Hello Dee,
First I hope you are well and in good spirits and I threaten to call you soon.
A number of months ago Frédérique my friend and neighbor in Saint Denis, he had built house one field over, emailed and told me his ostéopathe Mme B. was planning to immigrate to Vancouver and would I please be of assistance to her.
I exchanged emails with Mme B. over the months responding to her questions and giving her advice e.g. ensure he professional qualifications were recognized by our local medical authorities etc. I also advised her that living in Castelnaudary, the home of the French Foreign Legion 4e Regiment there is probably a steady demand for osteopaths but the profession is not well known hereabouts.
4th Foreign Regiment
L. arrived three weeks ago, located her Airbnb downtown and sent me a note saying all was well and she was off looking for employment.
A week later I emailed her saying I was arranging a monthly lunch with some friends from our local community centre, all of us elderly and she was welcome to join us. That later I would walk her around Kerrisdale letting her see life in my suburb as opposed to her AirBnB in downtown Vancouver. She replied she would be happy to join us.
We met as arranged at a bus stop on the corner of 41st Avenue and East Boulevard in Kerrisdale and having been told to look for an old man with a cane she found me and we walked to the Golden Ocean Restaurant where she was to try two new things for the first time, brunch and dim sum.
Her English was fair, she made the effort to address and converse with her new a acquaintances, counter clockwise, Khanh from Vietnam, Wei from South Africa, Helen and John from England, Grace from Hong Kong and Pauline from Malaysia. The ladies were much taken with her and she received immediate chop stick instruction.
Having only communicated with her by email I was astonished to learn she is 25 years old, has already found employment 3 days a week in a clinic adjacent to the Vancouver General Hospital, is here to get work experience, become fluent in English and plans to go to medical school in Montreal.
While I went home for my postprandial nap L. got on the R4 Express bus to explore the University of British Columbia.
The world will be OK.
John
PS I am leaving next Saturday for a one week train tour of northern BC.