Micheline's Put-in
 
Rediscovering Montreal…
I've been living in Montreal for 18+ years. For 18 of those years, though I changed apartments quite frequently, I always remained in the same part of town. I lived in NDG (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce); a homogeneous, predominantly English community, located in the West end of the city.
On February 1st of this year, I decided to take a leap of faith and move to the North East end of the city (Côte-des-Neiges). I was turning 40, had recently found out that I was pregnant, and had just left my boyfriend…I wanted a fresh start. I didn't have much money, but knew that I could probably afford a decent sized apartment in that area. Sure enough, I found a 3 ½ (3 rooms + bathroom) for $550 (heat not included). A semi-basement apartment with plenty of natural light, space for all my stuff and my two kitty cats. New carpets, newly tiled bathroom, my new apartment seemed to have everything I needed.
Because I had left my boyfriend's place relatively quickly, I was, initially, most concerned with finding an apartment. Once that was settled, other issues began to creep up. Transportation was beginning to concern me. Where I had lived before, it had taken me 16 minutes to get to work, door to door. As it stood, I only knew one route from my new apartment and that included a 10 minute walk to the bus stop, a 30 minute bus ride, and another 10 minute walk (or 6 minute ride on the metro subway) to work. Because I enjoy walking, I did not, at first, think much of it. Then it hit me that I might not feel as enthusiastic in August at 8 months pregnant! Thankfully, a woman from work told me that I was minutes away from a commuter train stop. My commute to work went from 50 minutes down to 25 minutes. I was amazed!
My other concern was the community itself. Côte-des-Neiges is known to be the most multicultural part of the city, a true melting pot. This aspect only hit me after I had moved in and experienced a true culture shock. I felt like a stranger in the city that I was once so comfortable in. I was now in the land of the "differents": different smells; different languages; different music; different mannerisms; different tones; different looks; etc. What was very disconcerting was that, although I'm obviously a minority in this new community; many looked at me with a certain fear in their eyes. Many of my neighbours had newly immigrated to Canada and I can only suppose that they didn't quite feel "settled" yet. In attempt to overcome my and my neighbours' insecurities, whenever I meet someone in passing, I try to make eye contact and smile that bright happy smile I'm so known for. So far, the results have been very encouraging.
I've only been here a month and, already, my perceptions of this part town, and Montreal itself, have changed drastically. I can even go so far as to say that I'm changing my perception about people. Where once I feared the unknown and what was "different", I am now learning to embrace and appreciate. Though I have always understood on an intellectual level that Canada is a "melting pot", I am now able to get a true taste of that multiculturalism
© Micheline's Put-In
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