october 16th

People here use the casual 'you' way more often than in France (there is a casual 'you' and a formal one in... pretty much any language that's not english?)

Montreal

Strong Niels Holgersson feels.

october 9th

Montreal

"...so for this one, I think I'll probably need a wire armature, because it's a really secondary character, il ne fait pas grand-chose. Et pour celui-là, if it was a five-minutes short only about him, il faudrait sans doute le refaire, but as it is, it's more than enough. Il ne va pas bouger beaucoup anyway, and I guess... "

october 18th

september 26th - october 6th

In the U.S., most prices are shown excluding taxes. So it's really hard to prepare just the right amount of money when you buy something. I also feel cheated every time.

october 6th

october 9th

I ask a few things about the metro in New York before remembering they say "subway" in the US instead of "metro".
 I ask a few things about the subway in Washington DC before reading that it's the only city in the US where they say "metro" instead of "subway".

october 9th

We go eat at "cook out" (pronounced something like "cookah" around here). I ask for a whatever chicken wrap (I don't remember the name). The guy makes me repeat it three times, still doesn't understand. I turn towards my friend: "help me". She tells him "she wants a whätever chicken wrap". He says "ah, okay!" and brings us one.

I'm eating the whatever chicken wrap with my friend, her brother, their friends. One of the friends says the more unhealthy something is, the better it tastes. I say no, mangoes. He doesn't understand. I try again, three times (three times's the charm, like in tales), and turn towards my friend: "help me". She says "mängoes". "Ahhh, mängoes!"

We also eat some kind of corn-based cylindrical croquette, it's really good.


october 14th

I saw a ice hockey game for the first time. (we had forgotten to bring warm sweaters. Big mistake. -ice- hockey)

The goalies have huge protections on their shins and feet (and on the inside face of their knees, because it seems their base guard move is to let themselves fall on their knees, the shins in a mirror, like an upside-down 'T').

those don't have their gloves on either

"is it a particularly significant game? Like, is it the first game of the season, or something?" "no."

october 14th

A friend tells me there are lots of russian-speaking people in his neighbourhood (in NYC). That they arrived after the cold war.

We also hear a lot of haitian creole.

october 7th

The europeans extermined all american passenger pigeons by carelessness.

I thought it had been the same with bisons, but the museum tells me it was a deliberate war tactic against the american indians.

October 11th

Just west of Baltimore, near the train rails, there is an impressive number of half-destroyed houses.


october 15th

There was an exhibition about the treaties between the american indians and the US. That's great, because I had no clue how that had worked, except that the US bought lots of land, didn't keep their end of the deal and BLOOD.

I'd heard the first nations didn't have a notion of land property, and didn't understand what they were giving away. I'd heard that the right to pick berries in the best places was transmitted through families.
I'd heard they had helped the settlers settle. I'd heard that they had opposed armed resistance.
I'd heard that every nation had taken their own path (regarding europeans settlers). I'd heard that the US had fucked everyone over.
I'd heard that the US paid something to each member of the first nations. I'd heard that they were considered lesser men at some point (a very long point).


What the exhibition said was:
There were roughly three acts, one prologue, one epilogue.

Prologue: All's well that starts well
First Nations live together, fight together, form treaties, alliances, trade. All's well.

Act I: Good treaties
A few explorers, traders and fishers arrive. They trade with the First Nations (glass beads, metals, guns, maybe horses, against furs and... other stuff?) and make treaties of non-interference. Some relationships go well, some don't. I even read they made treaties with Finns. European people, mandated by the royalty, buy small bits of land from the first nations' leaders. Lots and lots and lots of treaties are written (twice for each, both the european and the native way), because there are lots and lots and lots of First Nations. All in all, it's going pretty well.

At some point between act one and two or maybe three, there is the US independance war. Some tribes help the US, some France, some Britain. Which one they supported doesn't change anything, none of the three keeps promises anyway.
At some point(s) between act one and two and three, there are big epidemics amongst the natives.

