Again, access via Canadian customs is much more through than we had experienced getting back into the US. The Canadian custom agent asked in French and then English if we had any weapons or gifts to leave in Canada. She wanted to know if we were the only people in the rig. No one else seemed to be heading North today so we were not delayed at all.
This is really a foreign country – everything is in French (road signs “ARRET” means “STOP”). Luckily, most people are bi-lingual. We are relying on Boots’ high school French which gets us to the “Do you speak English?” phase of the conversation pretty quick. We went to a restaurant last evening. The waitress knew enough English to take our order slowly. But that was ok, because we knew enough French to go slowly, too.
Did you know “rare” (as in meat cooking) is “saignant”? Ruthi spelled out “rare” and the waitress had to ask the cook what the word was. So, she went the safe route and ordered a filet. For sides, Ruthi thought the waitress said French Rice. What Ruthi really wanted was a potato “pomme de terre” but thought ok, she’d never had French Rice – she’d try it. What the waitress had said was French Fries – which is what Ruthi got. They were good and we all had a good laugh on Ruthi.
