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| It seems that throughout Quebec province in Canada the majority of the people speak French. One would hear French while walking on the street, while shopping and while taking a snack in cafes. They don't immediately greet you in English, but in French, and they just switch to English if they feel that you don't speak their language. How different from how it is in our province, Pampanga! In many places in Pampanga especially in hotels and at shopping malls like at SM and Robinson's, receptionists and store clerks begin by greeting you in Tagalog instead of in Kapampangan. They presume right away that you are not one of them, that you are a visitor from another place. Or their reason might be that even if you are one of them, you would still understand Tagalog anyway. Don't they ever assume that the buyer is just a person living in the locality? So even if you are a Kapampangan from the U.S. for instance, you could end up speaking in Tagalog with the receptionist at the Day Inn or at the Paskuhan Village. Andro Camiling had this experience in SM years ago, and I'm sure it made him cry inside. Why don't they start it with a Kapampangan greeting and then just switch to Tagalog or English if they see that the buyer responds in those languages? It would make more sense that way, wouldn't it? But in the case of the people of Quebec, they must be real proud of their language, I thought! Signs there such as those in businesses are in French. No English translations below them. Signs on the freeways are all in French too. No English translations printed in parenthesis. I was greatly impressed! Wouldn't you? If only it were that way too in the Philippines, how wonderful it would be. There was a referendum some years ago in which the people there were asked if they would want to become independent. It failed as the people did not want to separate from Canada. They wanted to remain as part of Canada. And yet they did not want to forfeit their language, French. Why can't we have the same attitude as the people there? ***************************************************************************************** In a message to Fil-AmForum@yahoogroups.com dated 8/25/2004 / 03:00:00 PM Pacific Standard Time, eiturla@aol.com writes: Going to the province of Quebec in eastern Canada is like going to some foreign country. What I mean of course is that although Canada is actually another country, it is not that foreign to most of us living in the U.S. The curency there is different but other than that, it just looks more or less like where we live. But not Quebec! Being in Quebec is like being in Europe. The building structures look different, and the people, though dressed like Americans and looking like Americans, speak a different language, French. Most people are bi-lingual, however. Although they would first try to speak to you in French, they would eventually shift to English once they find out you don't speak their language. The signs on all thoroughfares and on businesses are in French and with no English translations next to them! It is a far cry from how it is in most countries in Europe (and in China) where at least words are translated into English for visitors to understand. In Quebec one can get "lost in translation"! If it were not for my daughters who were sharp and understood a little French, we would have gotten lost when driving along the freeway and when driving around within the city. One would see freeway signs that says Est and Quest and nothing below in parenthesis! Whenever I saw Est, I tried to estimate the number of miles to an exit, and whenever I saw Quest, I tried to recall Eric's telephone number :) Even my daughter-in-law who is Spanish (she and my son live in Seville) had difficulty figuring out French words, despite the fact that her language was related to it. Probably ninety per cent of what was on TV was in French. But let me start from the very beginning. After driving to SeaTac airport from Portland, we flew via Northwest Air lInes, made a stop-over at MSP, and then went on to Montreal. We stayed there for four days. First at Chateau de 'Largot, and then at a Holiday Inn. Our taxi ride from the airport to the chateau was a nightmare. If it were the only night we had been there, I would have had a real bad impression of the city! For our taxi driver who could speak only little English could not find his way around the area, after finding the main street (where the chateau was) blocked by policemen and with many of the roads closed to traffic. I found out later on that there was a Gay Pride Festival going on that night somewhere near our destination. His words were not not at all encouraging. He would say in broken English, "Sorry, M'seur (or M'dam), there just is no way I can take you there. No way at all! Look at the traffic, and all the roads to the hotel are closed." He just kept on saying that including when we got stuck for some twenty minutes in a red light district while he was trying to negotiate a short-cut through there! All along I was worried about being dropped off somewhere in an unfamiliar place at midnight and with all the luggage my wife, my daughter and I had to carry! I had wanted him to say, "Sorry about the traffic, Madam, but don't worry, we'll find a way to get there in no time." But no, frustration was written all over his face and was at no given moment optimistic. It was quite a relief when the traffic finally started moving following a lot of honking, and to make the long story