The Ugly Zone
Life has become pretty settled here in Montreal. Lynda does school work. It snows, I shovel, it warms up, it snows again. I shovel.
You get the picture.
Every now and then, we go out and do one "bucket list" item you can only do in Montreal, mostly to show up the locals, who haven't done any of them.
Last weekend we went out and snowshoed on La Montagne. Thankfully the night was mild...only -2'C, (with wind chill -10), so we were only partly frozen by the end!
From the top, all of Montreal is laid out before you. And they give you real hot chocolate to warm you up!
C'est ben fonne!
Adventures like snowshoeing are an attempt to not only shame locals, but also to keep my regularly sedentary "donut butt" somewhat in shape.
I am also attempting to prevent my mind from atrophying with art classes. I haven't been in an art class since I was 15. That's a looooooong time ago. It all came back though. I went right into the back row. I have always been a "back row gal." On the bus, in class, at the movies. Always back row. There is probably some psych profile about that somewhere.
This class is pencil life drawing. One day, we will apparently get live models. For now, we spend our time drawing straight lines and curved lines with different pencils.
It was actually very zen.
Every now and again, Donna, our instructor, drops worldly wise knowledge on us as we scribble away.
This week it was about "The Ugly Zone". That's the time when you think your life sucks. You suck. When you look at all you have done and are just like, "WTF was I thinking?!" But in these moments, you (apparently) have to fight to not be afraid of making mistakes, because invariably that's where you will learn the most. I wish I could insert rousing Hollywood-esque music right now. Who knew therapy came along with a 2B pencil?!
So, it's the end of January.
Undoubtedly "The Ugly Zone" of the year.
If this time was an animal it would be the blob fish. With a face not even a mother could love. So few redeeming qualities, you just know it was designed as a penance for your over indulgences of December.
Even though Christmas is long gone, there are still abandoned trees littering Montreals sidewalks, snow covered and harder to shift than your outstanding, heaving VISA bill.
Spring is still far far away, as is Hawaii from here. Everywhere "hot" on the Eastern seaboard is either getting hit by hurricanes or "unexpected cold snaps". The only upside I can see is the days are becoming infinitesimally longer as it drags on.
It's not all doom and gloom though! I have learned many things! The "sidewalk slide"... where with every 3rd step, one foot slips 2-3 inches sideways and backwards in the brown Slurpee that once was the sidewalk. In my art classes, I discovered 4 pages of circles is harder to accomplish than you could possibly imagine. And we lived through the "ice bomb" and temperatures plummeting to minus 36! Muchos street cred for that one! And I have figured out how to balance on the stairs without holding on so I can actually clear them one handed, to facilitate taking a video of myself doing it!
Lastly, I have marginally improved mon français (Who am I kidding, it's still horrible, but at least I have a fuller comprehension of exactly HOW horrible!)
All of this, interspersed with long afternoons on the couch watching football, and practicing my circles.
Ah January. You start with such great intentions. Then you get thrown an Ice Bomb for your efforts, or your stomach implodes for no good reason (it's NOT the poutine I swear.. that seems to be one of the things it likes!), or you go to your first French conversation class and realize you are sooooooo far from ever actually have a conversation with anyone in French that you wonder why on earth you are bothering.
Except maybe this. This, I have down! ;)
But you KNOW, you just KNOW from experience that Spring is out there somewhere. And then that temperature climbs towards zero for a day, and you put on your thinnest puffy jacket and declare it WARM at -2'C!! Sure, the ice rain comes back 2 days later. But you felt it. You know the unicorns, rainbows and poutine will return one day soon.
Ugly Zone only ever lasts just so long.
Reste Chaude. Reste Contente.
Jusqu'Ã la prochaine fois!