I knew it!

A few weeks ago I came out of an evening church service and saw that I had missed calls from both my brother Seth. Not totally weird but I don't talk to either of them all that often so it did make me wonder what was up. I even had the conscious thought that Seth may be calling to give me some good news and wondered if I should wait to speak with him before calling Dad. In the end I got a hold of Dad first and he was calling out about something totally different. I spoke with Seth the next day and while he didn't have any "news", he did talk an awful lot about his long time girlfriend Brittany. Like more than usual. I was suspicious but it was really unfounded. Just a gut feeling.

Last Monday I got a text from Seth at 7am his time saying "are you up". I replied about an hour after receiving the message saying "yes, but I'm at work. Call me after 1pm my time". I went back out onto the floor and told my coworker (who is also named Brittany) "my brother just called to tell me that he's engaged. Maybe. I think so at least. Maybe not. I hope so though!" Again, I didn't have any real reason to feel that way.

Seth did call when I was done work and caught me on the bus on my way home. We chatted about about our days (Me having finished work and him heading up to Fort McMurry, Alberta) and then he said "well, she said yes". I wasn't going to let him off the hook that easy so I answered "to what question?" and he admitted that he had proposed the night before and Brittany had said yes. My response? (I was off the bus by this time) "I KNEW IT!" LOL

They've been going out for three years now (or maybe four? I forget.) So it wasn't totally unexpected but none of my family has spoken with him specifically about it. I'm so happy for them. I really, really like Brittany and I'm happy to have her for a sister. Now we just have to hope that Seth won't be a groomzilla :P

(Pictures are Brittany and Seth and Brittany and I last Christmas).

Welcome Home

My friend Jerusha was teaching in London for the first half of the year. She got back at the beginning of August so our friend Jess hosted Sunday lunch in her honour as a "welcome home". At the table L-R is me, Jerusha, our friend Sharlaine who is also from BC and Jerusha's sister Keren.
Jess outdid herself with the meal. We had an incredible fresh salad with a mango/almond puree dressing, baked brie with garlic and focaccia bread with two different dipping options for our first course. The second course was new potatoes, salmon with rosemary and other spices and corn on the cob (which was a little slow to cook so we dug into the salmon and potatoes first).

Sunday was also the day before Sharlaine's 25th birthday so the trifle dessert was in her honour.

It was a wonderful time of hanging out, catching up and mostly just being together. A lovely way to spend a Sunday. We had a late service that day so about 5pm we all packed up and headed up to church. It was great.

Jerusha and our amazing hostess, Jess.

Fun at work

I closed last Friday and we decided to leave a little "surprise" for our boss who was opening. Brian took every garbage in the store and put them by the espresso machine. Not a big deal and really an easy fix in the morning but it made us giggle.

I asked our manager about it the next day and he just smiled, shrugged and replied "initially I was scared that they were undergoing some weird cleaning procedure so I was happy to find out that they just needed to be moved!"

To "make up" for our minor prank we made sure to make sure the rest of the store was in tip top shape. We even left out aprons for the openers complete with till tags and sharpies.

And lastly, a quick shot of the front of the store as seen from over the pastry case. This was at about 12:30 am just before we locked up.

French Update

Classes don't start again until September 12th, so over a month still. I am so happy about that. I'm looking forward to going back and I'm excited about my classes but I am not ready yet. I'm still enjoying my summer! That said, there are certain things that have started already, like French Club. We had our first "summer meet up" on the evening of Sunday, July 24th. We met at the school and walked downtown for gelato (which we realize isn't French but all the "French" places were too far away). It was nice. It was a good mix of English and really rusty French but at least we tried.

The following Tuesday was the first meeting of the Directorate of French Club, of which I am one "Directrice". Unfortunately there weren't a lot of other people there so we just discussed what NEEDS to be done and didn't really make any decisions. We did nominate two new people (Kerri and Jeff) as co-presidents though. The person who has been our president for the past few years is just finishing her degree so she won't be around for the full year. The other "senior member" (aka person who has been on the directorate for a year or more) is going to France for half the year so these two are the only other logical candidates. They both decided that they'd take in on in a shared position. We sent the nomination out by email after the meeting and it looks like most people agree.

