I have been completely overwhelmed by the inherent kindness and generosity displayed by almost every Canadian I have met thus far. I know Australians like to consider themselves friendly and laid-back, but we have much to learn from this bitterly cold country.
At every step I take, there is always somebody wanting to chat, eager to lend a hand, and just generally interact with you on a casual basis. Take yesterday for a typical example. Andrew and I drove the hire car back to Canmore, and then he left me to fill up the car and drop it back to the hire place so that he could catch a lift back into work (isn't he wonderful? Don't tell him I said that!). My first time driving in snowy conditions and the other side of the road was only mildly traumatic. For the life of me I could not find the open petrol button. I asked a kindly gentlemen, and he couldn't find it either, but helped me search for a good 5 minutes. He directed me to a place where they fill it up for you, and the guy there was an expert. He could see I was tired and cold, and he just put his hand on my shoulder, said he'd take care of it and directed me to the lady inside.
So after I dropped the car off I started to walk to the bus stop and got hopelessly lost. I went inside a small cafe and asked directions from two elderly gentlemen. They were horrified that I was walking by myself and insisted that they drive me to the bus stop. I know that sends palpitations through you ma, but it really is a different culture here. People hitch-hike all the time and its really safe. So, for the first time in my life, I got in the car with a complete stranger (don't bring up taxi drivers, you're not funny). He was so lovely, telling me about his family and everything else that elderly men do. Jack dropped me off at a cafe and wished me well.
I stayed at the cafe for a while, spoke to a girl from Manchester for about an hour about travelling, sharing tips and stories. When I finally left to catch the bus, it was approaching darkness. I hauled on my puffy jacket (though it was only about -20 at this stage - awesome) and began walking.
Through my jacket heard I heard staccato whilsting peppering the air. I turned around and there was Jack again. He was concerned that I had missed my bus and was stranded in Canmore. He gave me his number and made me promise that if I missed this next bus I would call him and he would give me a bed for the night, because 'nobody should be stuck out in this cold'.
I didn't have to resort to this, as my bus turned up (albeit half an hour late, which meant I was out in 30 below for about 45 minutes - I am very lucky to still have toes I tell you!), but I was again in awe of the caring generosity displayed by these people. It is so rare to encounter people who genuinely want to help, and get nothing in return.
So, I eventually got to the airport, was helped out by the happiest airline people ever - we chatted casually for about 10 minutes (it wasn't busy), and went in to wait for my plane. On my three separate flights, I encountered jovial people left, right and centre. Okay, maybe not centre because that's where I was stuck, but you get my drift. I even almost fell asleep on one guy's shoulder (oh, the shame), and I jumped awake and apologised, and he just smiled at me, asked if I'd taken the 'red-eye' flight from Calgary and proceeded to chat to me about Quebec City.
So here I am in Quebec City, where everyone is still superbly friendly. I don't feel judged or attacked for attempting to speak French, people smile at me sweetly and speak in English. Even the guy who looked abrupt broke into a smile when i started to speak, helped me out and then told me that I had a lovely smile to boot. I fricking love this country.
So I am going to go to bed shortly and do my exploring tomorrow. Hope you are all enjoying the nice weather and being at work. Win some, lose some. It's actually quite nice here - I never really thought that I would consider -4 to be warm, but after that 40 below crap, well, I'm grateful!
Bonne nuit.
