Salut!!!

So much has happened this week! I had my first splits! I learned a bit of Spanish! And I ate Poutine!...again... I'm planning on having an entire month without eating poutine, and then perhaps I can be healthy...er

This week I'm going to talk about some of the cultural differences. *clears throat* First off, Quebecois love their poutine. Mmm poutine. Words cannot even descirbe it...*looks off into distance* I'll try though. You start with a plate of double fried potatoes, they can be any shape or size they just have to be double fried. Ain't nobody want squishy taters. You then cover this mountain of greasiness with a delicate brown gravy. (Let it be noted that this brown gravy is not just like any other gravy. This gravy involves the essence of the longest hair off the chin of a Quebecois Mountain-man, followed by the essence of the moose, followed by a touch of Queen Elizabeth II because she is everywhere here. Anyways the gravy is delicious and special to Quebec.) After a healthy amount of delicious gravy is added you top it off with any type or amount of cheese (personally I think I prefer mozzarella) and whichever kind or kinds of meat your heart desires.(the Philly steak meat is pretty good.) The best thing about this amazing dish is that it is literally sold everywhere. Let me name a few places. The local Pizzaria, the local Cosco, the local Mcdonalds, the local Wendy's, the local burger joint etc. etc. It is with no exaggeration at every restaurant in town. Its like trying to find pizza in New Jersey. Everywhere.

Another difference is they don't have milk like in the United States. The milk here comes in bags. Every self honoring Quebecois household has a special pitcher for their bagged milk, and trying to get them into said pitchers requires training by the best of the best. Oh and a lot of shaking. One last cultural difference that I was not really ready for is they do that side kissing thing that the French do that I have tried to spell a million times but can not for the life of me put it to a word... either way they do that. And it will take some getting used to. But hey you get to really get to know peoples perfumes!

I'm attaching pictures to this email, because I have finally been able to attach pictures! The first one is of my companion, Sister Munive, and I with our mission president and his wife. Followed by our lovely roommates the Terrebonne sisters, Sister Tribes and Sister Leano, in a poise they like to call (warning say the following in a Russian accent) "in my country." And then a picture of one of my Sister Training Leaders and I in Montreal after our splits.

On Wednesday we had splits with the Sister Training leaders. Meaning I went to Montreal with one sister and Sister Munive stayed with one here in Mascouche. Montreal is AMAZING! It has all the hustle and bustle of New York but all the shorter buildings of Bloomington. It almost feels like you have elbow room! The Sister Training leaders are assigned to the Montreal YSA branch, so they do a lot more texting than everyone else on the mission. I also got to use Facebook! Granted it was just updating the YSA page but still! It was strangely invigorating.

The Mascouche area is very French, or more likely Quebecois. What isn't French is Spanish. Which makes it a blessing to have a native Spanish speaker as a companion. And yes everyone. She does speak English Fluently. Being in this area has made me realize how I need to learn Spanish. So Sister Munive and I have worked out a study plan. Which mainly just involves my lovely companion teaching me Spanish through French so than we can both work and French and I can learn a language.

I Love you all! Je vous aime!

Soeur Cummings