We met again last Friday and there were a few more people there. We also held the meeting in our regular spot in the Language Lounge at the school and the chair of the French Department joined us for a bit and shared an update from the Departmental level which was great. As of that meeting it looks like I'll be sharing the treasurer position with Kerri because I have a bit of a background in that area. Aka - when the budget worksheet was reviewed I was the only one who's eyes didn't glaze over and didn't freak out. I'm pretty comfortable with that kind of thing so I figure I may as well put my work experience to good use.

We're just working on coordinating schedules for the next meeting but it will be soon. I'm looking forward to it. I enjoy this kind of thing :)

One last "French thing". I met with the French advisor. I do get credit, for my time in Quebec but it's a "Junior" credit. Meaning 100 level which means it won't count towards my French minor. I'm okay with that though. She agreed that I need to take 230 (the next class that I would have taken if I hadn't gone to Quebec, and one that IS required for a minor) and said that I'm probably a lot more prepared for 230 now because there is quite a jump between 102 and 230. I'm happy with that. I'm taking French because I want to know it and want to be able to use it. If she had decided that Quebec equaled 230 I would have been hooped. I NEED the practice. The other good thing is, since I only took four classes each semester last year I'm technically a bit short on credits for my first year so this means I'm not as far behind. And I did GET a credit. Honestly, by about week four in Quebec I didn't really care if I got ANYTHING so this is nice.

So there, that's what's going on for the French side of my life :)

Detroit Tigers

My friend Mike took a baseball tour this summer. They hit eight cities in twelve days and saw eight baseball games in that time as well as touring the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. The second last stop took them to Detroit and since that was the closest to me, and it was an afternoon game, I decided to book Thursday off and join him.

This was my first time going to Detroit. It's super easy in that you just get on the 401 in Ontario and follow it down until it turns into the tunnel border crossing. The tunnel brings you out right in downtown Detroit and from there it's just a few short blocks to Comerica Park.

We met about a half an hour before the game began at the carousel. This is the only photo I got of it though :( I think we were too busy catching up. We grabbed a quick lunch (wraps because it was stinking hot so we wanted something light) and walked around the concourse before finding our seats. Actually, we found my seat which was up about twenty rows and over one section from his. My row was in the shade so we sat there and no one had a problem with it so we stayed there for the whole game.

Mike is a way bigger baseball fan than I am but this was his seventh game in a row so while we did watch the game, neither of us really needed to concentrate that much. He showed me the pictures of the cities he had visited already (Boston, Cooperstown, New York for the Yankees and the Mets, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, and Pittsburgh.)

During the seventh inning stretch I took this picture of us. I was showing how good my wide angle lens is...you can tell that I'm still not used to it!
After the game we met up with his parents and all went for dinner in "Greektown" (did you know that there's a Greektown in Detroit?) The restaurant we picked was pretty authentic Greek but not what we're used to so it was a bit disappointing (that's what you get for randomly picking a restaurant though). The servers were awesome though. They were RUNNING through the restaurant and flambeing (Is that a word? There's no red line under it.) saganaki, the Greek cheese that is doused with alcohol and then lit on fire. It was HOT and I'm pretty sure I lost some arm hairs. :P It made for a fun "show" though :)
I headed out about 7pm. The line at the border only took about a half an hour but because you're snaking through downtown and because I didn't actually know where the line went, it felt longer. The border guards each way were pretty good. Going down he was a bit suspicious that I drove so far (it's about three hours) just for a ball game so he did check my trunk but on the way back the guy hardly blinked and I was on my way in no time.

I was treated to a soft pretty sunset on the way home and, after getting stuck in a bit of construction, made it home before 11. I used a whole tank of gas going there and back but it was worth the trip.

Pinery Provincial Park

Monday was a Civic Holiday in Ontario. Meaning lots of people get the day off but it's not actually a statutory holiday (it is in some provinces, BC being one). I only had to work from 8am to 1pm so when Jess mentioned that she was planning on heading to Pinery Provincial Park on Lake Huron I convinced her to wait around and take me with her. Actually I had volunteered to just drive out and meet her but it's about 1.5 hours from my place and she realized how dumb it would be to take two cars so she waited.

