Trois timbres, s'il vous plait.

I had my first canadian-french conversation in today. Well, transaction, rather than conversation...

As I've moved east, the percentage of french in the environment has steadily increased. In Vancouver, if you heard french on the street, the people speaking it looked like tourists. In Canmore, I heard bunches of kids loitering around town after school speaking french. In Winnipeg, there is a whole suburb, St. Boniface, that is the French Quarter. And when I crossed the river into St Boniface today, it was quite a noticeable shift. I wasn't there long, but I stopped at the post office to get some stamps, and got to eavesdrop on the previous person's conversation - all in french. So when I stepped up to order my stamps, I did it in french. Now, it was a conversation I think we probably learnt in grade 9 french class, but none the less, it was my first transaction in canada conducted entirely in French. It was very exciting. Really.
And then I went to a bookstore that apparently only sold french books. I got quite excited, but prevented myself from buying anything because a) they cost money, of course, and b) just because it's the first francophone bookstore I've seen here, doesn't mean it will be the last. There is time, and I haven't read all the books I already have here!