The road to Sainte-Foy

Life often takes us down unexpected paths. I am the kind of person whom God needs to smack in the forehead to get me to shift gears. This may be the reason why every new turn in my life seems so dramatic, like a little Honda Civic hurtling down Mount Baker ('member, Allison? haha). For 7 years, I have set up my nest here in Vancouver, teaching English, chillin' on the beach year round, enjoying the rain, taking in the incredible scenery. But back in 2005, most of that came to a screeching halt, and I found myself in the midst of a major life change. No home, no job, boredom in my career and no long-term plan that excited me in the least. But the little voice in my heart (the one who speaks with a French accent and sounds like Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise - ha) kept prompting me to get back into the French community somehow. But in Vancouver? Yeah, right. French may be one of Canada's official languages, but there are more people in Vancouver who speak Vietnamese than French. What do I do with my now useless education as an ESL teacher? Sure, I also had a French Translator's Certificate from the U of T, but did I want to be doing that the rest of my life? Not exactly. After a summer of depressing unemployment, I took my mom's advice to look into going back to school, and long story short, after 2,5 years at Simon Fraser University studying French and Political Science, I am headed to Université Laval in Quebec City in the fall to start an MPP (Master of Arts in Public Policy - Maîtrise en analyse des politiques). Scary. Exciting. Overwhelming. What a refreshing promise of change. Sitting in the midst of it is still mind-boggling. I really thought I would be here on the West Coast for the rest of my life. Who knows where this detour will take me? Maybe Vancouver has been the detour all along ... Québec has been on my heart ever since Grade 9 when my class went and I stayed behind for a tonsillectomy. I eventually spent a week there with my family in 1994, and I vowed I would be back someday. Yet, somehow, my life plans always wanted to include Québec, but never really planned for it. First, I was going to Africa to work with orphans. Tried it, but not a great match for my 19-year-old self. Finished my missions degree. Hmm. Still no plan. Went on OMP, worked with the homeless in Vancouver, decided to come back and teach English to illegal immigrants in Chinatown. Finished ESL training, moved to Vancouver, got connected into the wealthy Korean International Student community and taught hundreds of their children over 5 years. Now .. politics? Tune in next time ...

KNL