Act two: Bad treaties
Oh but wait, lots of settlers are coming! The crowns get desperate for lands. Most eastern first nations feel they have given enough lands, but european negociators are pressured by the crowns to act fast, and they bully people for land, threaten them, bribe them, get them drunk to sign treaties, appoint a random person from a random village to act as representative of his nation and sign treaties with them. More fights. Evangelical racism.
Also, settlers go into native lands, and the governments are unable to make them respect the treaties.
Things are going down.

Act three: What treaties, we have guns!
By act three, somehow, some native tribes have become really poor, and have to buy at credit not to starve. That may have something to do with the US's use of the scorched earth policy. Then the food company forces them to give up more land (and gets super rich in the process). Then the US goverenment decides they -really- need land, and try to relocate the First Nations further West. Some agree (against food and money), most won't, and armies relocate them at gunpoint, without taking too much care to let them actually survive the forced march, or kill them if they resist. They don't honor the past treaties, if you were wondering.
But there are other Nations further West, and they don't like it. Massive population moves. Massive population loss (especially as they don't know how to live in the land they're taken to). Lots of subsequent population moves, as the US extend further west. Bad things all around.
And then, assimilation, acculturation, traditions forbidden, kids stolen from their families, american indians as lesser men. The reservations go from "lands that are ours only" (in the treaties) to "prisons we can't leave".

Epilogue: All's bad that will end better
In the 60s, cultural revival. After a few dozen years, they still have to fight for their rights but there is hope. Like, there are lots of native women who disappear and are murdered. Way more natives that are really poor/go to prison/commit suicide than white people. But each tribe (I think each?) has a government sanctionned by the State, and there are no more discriminatory laws. Lots lost, but not all forgotten.

october 11th

In the train up from Raleigh to New York:

The seats are not numbered; everyone seats wherever they please. The train is full.
I'm in a seat near the corridor. I ask my neighbour (in a window seat) if he would mind switching seats or if he enjoys the view out the window. He tells me he enjoys the view. He then proceeds to put his earpieces back on, slouch back on his seat, and close his eyes again.

october 15th

North Carolina.

The ground is all red. My friend tells me the earth here is full of clay, but since it keeps water out, the hurricanes are a problem, as the water doesn't drain and just stays there for weeks (it's close to the sea).

I ask her if they do things to help it drain faster, or if they just wait it out. They wait it out.

I tell her I would have a hard time living in a place where hurricanes happened every few years. She tells me "well, you know... there are tornadoes in the center, and earthquakes on the west coast... There isn't really anywhere you're completely safe".

14 octobre

two facts about today:
1) There are strong winds.
2) I've never been this close to a hurricane (I'm a few states away, but that still holds)

The two might be related. Or not.

october 9th

(I don't really remember the 1999 storm)

For a very long time I didn't know how to say "pepper" (the sweet kind) in english. Because pepper, that was the hot kind, right? Oh no, wait, that's the "salt and pepper" one! Wait, isn't "paprika" the sweet kind?
And in french there is something called sweet pepper-of-the-hot-kind. And it's fine as you're not using the same word for all kinds of pepper.

Lots of pictures here because for some time I thought you had to add an 's' after or 'sweet' or 'chili' in front of 'pepper' to precise which one it was. Except, no, it'd be too easy.


Also, here some words are directly translated from the english (like "watermelon"; not "dragonfly", hopefully) instead of using the european french one, which is kinda fun.

Also in european french you have the word "week-end", taken as is from the english, and an expression that means "end of the week". Week-end is saturday and sunday, end-of-the-week is thursday and friday. Except french-speaking canadians translate "week-end", so when they say "end-of-the-week" they mean saturday-sunday where a european french-speaker will understand thrusday-friday.

Montreal, september 22th

Washington DC has a big lawn in its center (but, like, really big. I'd say half an hour at least (walking) from one end to the other). And lots of museums around it. Historical museums (the indian american museum, the american history museum, the african american museum...), scientific ones (the natural sciences museum, the museum of air and space, and something that looks like a greenhouse), and artistic ones (the open air sculpture museum and probably some other ones). And they're all free.
It's really nice.