It was a perfectly lovely day. Chili, Jess's standard poodle was with us, which means we were on the dog beach. It was pretty busy but the waves were loud so even though you could see everyone else, you really couldn't hear them. The beach front in that particular spot is pretty narrow as well and backs onto a grassy bluff so there was no one behind or in front of us.

Jess and Chili played Frisbee in the water some but I mostly just sat and read my book. The sun was warm but there was a strong breeze so it wasn't too bad. I wore a cap and sunglasses for most of the day and Jess wore the big floppy hat that you can see in my picture.

She packed a scrumptious picnic salad of mangoes, avocados, and blueberries over organic lettuce along with tuna salad on rice cakes. I haven't had rice cakes in years but they are a perfect summer beach food.

As the sun started to set the beach cleared off and we ended up staying for the whole show. It was so peaceful. In the last picture the sky was almost a rainbow. Redish-orange along the horizon, yellow and a tinge of green moving up and fading into a purple blue. It was gorgeous.

Jess actually lives on Lake Ontario so we walk along the waterfront all the time when I visit. With this visit to Lake Huron I have officially completed #72 on my list (visit all five great lakes) but I look forward to spending much more time at them.

The big three-zero

Sunday was my birthday. My thirtieth birthday. I'm officially in a new decade. I remember turning ten. I was so excited to be in the double digits. Turning thirty hasn't been all that bad. Not nearly as exciting as ten but nothing to dread. I had a harder time with 23 for sure. Anyway, I think the fact that I had such a wonderful day helped make it easier. My phone was going off constantly all day with Facebook messages, texts and emails. I went to church in the morning and for our weekly potluck afterwards where everyone sang Happy Birthday. In the late afternoon six of my closest friends joined me for a trip into Toronto. We parked at a shopping centre and took the subway into the downtown core. Our destination was the CN Tower which I haven't been to since my visit to Ontario in 2000. I figure once every ten years is good :)

The day was a bit smoggy and slightly overcast so we couldn't see super far but it was decent. They've expanded the glass floor since I was there last. Some people still have a lot of problems with it but I like it :)

This is the group: Jess, Rachel, me, Esther, Grace, Elizabeth and Leasa. Leasa was with me the first time I went to the tower but she didn't actually go up. Rachel and Grace were born and raised in Ontario but this was their first trip to the top!!!

After the tower Leasa and Elizabeth had to head home but the rest of us went out for a light dinner and I got a birthday brownie (with forks so I could share :)) It was close to midnight by the time I got home but it was so worth it. Great friends and great memories make turning thirty a lot better. I look forward to thirty more years of memories :)

Sometimes the best plans are the ones you don't make ahead of time

Last Friday I had a morning coffee date planned with Laura, a girl I had two classes with in Fall semester and then hardly saw for the last half of the year. We were roommates for the History Students Association trip to Quebec City in January and we got together with a few others from that trip in April but that's been it. I've been meaning to contact her but she beat me to it and we set up a date for Friday morning. We tried out a neat little coffee shop in Cambridge but it turns out it's more of a bike shop than coffee place. That was fine though. We still had a nice conversation. When we had finished our drinks and caught up some we decided to walk up the street a few blocks and check out a second hand book store that she knew of. As we were buying our books (I just got a $3 copy of Little Women) she got a call from her boss saying that it was too slow and he didn't need her to come in that night. That meant that both of us had the rest of the day off! We had been talking about visiting some local historic sites together so we decided to do it. I knew of a place run by Parks Canada in Hamilton (about 30 minutes away) and we decided it would be a good destination. We stopped at Laura's house to drop off her car and have a quick lunch and then headed to Hamilton. It turned out that the place I had in mind is permanently closed. Luckily there was still something to see. In the harbour in Hamilton is the HMCS Haida, "the last of the Tribal Class destroyers which saw heavy action with the Australian, British and Canadian navies during World War II. Built for the Royal Canadian Navy at Newcastle, England, in 1942, this ship served on the frigid Murmansk run and in clearing the English Channel for the Normandy invasion. She helped sink 14 enemy vessels. Haida was recommissioned in 1952 and served two tours of duty with the United Nations in Korea, taking part in shore bombardment, blockades and attacks on trains."

