Second Week, Here We Come

I'm one week into my research internship here with the National Research Council's translation group in Gatineau. Like everything else even remotely connected to the federal government here in Canada, this is a bilingual environment; indeed, bilingualism is pervasive throughout the Ottawa-Hull region, and for obvious reasons. As such, I've been making a concerted effort to dust off my somewhat rusty French, left unused since my travels in Europe some four or so years ago. To finish off this post, I'll leave you with two tidbits of linguistic culture:

• pourriel: spam, from a portmanteau of pourrir (to rot) and courriel (email, itself an abbreviated admixture of courrier and électronique).
• The Québecois inherit from their Catholic past a legacy of religious-themed curse words. This famed stereotype has even reached far-off Mexico, where they are known colloquially as los tabernacos.

Other than that: I finally have a car, which is more or less essential if you want to do anything other than admire the vast snowbanks here in Gatineau. Google Maps can attest to the remoteness of my present location: searches for bars, supermarkets, and banks near here all turn up nothing within nearly two kilometres.