(they also have a shitload of veteran's monuments, but who cares about those?)

I happen to have spent my whole three days there at the american indian museum (you've got to make some choices), but having lots of free musuems is awesome. It also lets you only spend a few hours in a museum, and just come back another day.

There are crickets singing on every small strip of grass, in every rock crack. It's night-time. They're less noisy during the day.
(I love it)
(I stop a few times to try to actually see them, but I fail)

october 8th

I bought some beef jerky. One of the ingredients is "liquid smoke".

Went to the 7-eleven. All of their bakery foods were deep-fried. Including the "chocolate eclair" (and of course afterwards I saw a caffee selling eggs and bacon on bagel).

october 12th

Montreal: "smile, policemen in the subway carry a camera".

Does it mean "relax, cops can't beat you up" or "don't do anything stupid, we keep your face and name in our files for years, we'll find you again" ?

Washington DC , in the subway.

A group of young guys have some music playing and dance (hip-hop?) to the sound of it. One of them has a Naruto headband.

In the subway. A woman enters the train, nervous, hesitating but in a hurry. A big guy in the subway uniform enters after her, and asks "Where are you going, lady?", speaking loudly. I would have run at this point. She turns around and approaches him. She mumbles something. I feel like I hear "west" in it. The subway guy talks again, loudly, articulating well: "Which station?".
I'm not sure if she doesn't remember the name of the station or if she's not good at english. She looks asian. The subway guy tells her to just show him on the map. She does. Turns out she has to take the other train. She leaves in a hurry. The subway guy too, but unhurriedly.

october 8th

At the entrance of the american indian museum, there are bag checks. You take all metal objects and phones out of your pockets, you open your bag for the person who looks inside, you walk through a detecting door, and a second person holds a stick that hums if it feels metal.

When I first entered, the second person's job was essentially to motion people through. He kept saying "come on down!" then "have a great day!" for each visitor. In a really, really pleased voice. Extatic. Bursting with mirth and joy.

Afterwards, I wondered if it was a reference to the "come on down, to the other side!" song. It was too late. I'll never know. Ever.

october 9th

An ad in the subway in Boston: "When high education means less to eat, we are here to help. Food bank".

In the american indian restaurant, they managed to have french fries and something burger-looking (with bison meat). That's fine. They've got to cater to all demographics. I'm still surprised by how many people went for the burger and fries in the "traditional old food of this continent" restaurant.

october 10th

North American cities are full of invisible rivers. A river, in a city, is a long and narrow strip you can't cross on foot, except on a few very precise places, bridges; rivers are drawn in blue on a map. An invisible river is the exact same thing, but it's not written in any way on the map. For someone who travels mostly using the general orientation between the starting and ending points, and sometimes a couple in-between, it is quite unfortunate.

TV:

News. About the war (the syrian one, I guess). With an action-trailery music pasted on top.

october 6th

Wow, looks like they're afraid we won't get it.
All three panels were pretty much in the same room, in Harvard's museum of natural history.

september 29th

Some guy decorated his front lawn. It changes every day. Kind of like super-slow time-lapse.

On a trip (in cities), never eat just because you're hungry (unless it's unbearable). Because if you do you know just the second you'll have finished eating, something uncommon and tasty-looking will appear, and you'll regret not being hungry anymore.
Just after the burrito, I went to the american indian museum. Their restaurant looks awesome.
(I came back the next day to eat there)

october 9th

Looks like all you have to do to solve great historical mysteries in Canada is to ask the First Nations people, because nobody bothered to before, and they know the answer.

McCord museum. Below is a transcription of both texts of the second image

pink script:
A Dene Elder told me his people regularly travelled from the Western Plains to trade with the Mohawk in the place we know as Montreal. After a few years, they would return home. The word for this site in Dene is Hochelaga. To me this means in 1585, Jacques Cartier was actually speaking with the Dene.

gray stone-print below:
Near here was the site of the fortified town of hochelaga visited by Jacques Cartier in 1535. Abandonned before 1600, it contained fifty large houses, each lodging several families who subsisted by sultivation and fishing.