The ship itself was pretty interesting. It was HOT on board though. I mean it was a hot muggy day anyways but on board it was killer, and then we went down into the engine room. Uggh. I guess that's what it would have been like though...when it wasn't covered in ice.

The best part of the day was discovering how compatible Laura and I are when it comes to touring a place like that. We seem to go at the same pace. She reads every plaque just like I do and we both find it interesting. We have plans to do more exploring together and I can't wait!

When we got back to her house I was invited for dinner. It was her parents anniversary and they were having a wonderful bar-b-que dinner to celebrate. Ribs, steak, salmon, potatoes, beans, mixed veggies, it was delicious! So that's how a coffee date turned into a very fun, full day event!

Oh the irony

I opened at work this morning which meant I need to be there for 5am. Because I had to be up so early and because I was tired I went to bed earlier than normal, somewhere just before 10pm. Unfortunately my landlords were still up and fighting :( For the most part they're great. The fighting (and no bathtub which I really do miss) are the worst things about living here. Not all that bad in the big picture. In order to tune them out I put in my headphones. I have a bible app on my phone (YouVersion) and I recently discovered that some of the translations have an audio track. Whoever it is that reads has an amazing relaxing voice, especially when there are so many angry words coming from upstairs :( I've used it before for this same type of situation or for when I just need to relax and focus on something other than all the stupid stuff that speeds through my head when trying to fall asleep.

Last night I somewhat randomly chose Proverbs 17 and some of the verses made me laugh. I wish I could share them with my landlord but I don't get the feeling that they would be welcomed right now, unfortunately. I wanted to share them with you though :)

1 Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.

14 Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.

19 Whoever loves a quarrel loves sin; whoever builds a high gate invites destruction.

27 The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered.

28 Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.

Rather ironic passage choice huh?

What's up?

So, what have I been doing since I got home two weeks ago? Honestly? Not much. It's been great :) I worked briefly last Saturday and then did a six hour shift on the 16th. This week I'm scheduled for 24 hours (four, six hour shifts). I went to a bridal shower, I went to the beach with a friend and her two kids, and I went out for dinner with some school friends. The picture is Kinsey and Heather, who were in my French 102 class, Kinsey's roommate Kirsten and I. Other than that, I've just been hanging out in my air-conditioned basement suite scrapbooking a bit, reading, uploading photos and generally taking it easy.

I did do a bit more genealogy research and figured out that the James Madden on the cemetery marker that I found IS my great-great-great-grandfather. Note to self: don't rely on transcripts done by volunteers. Use your own eyes and you'll see that the date IS 1866 not 1886. Duh. Anyways, I also found a marriage record for James and Amarilla (his second wife) and that lists his parents names (my great-great-great-great-grandparents) which I can in turn cross reference with census records and finally link James to another large family of Maddens that I kept running into. Turns out it's his brother! So the search continues but it's fun.

I've also been watching a lot of movies. My List has "watch all the movies on the AFI Top 100 list" and I'm slowly working through it. I estimate that I have about 72 to go so it will take awhile.

Now it's actually feeling like summer. I know my big trip was "vacation" but now I am actually relaxing and recuperating. Which is good, because school starts again in eight weeks. Eeek!!!

Weddings

This is the journalling for a scrapbook page I am doing. I'm participating in a "circle journal" style challenge where you do pages in everyone else's books and they all do one in yours. It's with the ladies at church and 15 of us are participating. The theme of this book is weddings, either what yours was or what you dream about having.

Here's what you need to know about me and weddings. I love weddings. I love going to weddings, I love being in weddings, I love everything about them. Since 1998 when my cousins and friends started getting married I have been to close to three dozen weddings. I have officially been part of the bridal party in four. I've been a junior bridesmaid, a candle lighter and a bridesmaid twice. Because of that I have lots of ideas of what I want for my wedding, but nothing very concrete. I used to think that I'd be married by 22 or 23 and back then I though that May would be a good month to be married in. May 5th specifically. Well, many May fifth's have come and gone and no wedding.

