Québec!
Hmmm, where did I leave off last? We had a volley-ball tournamet last Thursday which was a bit of a blast, and since my team lost, we were first at the bar, and by the time the rest of the teams arrived, it was hard to leave. We sang, we danced to a ridiculous french/swing band, and the lead singer had the BEST Elvis hair ever, only it was blonde. Sooo funny! Needless to say, no one was a happy camper on Friday, but that was OK, because all we did was learn about where to go in Québec city (or just Québec to the people from here) and then off to the mall with an assignment of asking randoms questions from a questionairre about RDL (Rivière-du-Loup - for those un-hip folks), which was actually kind of fun.
Saturday was the trip to Quèbec, we left around 8:30 am, got to watch a wierd/crazy movie called «La Nuit de Noce» which roughly translates to «The honeymoon», where a couple wins a vacation to Niagra Falls with their respective families and decide to get married there, but then chaos ensues, and like all good French movies there is lots of swearing, lots of sex and just a hint of English. Très drôle! Québec was awesome, though. Such a beautiful city, lots of families and LOTS of couples. Seems like a cute romantic little place, AND you could tell that a cruise ship was in port by the sheer number of old people meandering SLOWLY in viex Québec (old QB). We had a walking tour of the city, got to do some shopping and sightseeing before being hauled off to the residence to drop off our stuff. We had about an hour to wash (which not many people got to do - I had a shower that morning), dress and make-up for dinner and for the après diner dancing. So, at 4:45 pm, there were definitely people in their club gear all ready for the evening. I wore a skirt and t-shirt with flip flops, très comfortable. I had a great dinner of crèpes and fruit at a little restaurant with two other girls in my class (better than the reservations for 10-15 people at other restaurants, this way I could actually talk to my friends) and then off to the deppaneur to buy a couple of six packs and off to the beautiful park nearby to drink said six-packs (wow, that`s pretty ghetto). Hey, this way I spent about 8 bucks for 4 cans of beer, rather than 6 bucks per beer at the bar - damn! That`s pretty expensive! We got to watch the sun set from on of the walls of this old military base (kind of like Fort Henry only in Québec), then off to Chez Degobar for a night of ... well, it was an interesting night. I had tons of fun, and was definitely feeling a little painful the next day when we had the day free in the city. More shopping and walking later, and I don`t really remember the bus ride back to RDL (it was only about 2 hours, but as my parents know I can sleep in any kind of moving vehicle, and often those not moving at all, and when I am super tired on top of that, than there is no waking me). I had an awesome dinner of salmon and veggies when we got home, and I put myself to bed just before 11 (I had to do laundry because everything in my travel bag smelled like bar - P.U.!! As of May 31, however, all bars in RDL will be smoke free, so I`ll only smell like beer, not beer + smoke. Haha!!
I`m really starting to miss home, but this is still pretty cool.
Later!
Pohénéganomook
Say that 3 times fast! I`ll make it easier (poh hey ney gan oh mook) . It`s an outdoor-resort type place in a small village (yes smaller than Rivièrè-du-Loup) that sits right on the edge of the lake of the same name (You THINK I want to type that word again? True, it`s a quick copy and paste job, but with the craziness that is the keyboard of Quebec, there`s no way in all heck that I`m going to try). Anyways, it`s of course rainy and grey, as it has been for a week, and will be for the next week. I brought my bathing suit because someone said something about a hot tub, and I thought «why the hell not?». Yes, it was only 12 degrees, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Anyways, We were divvied up into groups and My group was slotted into 2 activities: Rabasca & Sauna (there were others, Tai Chi, Facials, and Archery that we didn`t get to do, but the sauna was a blast, I`ll get to it in a bit).
Rabasca is just one extremely large canoe. There were about 20 people in the canoe and we paddled across the lake which was cold and we were all in our rain coats, but tons of fun. The big macho guys at the front of the canoe were the funniest, having no idea what to do and just stopping paddling when they got frustrated. Oh city slickers. Which is funny because I haven`t been canoeing in a rally long time, but I still know how to do it!
The second activity was called simply «Sauna». Alors, I thought it was just going to be a hot tub. Not so! It was indeed a sauna with a wood furnace and hot rocks. There were about 10 of us who crammed into the sauna and just sat there and sweat for about 10-15 minutes. We didn`t put any water on the rocks, it`s simply a dry sauna, and we drank lots of water to keep ourselves hydrated because we sweat a LOT! When we were so hot that we couldn`t stand it anymore, we jumped in the lake. Well, it was a set of stairs, so it was more walking, but same difference. My legs and body got wet and/or splashed, and if you stay in too long, it`s actually very painful to walk! Then right back into the sauna. This time we threw some water on the rocks, and the heat was so intense!! It only took me about five minutes to get sweaty enough to go back into the lake. We did this about 3 times total (some 4, not me!) and then changed and met everyone for a good old fashioned cafeteria dinner (mmmm .... memories of first year. I think I ate fish, but I`m not too sure). I found myself on some of the beaches (not really sandy or swimable beaches, but just on the shore) while these two guys played French music (it was a little loud and he sounded a little too much like a French Chad Kroeger for me to enjoy him that much) back by the cafeteria. I managed to catch a somewhat mangled «Save Tonight» as originally performed by Eagle-eye Cherry (what an awesome name. I always liked his sister Neneh), and then on to the bus. The grand aspirations of going out that night were dashed by the 40 minute ride, as my head hit the pillow that night, I was down for the count.
