M&Ms

Well, once a boy met a girl. Or perhaps they were only mice. Either way, I'm not really talking about Mickey and Minnie being the M&Ms. Nor, surprisingly, am I referring to the hard-coated confection, much as I love them (Mmm, peanutty).

No, tonight I'm pretty geeked and psyched (not to be confused with being a geek -- which I may on occasion be, notably Tuesdays -- nor with being a psycho -- which I am not). Instead, the M&Ms instead are about my next two travel destinations: Montréal and Malaysia.

This week will be about folding myself into a VIA train seat for eight hours in order to make tracks to Montréal. With all of the places I have been in North America, notably across this country, I'm astounded that I've never been to Montreal. Apart from being forced down into the city for a brief second by a crazy french driver while on a road trip to Halifax. French drivers -- hence the train this time. An incredible city right up my alley by all accounts, so I'm excited. But then again, I'd be excited to head to Thunder Bay. Or Petrolia.

Though everyone speaks English, I imagine I might try to slip in some French practice. I'm reminded of the time a number of years back when I was interviewing for a job working in French and it had been five years since I had even uttered a word in the language. Inexplicably, I started to explain, "j'ai un peu de rouille sur mon francais verbal". Let's just say that, given the opportunity to answer that question question again, I would better realize that expressions like "my spoken French is a little rusty" might not exactly translate well. Particularly verbatim. I think the hiring manager laughed hard enough at my attempt, she felt the need to give me the job. That and French was her third -- and far from strongest -- language, too.

Anyway, Malaysia: December. Details are thus far sketchy as this has just come together in a whirlwind. The best kind of wind. Folding myself into airplane seats for even longer than the trip to Montreal. Sweet. Another world and another culture. New experiences, new people, new smells. My senses anticipate this trip tremendously. I can imagine I will be so completely out of my element that I will glean tremendous experiences from this trip. More to follow as the time nears. La belle province first. Well, one thing was right: a boy once did meet a girl. And he's glad he did.