Back then I probably had a dress all picked out too but that changes over time. I'm not even sure what material I would want now. I know I want my rings to be yellow gold and for my engagement ring to have a round stone. My best friend Meredith will be my maid of honour and I like the idea of purple or yellow dresses for the bridesmaids but I'm not stuck on that. I don't love roses so I'll probably go with other flowers. I like the really bright bouquets that are in style right now. I definitely want to be married in a church, but I don't know which church. I know that I want my dad to walk me down the aisle and do the whole "who giveth this woman to be married to this man" thing, while I cry :P

I don't know what music I want or what style of reception. I like weddings that are a true reflection of the couple and since I don't know who the other half of my couple is...it's really hard to plan. I want the traditional things like candle lighting, registrar signing, speeches, slide shows, cake cutting and bouquet toss...but don't expect anything if you catch the bouquet. I've caught four. It doesn't work.

That said, if God brings the right man into my life and we end up eloping in Vegas so we can buy a house, that's good too but I'd prefer to share our special day with as many friends and family as possible. And if he doesn't, well, he knows best, so I'll just keep going to weddings and be happy for others while gathering ideas, just in case.

Looking for my roots

So what do you do when you've just got back from a two week road trip and you don't have to go back to work for another week? Take another road trip!!!

One of the reasons on my very, very long list of Reasons to Move to Ontario was the fact that I know my family originated out here. This is going up my dad's paternal side of the tree. It's the oldest line I have on any of my branches that is still in Canada. Everyone else immigrated within the last 100 years. This one goes back to the mid 1850's and they're still in Ontario. My grandpa is Orville, his dad is Clarence, his dad is Milton and his dad is James. I was looking for James, my great-great-great-grandpa. I didn't find him, and I am in fact more confused than when I left but I DID find James' two wives and his second son Everett.

First, the other thing I found was a detailed history of Milton's wife Eliza Jane Post. It contains over seven thousand names (including my dad). It goes back to her great-great-grandpa Nehemiah Hubble who was a United Empire Loyalist who came from the US to Canada in 1788. It also goes seven generations back from HIM to 1567. I was shaking when I found that. So excited!

Of course that doesn't solve my issues with finding James. So, in the Hubble family history it lists Milton and Eliza Jane and lists Milton's parents as James and Rebecca. That matches what I had from dad's cousin Jean (I've talked about her before in

relation to genealogy). In fact, from her, I have pictures of James and Rebecca. I need to scan them. I'll try and do that. Anyway, so I've confirmed that James and Rebecca are Milton's parents. In the Trenton, ON library (where I took my roadtrip to for my research) they have cemetery listings and Rebecca and James are both listed. Making a long story short, I found the listing and the approximate of where the cemetery is and, after the library closed, I went for a drive.

On the side of Frankford Road in Quinte West, Ontario - a road also known as Hwy 5 which seems to link to the original name of Concession Road 5, is a small cemetery. At one end is this gravestone. The inscription says: Rebecca A. McDonald, wife of James Madden, d. Aug. 16, 1863, aged 24 years, 1 mo. 4 days. My great-great-great grandma.

This confirms both Rebecca and James and the dates jive with everything else I've found. I also know that after Rebecca died James, who had a three year old Milton to care for, remarried. His second wife was Amarilla Scott and together they had a son named Everett. I don't know how long James lived after his marriage to Amarilla but I also know that after he died, she married a Daniel Phillips (confused yet?) LOL

After finding Rebecca's gravesite, I took a chance on finding another cemetery, the one that contained Amarilla's gravestone (as a side note, don't you love that name? Amarilla? Maybe it's just because I recently visited Green Gables in PEI but I love the sound of it.) So I knew there was another cemetery but I didn't know where. I knew it was in the general vicinity because the records said that a lot of families had people buried in both. Unfortunately it's hard to google cemeteries unless they have offices onsite. Anyway, I picked a direction and went for a drive, I came to a fork in the road and went down the one that was called "Ashley" (the cemetery I was looking for was originally the Ashley family plot, seemed like a safe bet). I drove through the little town of Foxboro (it's the Foxboro Cemetery...getting warmer) and sure enough, down a side road I saw monuments. Jackpot! This cemetery was larger than the last one but I had a general idea of where the monument I was looking for was located and it didn't take long to find it. It's an impressive marble structure. I'll spare you pictures of all four sides and just tell you who is there. The main name is Phillips. You've got Daniel Phillips, d. Oct 24, 1893, Amarilla Scott, wife of Daniel Phillips, d. Feb 20, 1916, aged 70 yr. 8 mo., Everett Madden d. 26 1888, aged 23 yr :( and James Madden d. June 6, 1886, aged 32 yr.

