Day 33 - Trois Riviéres - Day 10

Ok, today is officially the half way point. We are halfway through the course and about half way through our trip.

We are planning a pot luck on Friday with the other students. I will take some photos so you can see who we are hanging out with. 

We are going to Costco tomorrow to get some supplies. 

Here’s a couple of things that they do well here in Quebec.

1. Vehicles have the right of way on crosswalks. That means that vehicles have the right of way pretty much anywhere. That puts the onus on the pedestrian to actually look up, left and right before crossing the road. What a concept! Instead of the DEAD pedestrian being in the right. Maybe a few accidents could be avoided.
2. Beer and wine is available in the supermarket. Extra foods aka Great Canadian Superstore is known by their Corporate name, Loblaws here in Quebec. Just like the States you can get beer and wine all in one spot.
3. One downside is the 15% sales tax on pretty much everything. I’m pretty sure its a harmonized tax as its not separated on the bill.

Gender of Countries. 

It looks like this was not such a dumb question. I thought I was being très drôl. The question is, 'are country genders consistent between languages?'. The gender, in French, is determined by the spelling of the country's' name. Here's a list of 'A' countries from a website I googled...http://french.about.com/library/vocab/pays/bl-countries.htm.
UPDATE
After much research, I spoke to a guy, it sounds like the genders are handed out willy nilly by nationalities according to how they decide to name the country. If they slap on an 'e' it's feminine, no 'e' masculine.