Weird things about living in French Quebec - Rimouski ...

*  they sell milk in 1 litre plastic bags
*  Arete (stop) signs are everywhere, even on main roads where another st connects into it!! slows the traffic
*  if you get to an intersection and there are no signs it's bascially the first person there goes first
    (I usually have to close my eyes and hope for the best on those ones!)
*  intersections with traffic lights are only on the other side of the road, not the side you stop on,
    hence stopping in the middle of an intersection when I first started to drive here!
*  road markings here are practically non existent because of the winter snow and ice, apparently they redo
    them in the summer
*  in winter when it is snowing you can step out of your house and do a circuit of the river on cross country
    skis  (that ony works if you live by the river like our host family does) its also a lovely walk to do now
    without the snow, lots of intereting little wild life along the way
*  Baz eats his lunch with a little trio of baby red foxes who have a lair in a forest near his work
*  chicken and meat from the supermarket here tastes very organic
*  Rimouski is a bit of a sleepy hollow now but apparently everything comes to life over summer (alot of the
    tourist things are shut at the moment)
*  their interpretation of a capuchino is interesting, its basically a strong white coffee with a little frothy milk
    on top
*  they sell NZ wine here in the supermarket but its the cheap NZ$7 bottles that we get at home and here
    they are $18 Canadian
*  if you have mail, the postie puts the red flag up - very convenient
*  its gone from 6 degrees when we arrived to 30 degrees today
*  the crows are particularly partial to attacking Drew, perhaps because he is the slowest mover in the family
*  fruit and veges at the supermarket are sold by the lb and then converted to kg at the checkout!
*  most houses have a ground floor and then you see windows that are right down on the ground which
    looks weird.  But apparently it gets so hot here in summer people move down to their basements to sleep
    -  hence the windows to the basement and the actual basement is below ground.
*  they call a pin code a nip code
*  the pet shop sells weird things like bird eating tarantulas, chincillas, chameleons (they have the most
    amazing eyes - I want one) and the budgies are in a low glass cage with no roof they actually clip their
    wings so you can look down into them
*  maple syrup here is the best ... I want to bring a truck load home
*  although I think French is a very sexy language I'm ready for someone to come up to me and start having
    a good old natter in English  .... sometimes I head down to the info centre to get my fix from Mona whose
    daughter has lived and work in Nelson (of all places for a year) ...  and thank goodness for Chris and
    Susan and the kids
*  its amazing how quickly a new place can become familiar and can feel like its home ...  and even driving on
    the wrong side of the road is starting to feel normal (you were right Jane)
*  the peonies are coming up (my favourite flower) and I will have 3 seasons of them in one year ;-))