The world is always talking trash about us. Black men and White women. But my Jessica and I are so into each other that we don't care. My name is Steven Saint-Fleur. A big and tall young Black man of Haitian descent living in the City of Montreal, Province of Quebec. Three years ago I moved here from Cap-Haitien in the Republic of Haiti. Just a guy with a dream. To attend Concordia University and make something of myself. The hopes and dreams of my parents rest on my shoulders. No pressure at all, right? Looking for love was the last thing on my damn mind.
When I came to Montreal, it seemed like a prison to me. Canadians were so different from my fellow Haitians. These people are weird with their hockey obsession and their weird way of speaking French, man. Quebecers speak French in a weird way. As a Haitian guy educated at classical schools, I spoke what is called Parisian French. Fortunately, I adapt well. I adjusted to life in Quebec. I enrolled at Concordia University, found a part-time job as a security guard and even made a few friends. Mine was a lonely life, however. I was surrounded by beautiful women of all hues in the City of Montreal but being painfully shy negated my chances. Yep, I'm a young Black man who struggles with shyness. It happens. We're not all cocky and macho. Get used to it.
I attended All Nations Church, an African church located in the heart of Montreal. There were lots of pretty Black women there. I found myself attracted to several of them. Unfortunately, I wasn't any good at chatting them up. I think my upbringing had a lot to do with it. When I lived in Cap-Haitien I attend College Notre Dame Du Perpetuel Secours, an all-male Roman Catholic School. It was very good for my academic performance but made me painfully awkward around the opposite sex. Black women in North America are a really outgoing bunch. And they can be wild sometimes. They don't have a lot of patience for a brother with an accent who is a bit shy. Thus, my loneliness persisted.
I focused on my classes at Concordia University. I'm a civil engineering major. I love engineering. Science at its purest. Pure intellect rather than emotion. And it suited me just fine. I won award after award and garnered national attention for my sheer intellect. Canadians always seem surprised to meet a smart Black man. They seem to think we're only good for playing sports and getting in trouble with the law. Well, I've got a surprise for you. I suck at sports. Yes, I stand six feet two inches tall and weigh two hundred and fifty pounds. I couldn't throw a ball to save my life. I'm as nerdy as they come. Not quite as bad as that guy from the television series Family Matters but pretty damn close. Yep, that's me in a nutshell.
I focused on school and work. Working as a security guard didn't pay much. It did allow me to pay my rent and occasionally send some money to my parents in Haiti through western union. My parents, Francois and Elsie Saint-Fleur still live in Cap-Haitien. Dad works as a police officer. Mom is a schoolteacher. They're struggling right now because things got worse since the earthquake of January 2010. It didn't just take out much of Port-Au-Prince. It damaged the whole country politically and socially. Us Haitians are tough but we're not exactly lucky in the grand scheme of things. By sending my folks a couple hundred bucks every few weeks, I was literally a lifesaver. Trust me on that one. Things are really tough in the Caribbean.
With so many worries in my life, I didn't have time for romance. I'm twenty two years old and I'm not the most sexually experienced brother on the block. When I lived in the Republic of Haiti, I had very little time for sex. Too busy trying to win that international scholarship which the United Nations provided to select students from Caribbean nations to study in America, Canada and Europe. Now I've made it. I'm a year away from earning my civil engineering degree from Concordia University, a world-class school located in one of Canada's top cities. My family is finally doing okay in Haiti. They're getting by just fine. Academically, I'm on top of my class at school. So why do I feel like a loser? Gee, could it be because I'm the living definition of sexless in the city?