A friend in New York: "Obesity is poor people's issue, sadly. You don't always have enough money to buy fruits and vegetables"
A friend in Brussels: "It's been more than a week since I last ate meat or fish. I do live on a student's budget, after all"

october 6th

At the museum there was an exhibition about Hawai'i. And their history is really different from the american indians ones. In (not so) short:

James Cook arrived to Hawai'i in 1776 or 8, was deeply impressed with their civilisation and people, and left illnesses that decimated the population from 1 million to 130 000. Great economical, religious and political instability ensues. Traders, fishers and missionaries visit them, lots of people convert to christianism, and around 1820 a strong king arrives to power (not quite about how those three things tie together chronologically). The king gets Hawai'i officially recognized as an independent nation and ties political and trade treaties with everybody.
Also, pretty much everyone know how to write and read, they dress in a european way, build their royal palace so too, and their monarchs probably know how to speak english.

The missionaries become merchants, bully Hawai'i (1848) into making land something you can claim ownership on, dispossess the Hawai'ian natives and when in 1893 the queen wants to restore power to her people, the ex-missionaries stage a Coup with US troops.
The US government ponders if it is moral (it is anti-constitutional and explicitly against international laws).

Three years later, the US have a war going on somewhere else, and decide annexing Hawai'i totally is moral, because that's a really strategical position and the people there are "Negro savages" anyway (big racist caricatures in the newspaper, though twenty years earlier when the king visited everyone was impressed).

Assimilation and acculturation ensues, 'cause it's America now (though probably not quite as bad as the American Natives had it).


october 11th

continuing the one just above

McCord museum, extracts from the "indian act"

I hadn't eaten anything more than a bagel and a few fistfuls of dried cranberries for 32 hours. I just ate a vegetable egg roll (the fattest food on earth; do not, ever, try it) and a burrito.
I'm kinda sleepy.

october 9th

french quebec - I respect who respects me - I buy at shops who write inventory and prices and stuff in french

september 22th

re: swamps

Apparently a big part of New York was built on swamps. I guess the commercial benefits of a city on the mouth of a river are well worth a bit of work.

early october

actually now I'm looking for them I do see pigeons
Also the word missing is "pedestrian crossing" or "crosswalk", sorry about that.

september 21th

september 21th

Boston-NYC bus tickets go from one price to ten times that. I took the cheapest one. It's fast, there is enough room for long legs, a power outlet, and wifi. Unless they're planning on serving champaign, I can't imagine how the other busses can be better.

october 5th

september 19th

september 18th

Bus trip between Boston and New York City (southward along the east coast). During the day.

The trees' colors are amazing.
I'm preeeetty sure we have fall colours in Europe too (I can't say for sure though: city-dweller, remember), but people would probably be less impressed by North-American ones of ours were as nice. The fact that one of the brightest fall trees is the maple, of which there are lots here but in europe... less? none? some but of a different kind? (one of the three, I guess) seems in line with this reasoning.

But really, it's gorgeous. Especially when there is a whole group of yellow-orange-red-brown trees, and a few very bright in the middle (go away, green, out, out!).

I've been told fall was less pretty when the summer had been too dry (brown leaves won't turn red, and fallen ones even less so), and that it was one of those years, but I'm still (even more?) impressed.

Forest, some marshland, rocks. After one hour's driving, I start noticing (maybe it was there before that too) quite a few evergreens (out, out, out!) and a few birch trees. Still some marshed from time to time (did americans ever have to drain marshes to build a city or did they just keep going a few hundred kilometers? We'll know... if and when I remember to ask a local) and a few lakes. After one hour and a half, most of the trees are still green.

The road is flat, but on either side are very slight hills.

5th october

the part in french says: "my neighbour... I have proof that... a brothel, it's a brothel... expulsion

pictures of the botanical garden by my friend

pictures of the botanical garden by my friend

pictures of the botanical garden by my friend

Montreal botanical garden
september 18th

september 17th

september 16th

september 16th

September 15th

september 15th

September 15th