Life in North America
Farm Life
They had a stone house when they lived in France, the one on the farm was wooden and did not have central heating or insulation. There was a wood furnace with just one main pipe running through the center of the house that was the main heat source. Germaine was afraid of fire because she had read that there had been a house fire in town and the 2 children had perished in the fire. She didn’t want to keep the fire too intense, so the house was cold.
Difficulties Fitting In
They thought that migrating to another french speaking country would make the transition easier, but they didn’t realize that Quebec had a different accent and dialect. This made it difficult for them to understand French Canadians and difficult for the French Canadians to understand them. Germaine tried really hard to learn English and to learn the ways of American culture. She assimilated while still holding onto her traditions and values. Her husband however, barely knew any English. He did not get out much and he did not want to "assimilate" to the different culture if it meant giving up his own. He was an incredibly social person in France, but had very few friends in his new home.
Schooling
There was a teacher who helped the family with haying on the farm in the summer. Germaine had talked the teacher into taking in her eldest son, Mike, as a student as he had attended preschool in France. He had to walk an extra mile to get to the schooling, so Germaine had kept him home during the cold and snowy winter months and home-schooled him. However, when she sent him back in the spring, the teacher said that he was too far ahead of his classmates and that it would be best if he just kept up his schooling at home.
