I've been doing these "summer vacation" posts for a long time. (Since 2009, it looks like.) I realize that a lot of them are very similar. That is, I do the same things. Go to Lacombe and get amazing cannoli from Sweet Capone's. Visit Gull/Sylvan lake. Check out what's new at the Calgary Zoo. Do teaching prep work. This time, though, the theme is: doing something different.
True confession time: I had never been to Quebec before. (Ok, technically, I have been to Quebec. But just to the Canadian Museum of History in Hull in 1990.) Canada is a huge, amazing, diverse country. It's about time that I explored it more. Another confession: going to Quebec was my wife's idea. (I'm legally obligated to say that all of her ideas are good ideas.) Montreal & Quebec City, here we come!
Now, I was a bit worried. How much English do people speak in Quebec? How good is my French? (It's passable: 5 years of studying Francais in school four decades ago, and a lifetime of reading French on cereal boxes. Flocons de maïs!) How confusing will the metro system be? But we didn't have any major problems. Many people are bilingual and will greet you with "BonjourHi." (Yes, just like the SNL sketch.) That's actually code for "Which language do you speak?" Only a couple of times did I have no choice but to fumble with my awful French-language ability, including ordering at Subway. It was stressful but it all worked out fine. And the metro was super-easy, convenient, and fun, too!
Now, touristy photos of the Notre-Dame Basilica and La Grande Roue in Montreal:
(I'm not scared of heights, you're scared of heights.)
Did you know there's a Museum of Illusions in Montreal? It's a global chain of museums, like a franchise. I didn't realize there were any in Canada. It was pretty cool, but I had to explain all of the illusions to my family, so it felt like giving a lecture. *sigh*
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Not content with checking out Montreal, we then took a train to Quebec City. I've never been on a Via Rail train--and my kids have never taken a train ever. (See, the theme is really coming together! Doing different things!)
Not only did we see the Château Frontenac from the outside, I discovered a guided tour through the inside that takes you to otherwise off-limits areas--well worth the price.
The food everywhere was amazing: Montreal smoked meat sandwiches, poutine (of course), and crêpes. Yum!
Montreal has an actual Krispy Kreme location. So of course I had to stuff my face.
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And then also: I did a lot of work. A lot. I changed literally every slide of every course that I teach, improving legibility and readability. Not only that, but realized that I had been using the same textbooks for a long time--decades, in one case. In reflecting on my teaching, I realized that this needed a change. So, for the first time in years, I've switched textbooks--not just for one course, but for two of them (Cognitive Psychology and Perception). It was a huge amount of work, and it took me two solid months. Most of this time is spent tailoring my lecture notes to complement the content in the new books. I think the ones I've chosen are a good fit; I look forward to getting feedback on them this term.
Now, let me continue the theme of "something different" by wrapping this up:
Why aren't you studying?