I'm confused though. The age for Everett jives with the census data I found listing him Daniel and Amarilla in the area in 1881. Who is the James that's listed her though? If it IS my James, then the math doesn't make sense. 1886 minus 32 years makes him born in 1854 which means he was six when Milton was born. Wrong. Is it another child? Is their math off? Is Amarilla buried with both her first and second husband? I don't know. So, as you can see, I have more searching to do.

After the high of linking back to Milton's wife's family so effortlessly, this other head scratcher is frustrating. By the time I finished my traipsing all over the countryside to cemeteries and then made my way back to Trenton, it was 8pm. It's a three hour drive back to Waterloo and I wanted to do some more work at the library so I found a cheap motel and stayed the night. Friday didn't turn up anything particularly useful although I do have an unverified record of James and Amarilla's marriage which lists the date as February 18, 1864 and lists him as being 30 years old. (This was just in a database, I need to find the actual record and see if I can confirm it somehow). If that is true, and it does make sense in relation to Milton's birthdate, then I'm a bit closer.

Friday I left Trenton around 1:30 and took the long way back. I'm developing a strong dislike for major highways, especially the 401 north of Toronto. I just drove it on my way back from Ottawa last weekend and I drove it to Trenton on Thursday so I wasn't excited about driving it again on Friday. Instead I drove the "old" highway, which winds through the towns along Lake Ontario. On the way I connected with Ashley, my roommate from Chicoutimi and made plans to have dinner at her place in Toronto. It was great to see her again, and not only because she's a fabulous cook and it meant I missed Toronto rush hour :) Her mom was in town so I got to meet her as well.

So, that's what I do when I have time off :) I love summer!!!

Random Memory #7: Summer Reading Programs

I took these pictures a few years back anticipating a blog post like this.

I was in the library yesterday in the kids section (getting more Disney DVD's to watch in French, currently I'm watching the Little Mermaid) and I overheard the librarian explaining the summer reading program to a young girl. I used to LOVE the summer reading programs they offered in my hometown. I participated every year but I think 1994 was the year I read the most. I remember going back to the library multiple times to get more cards and stickers because I kept using mine up. I read a lot of Babysitters Club that year but a lot of other things as well. The idea was that you set a goal for yourself of minutes of reading a day. I forget exactly what mine was. Probably 15 minutes, 30 and 45 or an hour for gold. I gave myself a lot of golds. I know I read a lot.

The hardest part for me of being in university is not being able to chose what I read. I mean I find the required reading really interesting (thank goodness) but there is SO much that it's hard to fit anything else in without feeling guilty. This last year I w

as reading ALL the time, at home, on the bus, on my fifteen minute breaks at work, but it was all required reading. I don't know if that will change next year but for now, I'm enjoying my summer reading.

I never really understood "summer reading" until now. Reading is something I do all the time and until I was in university I didn't understand how some people could not have the time for reading for pleasure.

I took this picture of the books laying around my room waiting for exams to be over in April. The twilight ones are in there (and I've since added Breaking Dawn as well) because I'm hoping to scrapbook my trip to Forks, WA this summer and while I may not read them cover to cover, I will reference them while scrapbooking. The top two, Little House on the Prairie and Wind in the Willows along with Marley & Me, Like Dandelion Dust and Little Women (not yet acquired) are the selections for the book club back home that I am still an honorary (albeit bad) member of. Since I took this picture I've finished the LM Montgomery and Louis Riel & Gabriel Dumont biographies, all three Starbucks books and World Without End. I've also read two others that weren't in that pile and added at least five more. It's great to have time to read what I chose again!

