The Sunny Beaches of Canada

Nearly a month of no posts! What could possibly be more important than posting?

Nothing, obviously. No excuses.

But as a meek defense, I must express how goddamned beautiful Seattle in the summer is.

In the last month, just as I set myself to some goal related to “what to do next” my circumstances would change.

In order:

1. What does the company I kinda helped start really need right now? Is that a thing I want to do? (No.)
2. Okay, so I started investigating new opportunities. I helped advise some friends companies and some oddball networking. I was just on the cusp of starting something new…and then…
3. My partner got an amazing new job in Montreal, running a project group in a nonprofit climate organization (!)

The next couple of weeks will be logistics followed by a drive to Vancouver for a flight to Montreal on one of the limited number of airlines that will still let small fat stinky dogs in the cabin.

Speaking of contributing nothing to society, you might be asking yourself: “Okay, so your partner is gainfully employed by various French-Canadians, but what are you doing with your time?”

We are quite unmarried, but Quebec has a rather generous definition of common-law spouse1 so I can obtain a work visa. But let’s be clear:

You might have heard Quebec takes the notion of learning and speaking French fairly seriously. They do, and they achieve this with various sticks and carrots - as opposed to the more American approach of 100% clubs with nails protruding from them.

Here are the big ones:

1. If you live in Quebec, you can basically legally make people speak French to you in nearly every circumstance.
2. Language classes are free. And if you take them full time, 25-30 hours a week, they’ll pay you to take them (and cover transportation and child care)

It is not a lot of money, but that isn’t a deal to pass up. So for ten weeks, some time after we get there, I’ll be diving into a crash course in French and wandering around2. The latter should both help us decide where to settle and provide some much needed content for this-here blog.