feel like there is a flood of thoughts that parade one by one (sometimes even one shortcutting the others, mixing themselves) and you wish you could get rid of them, until one of them seems worth memorizing, you just can't keep it. I think it's because we don't take the time to listen to our thoughts, nurture them from the moment they arise, watch them growing and finally decide on what to do with them. So they remain idea runts, they tried to rise up at an inopportune moment and we shut them down, and they run limp away.
Downtime is good, but don't mis-use it and don't overuse it, don't even try to purposely use it, just allow it to happen.

I know, you are gonna say that that's easy for me to find downtime because I'm not working right now, and you would probably be true. I appreciate the time right now because I can let my mind be creative and let it freely open. And that allows me to do a lot of things I would have probably not done if I wasn't free from work.
I think that's what I needed right now. A "creative pause" just take the time to do nothing, or do something, unrelated to work, science, go back to enjoying doing things not in a rush because it's sunday evening and you know that you would probably not be able to work on that project again until the next week-end, when you will already have forgotten this idea that briefly flourished in your head.

Ageing.

When I wear makeup people say either that I look older, or that I look like a ballerina: not sure what's best. And when I don't wear any and tie my hair the most rapid way, I tend to look like just I barely passed voting age. 

This had to change! Not that I want to look older, but I want to look like a woman, not just like a student (which I'm not anymore, and had a lot of advantages when going to the cinema of visiting a museum).

First of all I was barely able to put on makeup. Yeah, I know, nobody taught me and honestly watching at videos online didn't really help (have you ever tried putting on a straight line of eyeliner while watching a video and trying to stop that damn video because she's already putting on lipstick while you're still struggling on your eyes?). Let's call that technical problems. 

Other despairing fact, I just didn't have time. But now I have time to learn and practice.

That's how I got to these short courses to improve my 'personal image' (that's how it's called, I didn't invent anything like that myself ;). That was all about make-up and colours, and that was awesome! If you're in Bordeaux, I highly recommend you go see Laura. 

I won't say I can put on make-up perfectly and quickly now, but at least in theory I know how to look more natural while still wearing make-up! It's only a matter of colours!

Anyway, ageing. As I see friends around me getting married, buying houses, having kids... (yeah, usually in that order) I now acknowledge that we are getting older even before I could realize it. My boyfriend is blowing his 30th candles in 5 days now, and even if we don't really care about age, I can see this is embarrassing him a little. The fact that I'm writing that blog about all the things I would want to do before I'm 30 probably also mean I unconsciously care.

This is now the time when big screen movie actors are about my age, and that TV show ones tend to be slightly younger... We still have a bit of time until we can get scared we get in the age of presidential candidates, but we'll have to make sure they don't get younger over time.

About presidential candidates, I also wanted to update my dear non-french friends that didn't seem that concerned by our election time on the french presidential elections. Well, I understand, politics can be both boring and tabou. Anyway, 80% of the population voted on April 22nd! 1.92% of the votes have been considered spoilt or null votes. François Hollande got 28.63% of the votes, Nicolas Sarkozy 27.18%, Marine Le Pen 17.90% (just click on the link to have a scary view at the picture), Jean-Luc Melenchon 11.10%, François Bayrou 9.13%, Eva Joly 2.31%, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan 1.79%, Philippe Poutou 1.15%, Nathalie Arthaud 0.56% and Jacques Cheminade 0.25%. Hollande and Sarkozy are now trying to seduce everyone that kinda is on their political side, and by that I only mean left and right. I find that seduction part really gross and ridiculous, as they try to make people that obviously don't think like them, believe that they can be part of their "new" program. Really strange things happen here that can no more be called seduction but more political prostitution. It sounds like the parliamentary elections are gonna be as 'fun' as the presidential ones!

This link above (on Nicolas Sarkozy) as well as this one actually deserve a closer look. Sorry, these are from the only english source I could find.

Now let's make a teaser of what's gonna happen next in that blog... 

First of all, things didn't go the way I planned them when I came back to Toronto. The woman at the immigration was hard to convinced that I could support myself for 3 months so she gave me a tourist permit that expires exactly on July 4th and by that date I have to have left the country and officially came say good by to her at the immigration service. That compromises a little the rest of my plans as I now either have to find a job really quick in Toronto, ask for a work permit and stay in Canada, or leave the country for an unknown amount of time, as next time, that charming lady at the immigration office is gonna send me right back to France without even taking the time to know me. Which means I'm looking for a job right now... well, I am looking but let say I will truly start around May 15th as I have other plans for now. 

But you'll be asking, what are you doing right now?

I am back in the training process, unfortunately not for the NY marathon, as they didn't pick my name in the draw, but for my own sake and for probably a run or two during the spring/summer. 

And I'm doing a lot of Fimo stuff... that you'll see in a coming post. 

I've also been reviewing my own articles... My PhD paper has finally come back from review and is ready to be re-submitted pretty soon! The paper from my collaboration in Toronto has also been submitted... To be continued!

And because I don't know where I'm gonna be in 2 months, I cannot really plan any other thing like hiking on the Kilimanjaro or camping in Hawaii or even less, that trip to Vancouver and Banff that we've been talking about for a while. 

For now, I'm actively preparing for a special long day: May 5th, as this is the wedding day of dear friends of us in Toronto, but also that wedding where we are official wedding photographers! They were hard to convinced (still are a bit dubious I think), but now that the contract is signed I'm getting nervous. Do we really have the capabilities for that? Are we gonna be able to take nice pictures under pressure? The ceremony only lasts 15min, the shooting time with friends and family plus the newly weds alone only 45min, it's in the middle of Toronto in a busy district and this is a wedding! You can't mess up photography at a wedding, that's supposed to be the most beautiful day of their life, they planned it for so long and they won't probably do it again. I am both really excited, and panicked! Anyway, I'm studying to be a better photographer that day. There is probably gonna be a post about how we performed that day.

I'm learning from that book.