St. Jean Baptiste

Today, it's St. Jean Baptiste. Its origins lie in the pagan midsummer nigh fest, later brought here by French colonists (day of St. John the Baptist), given a patriotic tone after seeing what the Irish do on St. Patrick, pope Pius X helped a little bit by declaring St John the patron saint of all the French Canadians (so the church had a better grip on those people in far away La Nouvelle France), later religious aspect was dropped and declared a statutory holiday in the province of Québec, or should I say nation of Québec, coz it's called "La fête nationale" here. And now a cultural celebration of the achievements and diversity of Quebecers. (Yihaa, see what Céline Dion does for the nation of Québec!!) For history geeks among you, go wiki wild!

Patriotism is a bit strange to me ... maybe coz I don't particularly feel Flemish. I think first and foremost I feel European. I really feel different from Americans, Asians, Africans, etc. Second place it's Belgian ... I still feel I have more in common with my Walloon brothers than with those cheeseheads in the north, bratwürsters in the east and those frogs with a baguette in their arse in the south. I am not even talking about those football hooligans in the west, coz it's a hell lot of a swim over there! And only on the third place it's Flemish. I never had a day off on the 11th of July and frankly, I don't give a sh*t about what happened in 1302 in some lower field without drainage. (For those who don't know what I'm whining on about, go see "bataille des éperons d'or", heck it sounds better in French!)

But aren't all those differences between different cultures brilliant? We should be grateful for the diversity our own country (either Canada or Belgium) has to offer and not overindulge in the glorification of our own "nation". The world is my backyard.

But on the other hand, I don't care what the excuse is, I am always in for a party AND I got the day off tomorrow, so not too much complaining on this side either.
Speaking of "la job", I really enjoyed my first week ... of course I had to get used getting up early in the morning (if you call 7:45am early) but I am actually pretty excited about it. There is a great atmosphere at work, cool young colleagues (they all more or less started a couple of weeks ago) and a well balanced English/French mix.

This weekend I had to go shopping, coz I don't have enough business casual slacks ... no jeans, no sneakers, no T's permitted ... but T. says the business looks suits .... Ouhhhh suits you sir!

Next friday we're throwing a belated birthday party and on Sunday Sarah and Sven are arriving in Montréal when the Jazz Fest is kickin' off.

Listening a lot to WILCO, Rufus Wainwright (Canadian, ex-Montréaler) and local produce Miracle Fortress.

BTW: find the "Fast Show" puns.

Back in MTL

After a couple of weeks of worshiping Bacchus in Belgium, we're back in Montréal.

Some things never change, especially back home. It was great seeing y'all again, I really ate and drank too much, sometimes a bit of a social overload and then again it wasn't always so easy to say "hullo-goodbye" every day over and over again. Next year we might do things slightly different, who knows ...
But after a while, I kinda started missing Montréal. But now it's back home sweet home.

And what a pleasant homecoming it was: a new job was awaiting me! My new professional challenge starts 18th of June at LASIK MD as web marketing specialist.

This week we're digesting our jet lag and entertaining Aunt Magd and Uncle Dick. I'll keep you posted on what happens next week (nothing much probably except enjoying the summer).