My List Update

We're halfway through the year and I just finished an amazing vacation so I think it's time for an update of my list of "Things To Do Before I Die". These are the items I've accomplished so far this year:

#33 Be in Ottawa for Canada Day

#36 Visit the Maritimes (I have tons of pictures but I just picked one. Me at the Louisbourg Light house on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia)

#38 Pour water from the Atlantic ocean into the Pacific (Again, I find it strange that this is FROM the Atlantic TO the Pacific. You'd think I'd have done this the other way around! Anyways, I have now poured water from the Pacific into the Atlantic and collected Atlantic seawater to take back to the West Coast.)

#63 Go white water rafting - I actually forgot this was on the list when I went in Chicoutimi.

#87 Visit all 10 Provincial Legislature Buildings. (I visited four on this trip. PEI, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec, in that order. That means that I've been to eight and still have two left. Those two are Newfoundland and Ontario, but I plan to visit Ontario's before the summer is finished.)

#96 Learn another language - I'm far from being fluent but after spending five weeks immersed in French and signing up for two more courses this next year, I am marking this as complete. Also, when I wrote this list I was toying with the idea of taking a Latin or Greek course. I know it says "learn" another language but I know I just meant "try" one. I've done that with Latin (once was enough) and as I said, I'm continuing to do it with French. That's good enough for me.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

9 different beds
8 thousand kilometres plus
7 weeks
6 hours - the approximate time it takes to drain a full gas tank - repeated countless times during this trip
5 provinces
4 Provincial Legislature buildings visited
3 hub caps on my car for most of the trip (I lost one early on)
2 royals
1 oil change

Thousands of photos and memories. A trip of a lifetime.

This is a story about second chances

There were a lot of people taking the course in Chicoutimi. I heard estimates of 250 students at least. We were all students so we had a lot in common and it was easy to talk to everyone (even in French). I met a LOT of people. Obviously I got closer to some than others but in general everyone was really nice. However, there was one guy who just rubbed me wrong from the start. The school was split into classes from 1-6 with one being the highest. Each level then had two or three classes (A, B, C) I placed in 4A and while I admit I did feel out of my depth some days, it wasn’t totally horrible. So one Sunday night Ashley and I met up with a bunch of people at a local billiards place. There was the first time I met “Richard” (pronounced with a really bad French accent. Think Rocket Richard but not, cause he wasn’t that cool.) Another quick aside, at school and during school functions we HAD to speak French. Signed a contract and stuff. On our own time, some people did speak French but a lot just reverted to English. Well the night I met “Richard” he insisted on speaking only in French and then when I stumbled to keep up (this was only the second week) he asked “what class are you in? 6?” Meaning – “you suck, you must be a beginner”. Now maybe I was being sensitive but I found him rude and arrogant. I confirmed with one of my friends later and she had gotten the same vibe. For the rest of our time in Chicoutimi I generally avoided him. I just didn’t feel like dealing with the attitude.

Fast forward to nine days after the program ends. I’ve been on a grand road trip of the Maritimes (hence the lack of blogging. The only times I’ve been online I’ve been uploading photos to Facebook and I’m behind on those). So I pull into Fredericton, New Brunswick around 4:30. I locate my hostel but I can’t check in until after 6 so I drive downtown to get my bearings. Downtown is...well...gridlock would be an exaggeration. It is Fredericton afterall, but it was really busy and traffic was moving very slowly. We’re crawling past the Legislature (which I hope to visit tomorrow before I leave town) and I see what appears to be a tour group. (five or six people but one is obviously doing all the talking). So I decide to take a chance. Instead of sitting in traffic I pull off and parallel park. I put an hour’s worth of coins into the meter and approach the group. They are doing a walking tour of downtown Fredericton. It’s nearing the end and the guy delivering it is just in training but I’m allowed to join.

