I haven't updated in so long, and yet so much has happened! I guess that's what happens when you graduate with distinction.

First of all, I've moved into a new apartment. When I first lived in Montreal, I shared a bedroom with the friend I came here with (which resulted in a serious breakdown in our friendship), then moved into a tiny room with no windows and no door with Mark. We moved out of that room into a surprisingly spacious yet not surprisingly moldy basement apartment downtown. That lasted a month. Treat of all treats, we moved into an apartment.....above ground! And then (could it get any better??) we moved into an apartment 3 floors above ground with TWO bedrooms and a balcony! We keep feeling so blessed as we move up in the world of Montreal apartments. We are easy to please I suppose. Finally, we have moved into a THREE (kind of) bedroom apartment with TWO balconies, a FIREPLACE and a DINING ROOM!! When I count out the rooms like this, it sounds so great, but in fact all of this extra space is kind of in the wrong places. If only the dining room were a bit smaller and the bathroom significantly bigger. As in...wouldn't it be nice to be able to fit the kitty litter box in the bathroom? Yes, it's that small. So far, I've found these solutions. If anyone has encountered anything better for kitty litter housing, please contact me!

Again, if only the living room were slightly smaller and the kitchen had more than 2 feet of counter space. We have managed to create more counter space, but still...

I also spent some time at Mark's aunt's cottage near Matachewan. Matachewan! What's that? For you Ontarioans, it's not that far from Timmins. And for you Quebecois, it's as far North as Val D'Or, about 200km West. We drove through Quebec to get there and stayed at Auberge Orpailleur in Val D'Or, which happens to be a lovely place to stay, run by a French couple who immigrated to Quebec about 7 years ago. They are selling the auberge and returning to France. So far only other French families have shown interest. Imagine immigrating from France to Val D'Or!

The cottage in Matachewan was absolutely perfect. We spent all our time sauna-ing, swimming, eating, singing, playing games, boating, talking and laughing.

My sister is moving to Australia. Yahoo! And booo! at the same time. I'm excited for her, but so sad to see her go! Her blog is not really happening just yet, but stay tuned and visit often for her updates!

I am also taking a French class at the YMCA and the teacher is hilarious which makes spending two beautiful summer evenigns a week in her class more than bearable. She taught us an expression that fits my apartment perfectly at the moment: mon immeuble est sens dessus dessous!