Gregarious Birds Of The Desert Southwest
1 week ago
Monday, March 9, 2009
Quebec
We had to take a load to just above Montreal QC and after we crossed into Quebec I remembered why I dislike that area SO much! What frustrates me and I am sure many other Canadians is French! My gosh that is the language, the signs, the road signs everywhere is French and NO English. Before you jump on me I know that this is the language spoke in Quebec but what bothers me is the REST of Canada and even parts of the USA have signs in English and in French for these people. Now why in gods name does the USA have to have signs in French and English? French is not our language. I feel as if the least they could do in Quebec is have their signs in French and English to help out the rest of the area and us non French speakers. We do not take or haul loads out of this area unless they pay very well and we do stay in that area we head back to the English speaking side of Canada or back to the good ole United States. Now crossing that border back into the United States can be another challenge! This past time we came out empty at the prettiest border crossing in the United States. We crossed at Landsdown, ON or Thousand Island. What a site to behold on the river. There are so many little islands with houses on them and their garage which looks like a normal garage is for a boat. What a great area and one we hope to go back and visit. This time coming out it was pouring down rain and there were no trucks at the border. We were empty but the USA Customs Agent still decided we needed to be x-rayed. So we go into the little building they run the x-ray over us and then have us pull outside so they can look inside the truck. Now I do not mind getting out in the rain but there is no excuse to make Molly get out in the rain. So as they stood in the rain waiting I looked for Molly's raincoat so she would not get wet! I know I was playing with fire but still. All they did was poke their head in from the door and look into the sleeper. Well I can say this at least they were a lot wetter then Molly was! We then were told to proceed with no more problems!
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About Me
- Team Caffee
- Saint Louis, United States
- Expediters Team Drivers Husband/Wife
you are such a rebel!....making them wait in the rain.....i am soooo proud of you!!!...but poor molly...if she doesn't like her raingear any better than babygirl does, it was still a traumatic experience for her......i love going to canada because it's so pretty up there, but i spend alot of time trying to convert miles to kilometers, decipher french words and worrying about getting back across the border to home.....lol...getting back into your own country shouldn't have to be the hardest part of the trip....we've been xrayed both in the buildings and by the trucks with the xray machine on the big crane-like arms....at least they're not charging the $5 fee to get back into the states anymore.....lol...glad you made it back!!
ReplyDeleteOne of the disadvantages of having our big sleeper truck is that we can no longer go into Canada because of their wheelbase restrictions.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Canada. I like the Eastern Provinces more than the Western ones, but it's so pretty up there and the people are so nice, I'd move in a heartbeat.
As for Quebec, Montreal isn't bad since they speak English there, but once you get far outside of the city, French it is. I'm good with languages, so I've got some of the basics down but it is a little unsettling to not know what signs and menus say or what the people are saying.
The official language in all of Canada is English and French - residents can choose either language to conduct their business in. It's less common in the western part of the country but you do see signs in every province/territory written in French. Because it's a latin based language like English, some of the French words are very similar to ours and easy to make out.
What we really found interesting was, that although it's not an official language, in the northern part of Nova Scotia, the signs are written in Gaelic! Try to figure THAT out.
oh how I do love crossing at thousand islands.
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