First Blog about a Giant Frog

If you’ve ever seen the classic 80’s film My Bodyguard with Chris Makepeace as the diminutive yet resourceful Cliffe Peache, and Adam Baldwin as the gargantuan Ricky Linderman, then you have some idea of how I feel when hanging with my new French buddy Goiles (the G is like "J", but it’s not his real name. Anyway(s), I’m the only one who calls him that...everybody else calls him “Sir!”) . He’s a whopping 6'5 to my 5'6 and let’s not forget the ¾!! Others also notice us – whether strolling the streets of Montreal or standing in the cafeteria line-up at the school where we teach, people’s reaction to the sight of us is predictable.

This gentle giant has become quite an important person in my life; he’s practically like a “little” brother to me, especially since I've always been the runt. Here are a few nostalgic pics taken over the past few months of me and my friendly giant frog...

<--This is us in the clearing right outside the school on the last days of fall. Notice the look of wonder in Goiles' eyes - he'd never seen the colours of a Quebec autumn. Funny note: I actually got yelled at for wearing that hat in the teacher's room during recess! We had a good laugh about it afterward...right before Goiles crushed a bully-student's fist with his bare hand.

Here we are outside the school again, but this time you could see the dreary building right behind us. It isn't much to look at, especially first thing in the morning after a 2 hour commute! We'd just compared schedules and realised we both had our worst groups first period, and it felt like we were gearing up for war...

<--First real snowfall of the year! As you can see, with exception to the razor-sharp sheets of ice that were flying off rooftops at decapitating speeds, Big-G was absolutely spellbound by the gentle beauty of our lovely Montreal snowfall. You may notice that I wasn't so impressed at first, but soon his child-like captivation spread and I was overjoyed at the prospect of five lovely months of frosty merriment.

Times can't always be joyful, as the next heart-wrenching picture proves:

<--Here I'm handing Goiles a tissue to wipe his eyes. He was really feeling the feeling that day. I don't usually state the obvious, but this was his rockyest time: he'd lost quite a few pounds to malnutrition due to a broken heart. He'd been crying for a few days straight over some romantic bull, and hadn't slept a wink while stewing in his own tears at the bottom rung of desperation.

Many more pics on the way...