I'll have to check my notes, but I don't think we could use functions at this point of study. The text, I believe, was Munkres which I think is a pretty standard text. I'll look it up. My memory is that we only had the vaguest of definitions of sets. This was a long time ago, so my memory could be failing, but I think we were artificially prohibited from using functions - as they had not yet been defined.
At any rate, on my first question, do you consider yourself Canadien? And which country do you prefer to identify with? and why?