TRAVEL IS FATAL TO PREJUDICE, BIGOTRY AND NARROW-MINDEDNESS.
Mark Twain
So…who am I?
I’m Canadian, but I identify equally as a Québécoise. I was raised in the French speaking town of Quebec City, but as a kid, I also had the fantastic opportunity to live in Africa with my parents and my older, loving brother. My father was a mechanic, and in the late seventies and early eighties, he worked for the Canadian Development International Agency. My parents first went to what was at the time known as Zaire, in the villages of Mompono and Befale, and then to Kinshasa, where my brother took his first steps. I arrived a few years later, and we all took off for Beni Mellal in Morocco, and then for Ziguinchor in Senegal, where I did my first and second years of primary school. Although I was young, I have wonderful memories of these years abroad. Sometimes, an unexpected scent will stir up vivid souvenirs, making me smile and lifting my heart. I am convinced these early adventures in African soil are the culprits for my yearning to travel, for my urge to scratch the itch, for this addiction that has shaped my life so far.
I have spent my adolescent and young adult summers in the little seaside town of Old Orchard Beach, Maine and have lived for a few months in Vancouver; I studied business administration in Trois-Rivières and majored in Hotel and Tourism management in Montreal; I moved to Geneva for work and completed a Master degree in Air Transport Management in England; I returned to Montreal in 2012, where I still live.
My greatest passion is travelling. Having my feet planted where local villagers stood to sell their weekly produces or sitting in a chair where a lady-in-waiting once sowed garments fascinates me…and when I know the walls around me have heard countless secrets that have shaped history across hundreds of centuries, I am every single time, without fail, hypnotized. Every trip I take changes me a little. Above all, discovering and connecting with cultures different to mine, makes me feel more alive.
Trailing not far behind travelling, are food and drinks. I am a little piglet, which is why my friends in Geneva fondly called me Obelix! I like to cook the food I eat, but I also really enjoy going out for a meal with loved ones or discovering a new joint solo. I can get as much pleasure from unsophisticated junk food or from a fine dining seven-course meal, with wine pairing, bien sûr. I cannot resist colourful local markets and gourmet groceries with their little jars of this and little bottles of that, nor can I resist an inviting terrasse or cozy pub to watch the world go by. I practice yoga and recently took up some ballet classes. (Watch out Russian Ballets, here I come!). I always have a book on the go, and quite often a jigsaw puzzle. (I know, how trendy of me!). I go through plenty of Netflix-binge sessions, I enjoy a good ol’ game of pool once in a while, and long walks in the park. Ha ha. Here’s how to end your classic, perfect dating site ad.
Voilà! Welcome to my little world!
Penny