short, we were able to finally reach our quarters for the night. Still we gave him an undeserved tip. It took three hours for what would have just been a 45-minute ride! The rest of our 4-day stay there was pleasant. We got to go inside the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Biodome, the Botanical Gardens, Little Italy, the wharf which was more spacious and more beautiful than the one in Frisco, got to ride on a boat similar to a sternwheeler along the St. Lawrence, got to ride on the horse-drawn carriages that took us through the Old Town. At times we commuted by subway trains and then walked in areas strictly for tourists and where there were many outdoor cafes. It was fun. I liked the city. We had rented two cars, and there were nine of us. Me and my wife, Angela. My daughters Eileen and Kathy. My son Michael and his wife Logita who came all the way from Spain to be with us. Pam, my son-in-law, Jonathon, and our granddaughter, Hannah, who live in Olympia. We were the TURLA Bunch - a happy family on vacation in Montreal. We drove to Quebec City after four days of fun (always eating and taking walks). We occupied two duplexes there in an area close to everything. The city's Old Town and tourist spot were just within walking distance, and in fact I think our place was already a part of it. Like Montreal, Quebec City is a nice place to go shopping or just strolling. There were many shops on both sides of the streets we went to. And there were several plazas or parks where there were entertainers including jugglers on unicycles, magicians, etc. who thrived on what the onlookers or spectators gave them. On one street we met ladies and gentlemen wearing French colonial costumes and we had pictures taken with them. In one of the three nights we were there we got to attend a live show where four ladies sang French folk songs and a few English ones. Not as impressive as the Moulin Rouge in Paris where we went years ago, but it was enjoyable nontheless. The next place we went to was a summer and winter resort called Mont Tremblant. It was regarded as the top summer resort in eastern Canada. It was north of Montreal and about a couple of hours away by car from either of the two cities we had been to. Like in all the places we went to, it was clean. We stayed in a quiet village called Pinoteau. We all stayed in a house that had three levels. It had two living rooms, five bedrooms, a kitchen (where we cooked everyday for the next seven days) and a rear deck with a view and which had a picnic table where we usually ate supper. It was a real comfortable place to stay in, being well-furnished. It had a fireplace, lounge chaises, microwave oven, washer-dryer - everything we needed. Because it was usually nice and cool, we did not have to turn on the electric fans our rooms were equipped with up 'neath their ceilings. The weather was mostly sunny, but there were times when it rained too. The little town nearest it was less than five minutes away by car and we went there often to while the hours. We sometimes rented video movies to watch during the night. We would go shopping (there were lots of shops) or just take a stroll and then go eat in a cafe whenever we felt like it. Places like those were just too inviting, we always wanted to eat. We were big spenders and really tried to enjoy our vacation to the fullest. And what more, we left our cares behind! Nothing to worry about in Portland, Olympia and Seville! We rode the ski lift and from the hill's summit, drove those small cars that took us along a winding road going downhill. We rode on kayaks (I didn't) at the lake which was just walking distance from the house. We played tennis (I was not very good at it), played mini-golf and rode bicycles. The activity I found to be most exciting, however, was the horse-riding we had. It was a one and a-half hour ride and I rode the biggest stallion they had (his name was Star). It was just good I didn't fall, oh well, maybe my horse-riding "experience" in Honduras when we visited Jon and Pam during their stint there as Peace Corps volunteers helped me quite a bit :) It was fun! We did more shopping after that. My kids bought gifts (pasalubong) for their co-workers and friends. (Eileen is the marketing manager of KPMG's branch in Portland, and Kathy is with Northwest Title Insurance as an assistant escrow officer and notary public. Pam is pursuing her master's degree in Tacoma, and Mike, who is a major in chemistry and holds a master's degree is an English teacher in Spain.) We went back to Montreal to return the cars we had rented and to get ready for our trip back home on the day before our departure. In the morning we flew west by Northwest, making a stop-over in Detroit (the airport there was well air-conditioned) and then proceeding onward to Seattle. We drove straight home after dropping off Jon, Pam and Hannah at their lovely house in Olympia and arriving home at half past ten in the evening. Eileen and Kathy, as well as Mike and Logi, had flown home on separate flights just the night before. Now we're all back in our respective places we call homes. The family vacation we had there in Quebec will always linger in our memories. We might visit the place again someday, who knows, but it would perhaps never be with all of us together again. I hope that my children would someday write a diary about it in the same fashion as how John Boy of the Waltons wrote his. They were good times and nothing can take those hours away from us. |
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