Sunday was an equally awesome day. I met my friends at the local café (which is the place to be) and we went for another walk around the Parc-au-chutes (the hydro dam), where we hiked for about an hour before returning home. It got sunny for about 5 minutes, but it was nice in the two weeks of projected rain that we get to see that the sun still does exist somewhere up there. For dinner we had hamburgers, but instead of putting ketchup & mustard on it, Sonya (my Quebecoise mèrè) made a `traditional` sauce of mayonaise, catalina sauce, vinegar and oil that you douce the hamburger in (on top of the bun) and then eat it with a knife and fork. wierd, but pretty tasty. We then did the traditional sunday drive in Gilles` beautiful white car (I know it`s a jaguar, but no idea what make or model). He only takes it out on weekends, and it was kind of fun to be in a nice car like that and drive along the river. One twisty cone of soft ice cream later we were back home and again I was pooped. This is turning out to be quite the experience!!
À demain!!
Douche la bouche!
(This just sounds funny and really only means wash your mouth - i.e.
). I don`t know if it really means ANYTHING coherent when its put together like that, but it`s enough to send me into a fit of giggles!
Aujourd`hui was a half day and we got home for lunch, where Athena and I had some leftovers from last night (sooo good, don`t think that they`re crappy leftovers, `cause they`re not). Gilles comes home for lunch every day so we had a chance to chat with him for the first time really. C`est dificile to talk to someone when they`re never home when you are (i.e. I go out at night time and he`s in bed early and out of the hosue by 6am - don`t worry mom, I`m quiet when I return and I`ve never woken the dog up). He`s pretty good with English for such an isolated town because he buys and sells rare car parts to people in the US, but both he and Sonya are good about not speaking English unless they absolutely have to.
After lunch Gilles drove me to the local café, where I met a bunch of classmates and I had a beautiful walk (although it was cold and slightly damp and very grey) through one of the paths of the , a park around a huge hydro-dam waterfall, that`s actually quite beautiful. We went along one of the shorter paths, but there are definitely some tougher paths, and one circuit which takes about 90 minutes to complete. My goal is to complete that circuit at least once. We started at the base of the waterfall and wandered around the large hill following the path until we came out right at the top and crossed a small metal walkway that went directly above the waterfall itself (like, right over the point at which the water begins to fall). It was sooo cool. I`m now home for the evening, will most likely have dinner in about an hour or so then head out to watch the hockey game tonight. I`m going to see if I can start uploading my photos to my MSN website, or if it`s going to crap out again like it did in China. Let me know if you`re reading this and can`t get onto my MSN page and I`ll see what I can do about photos when I get back.
Salût!
60 Anglophones learning French + Beer = Franglais
Had a great night at Le Triangle, a pool hall on Rue Lafontaine (the Princess-type-street of Rivière-du-Loup). About 30-40 of the students congregated for a night of beer and hockey as the Oilers managed drown the sharks in a fury of Canadian pride. Phrases like «Je veux two more» and «Qu'est-ce que tu faires tomorrow?» were often heard with minglings of French and English conversations alike. You can tell that most people are getting much better at their spoken French (at least those who are putting in the effort). And while I`d like to be the super cool, out all night kind of girl, I've found a happy medium between both where I'm a little bit studious and a little bit rock & roll. I mean, fun. Even with the franglais, my spoken french is improving considerably and I can't wait to see what it's going to be like four weeks from now.
This is technically considered cheating, since I'm doing this in English, but it would take me far longer to do in French, and really, only the select few of you who would even bother to read it may not want to read my crappy grammer and mis-use of French words. Oh well!
I really do like the house I'm staying in, Sonya is quite young (30) and has been living with her boyfriend for about 4 years (she`s my Quebecoise «mother»). He started out as her mechanic, and as her car never seemed to be fixed, they saw a lot more of eachother. How cute! They're going to get married this August 19th (My mom's birthday!). Anyways, I should go, more tomorrow at lunchtime. If anyone has MSN, I'm around 12-1 ish weekdays, and possibly 4-5pm in the evenings.
Later folks
Bonjour mes amis!
Je suis en Riviére-du-loup maintenant pendant cinq semanes pour apprendre le français (encore).
Alors, je sais que le pluspart de vous ne savez pas bien le français ensuite je vais ecrire en anglais!
Wow, been a while since the last post. I guess there hasn`t been much excitement since I returned to Kingston. I am now in Riviére-du-loup for a five week immersion course, and somehow I`m managing. I live with a young-ish couple who don`t have any children. There is another student, Athena, who lives with me. She`s at about my level (or a little below) and we`re having a great time. They have a LARGE English Sheepdog named Gamine (pronounced yah-mean) who barks constantly, but is really super-friendly. I get a packed lunch every day, and tonight is our first family dinner with Sonya and Gilles. She works at the loal hospital in administration and he owns his own mechanic shop and both are extremely nice. Athena and I are their first anglophone students, so we`re both kind of new at this. I know this isn`t long, but it`s been fun so far, I`m hoping to catch the Oilers` game tonight with some of the other students at a local pub, but right now I have more class to finish up.
à la prochaine!
