Audax- Suggestions for your homework.

Friday, October 10, 2008

The elections are knocking at the door. Some doors are open, others stay closed. Many are tired of “trick or treat”.
Canadians will vote on Tuesday, October the 14th. After the debates (in French and in English), Stephen Harper is leading and not only thanks to his linguistic abilities.
French speakers Gilles Duceppe or Stephan Dion, when it comes to English, are visibly struggling to be coherent. During the English debate, uncomfortable because of the language, their performance was less vivid than during the French debate.
As they were arguing, the candidates did not bring anything new. It was the same, old rhetoric, aiming mainly to discredit the adversary.
Who are the candidates in the 2008 Canadian elections? In addition to Dion and Duceppe, Elizabeth May, a newcomer.
Besides not knowing when to listen and when to speak, the Green Party’s candidate, Elizabeth May, can not represent Canada as a PM as she is politically not mature enough and I did not notice the gram of political talent during the two performances. As her French is simply deplorable (during the French debate she made elementary errors like: « Vous ne comprends pas », « Une question intéressée »,
« Vous avez peut-être souviens », « Les nations premières c’est très importante ». Imagine her having a conversation with Nicholas Sarkozy…) May has no chance in Quebec, as Dion and Duceppe have no chance in the non-French speaking provinces. On the other hand, May doesn’t have the social skills a PM requires in order to conduct or be part of an elegant debate.
She behaved more like a chicken in distress on the shore of the lake, hysterical that her chicks would drown, not knowing that “her chicks” are ducklings…
Dion and Duceppe cannot become Canada’s next PM as their English is simply ludicrous and more ridiculous would be for the Canadian PM to use an interpreter. Representing an English speaking country, the PM is expected to be perfectly fluent in English.
What would you think if the British or Australian PM would be struggling when speaking English?
Who else is on the list of the candidates?
Jack Layton and the actual PM, Stephen Harper. Both anglophones, they were capable of learning French, reaching a good command of it and they are the only two candidates who are truly bilingual.
Personally, I say no to Layton. Why? I smell too many fundamentalist Muslims financially back his campaign. The sweet and sour soup à la Layton doesn’t look appetizing.
In conclusion, the only one remaining on my list is Harper.

We live in a quiet neighbourhood. Most of our neighbours are seniors. If not, they are working people. They live early in the morning and return in the afternoon.
We have never actually met any other neighbours, thus, we have never had a chat with anyone else except those who live in our triplex.
We have many flowers on our balcony facing the street. On the other side of the street lives this lady who, up to last year, used to plant only marigold in front of her home. It was superb, as these flowers last late in the autumn.


This spring she has decided to make a change and instead of those orange yellow flowers, she planted different tones of Impatiens flowers.
I found some information about this superb plant here: http://www.mrimpatiens.com/index.htm


It was August the 8th when someone rang at the door. I hardly ever open the door as I know that no one has to come to visit us. But that moment I simply did. I opened the door and it was this lady, carrying a plastic bag. She brought us tomatoes and cucumbers from her garden! She said something about our flowers. So, I took her gesture as bondage between people who like flowers.
She put the bag on the stairs and left. I thanked and I was extremely touched. I couldn’t wait to tell my husband. In the evening, when he came home, I showed him the fresh vegetables.
He said: “This is how people used to be in the old days.” 
Yes, the old days when neighbours were not suspicious of each other, when you knew your neighbour’s names, occupation. When people were not afraid of each other. When people were not so different from each other. When people felt comfortable among each other.

Questions:
What do you know about your neighbours?
How comfortable do you feel around your neighbours?
Do you know their names, occupation, country of origin (if applicable)?
If you know the country of origin, what do you know about it (geography, politics, culture etc.)?
Can you think of a pleasant or unpleasant happening connected with your neighbours? Describe it.
Are multicultural neighbourhoods comfortable? Why so, why not?
Are Impatiens flowers in danger? Explain your answer.