I take the metro to Guy-Concordia everyday, and when I get off, there are puddles of waste - ceiling drippings, water, slush, and inevitably pee. There are rats that scurry in the tracks. But still, each day, beautiful music fills the station.
Saxophonists, slide guitarists, violinists...they all set up shop and while thousands of people pass them by without so much as a nod, I know we'd miss them if they weren't there.
So I think a salute is in order to these musicians. I never contribute monetarily but I do make a point of trying to make eye-contact and smile. Same goes for the drivers of the metro. As it barrels into the metro stop I always try to make eye contact and smile...I mean honestly, they probably get so little recognition, never mind human contact and yet the city of Montreal moves millions of people through the Metro annually.
Another interesting aspect to the metro is how it's not a class thing. Everyone short of diplomats and celebrities takes the metro. It's not an embarrassment, or it doesn't bring about lower-class sentiments to say you are travelling by metro. In fact, when I had to meet someone at a 5-star hotel for work (hmmm that came out wrong), the concierge I was speaking with asked me if I needed directions first by driving then by metro/bus. Professors, doctors, teachers, accountants, white collars, blue collars, purple collars...everyone rides the metro. Trying to think of why that would be, I realized that it is BY FAR the cheapest and most efficient means. Gas prices hover around 122 cents per litre here. Errmm...I suppose that could also be called $1.22. Anyway, it's very pricey. The streets are congested and the drivers are maniacs. I've never seen such flagrant disregard for lanes anywhere in Canada. It really is like trying to drive through Rome.
So on top of safety reasons, the efficiency is undeniable. Yes, it takes me 40 minutes to walk/metro/walk to work, but if I were to drive it it would take just as long, far more frustration, and no chance to read my book. (Current book: One Day the Soldiers Came: Voices of Children in War. It reads well, it's sad, but mostly it's outdated though I only started seeing it on stands in the last few months. The author, so far, stops writing in 2003. The areas he is writing from include Thailand, Burma, DRCongo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kosovo all have had undeniably large conflicts since his time of writing. I suppose it stays the same though. A Child Soldier is a child soldier is a child soldier.)
This week I also ran into yet another Winnipegger in an Irish pub. Tres cool.
However, my most fun times have been with my coworkers I must admit. Despite the awfulness that was Wednesday morning, Tuesday night was so great. I sat at a tiny table sipping martinis of all varieties, while listening to a Dalhousie graduate who majored in World War II studies and is now at Concordia doing his graduate work in public policy. The other guy present discussed his time at the London School of Economics, spending months in Kosovo, what it was like growing up in Paris and midwest-America. We then started talking about our mutual taste in folk music. My coworker Rob started a sentence this week with "When I was studying in Jerusalem". When I talked about being pro-Palestine he kept asking me why and challenging me. (I'm more pro-Palestine than I am anti-Israel if one can understand the difference). I loved it because he said that he agreed with me but I still needed to have substance behind my beliefs. I wanted to have substance behind my beliefs! I wanted to know more. I was craving to learn more. Craving so much that I googled "current affairs for dummies" and actually said out loud that I was going to be reading more. Politics is something I don't think I will ever be that good at, but at least being aware of what is happening is important.
For example, watching Mubarak's primary address to the nation and getting chills...this defines a generation. Heck, more than a generation. And it may have huge ramifications for the rest of Africa, never mind the Middle East and it's bilateral relations with the West.
So I vowed that even if I couldn't fully understand politics, I could be really good at knowing a lot about health issues in Africa; child soldiers worldwide and the reintegration process into their socieities. I could know about child mortality, women's rights and language distribution across Africa. I could know all about Internally Displaced Persons and refugees worldwide. I could understand the complications of starving populations. I don't need to be excluded, but I do like the idea of being able to contribute something different. And these issues aren't contained just to Africa - the Balkans has these issues. The Middle East has these issues. Current political affairs aside, there is still much happening that I can focus on and pride myself on knowing.
On this topic, please take the time to read about Uganda's presidential elections that begin on February 18th. The importance of this election is huge. Besigye vs Museveni. The belligerent socialist vs the torture-inducing dictator. Uganda's last democratic election, held in 2006 was contested (a bit) and only a bit violent. Nothing near the types of elections seen across the rest of Africa (Cote d'Ivoire, Sudan, Kenya). If this election process goes smoothly, no matter the turn out, it will work as a model for other nations. The results mark a crucial point for Ugandans too though, and whoever wins has his work cut out for him in terms of foreign policy with Sudan, Tunisia, and now Egypt changing drastically.
I don't know who reads this blog. I don't know if anyone is interested. I am writing for myself, and depending on our relationship, I feel that I broach topics that we'd all be talking about. No scandals here to report, no drama. I sleep lots, I eat well, I walk a ton. I am fitting in.
I still maintain though that I would love to see someone out here! You may as well come out while I'm still jobless so I can take you around.
oh dear. I'm still jobless.
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| More of the charm of the metro |
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| This is what I look like most days. When I have my hand in my face. (Look at the earrings! Kelci HAND MADE them!) |
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| We get about this much snow each day. Yuck! |
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| The wall above my desk. Fond memories. |
Love,
Katie
(don't worry, miss thing, i'm reading. xo)
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