45 minutes later the tour ends. I chat with the guy who was delivering it and his supervisor for a few minutes and then cross the street to try and go back and locate my car. As I am waiting to cross the street again I hear a tentative “Heidi?” Keep in mind I’ve only been in this province once before and that was last week on my way through to PEI. I’ve never ever been in this city. I turn around and who’s standing there? Richard! Of all the people in the world he is who I meet on a street corner in a random town. He is here visiting his parents, who actually live about 30 minutes out of the city. So we chat a bit (in English and French – the first French I’ve really spoken since leaving Quebec but it is Richard after all) and he ends up walking with me back to my car. At my car I show him a map of where I’ve travelled and then say that I need to head back to the hostel soon. (I had dinner in the car as well so I was planning on eating that) He mentions that he had a ticket to a show by a group that he saw once at his school in Newfoundland and invites me to come. I figured, why not. I don’t really like this guy but at least I “know” him and I have nothing better to do this evening. I did go back to the hostel, had a quick nap and a shower and then met him at this pub in downtown Frederiction. We had a great chat (in English, I think he’s nicer in English) for awhile before the show and then watched the show together. It was really good. Not something I would have ever done on my own but I really enjoyed it. I headed out shortly after it was done because I have another long day tomorrow but now I have a memorable evening to leave with. A random evening what with the tour and running into Richard but memorable. And I’m glad I gave him a second chance.

Halfway

Today marks the halfway point of the program already. Crazy. I'm trying to upload photos but blogger isn't cooperating so for now I'm just going to type. I left off on the morning of our first Saturday here. That afternoon my roommates, Ashley, Museb and myself went downtown to explore a bit. We ran into Steve (who lives across the street) and his girlfriend Courtney just after we arrived and together we all headed down to a chocolate/ice cream shop that had been recommended to us. We got our ice cream (vanilla soft serve dipped in milk chocolate for me) and Steve and Courtney headed home for dinner. Ashley, Museb and I took advantage of the beautiful day and went for a walk along the river front and about 3/4ths of the way over the foot bridge that connects Chicoutimi to North Chicoutimi. (there is a car bridge that runs parallel) When we came back to the Chicoutimi side we decided we were ready for our first Chicoutimi poutine so we got some at a place by the water. By the time we got back to the shops in downtown most of them were closed so we just came home and worked on homework.

Sunday was a school sponsored trip to Parc National du Fjord-du-Saguenay. It was a beautiful day for a hike. Clear but not too hot with a nice breeze to keep it cool. Here is where the description would be better with pictures. Anyways, suffice to say it was a lovely day. My new hiking boots were great. I didn't get any blisters but I was VERY tired by the end of the day. We had an early night again.

Monday was a statutory holiday. Victoria Day in the rest of Canada, "Journee national des patriotes" here. I was just happy to have the day off. We ended up having a girls day. Ashley, Victoria and another girl, Beth, who lives one street over, and I went exploring. It was a miserable grey day. Our goal was to drive the 256kms around Lac-St-Jean but we only made it less than a quarter of the way. We stopped when we felt like it at places like a micro-brewery that was actually closed but that we got a brief tour of anyways. At a "fromagerie", a cute little town with a waterfall, and whenever Ashely wanted to take pictures. Just before we got back home we stopped for ice-cream again (you'll notice a recurring theme in these posts: cheese, ice-cream and beer for Ashley and Victoria. We've consumed beaucoup de each.) That evening Ashley and I again met up with a few people at La Tour. We were celebrating our "one week of being in Chicoutimi anniversary" :)

Tuesday morning were classes and in the afternoon my group (4) had our first introduction to "Danse folklorique et chanson Quebecois" The dancing was a lot of fun (it makes me miss square dancing even though it's quite different). The "chanson" unfortunately put me to sleep. It's a lot of really interesting history about the Quebecois music scene presented by the extremely dynamic music "teacher" but it's right after lunch in a dark room and I nodded off a few times.

Wednesday was classes but our teacher was absent. I'm not sure what was going on that week, something personal I think because she seemed close to tears a few times. Wednesday it got the better of her and we had a sub for the day. It was good. We focused on oral activities which I need. That afternoon we had other activities. Everyone is assigned to different things. We were given all the options, asked to rank them according to our preference and then we were placed according to availability. I'm not totally sure how it all works bust some of the choices are: rock climbing, canoeing, gigue and/or gumboot (both forms of Quebecois dance), general sports, media, improve, etc. I'm in gigue, "losir creatif" which is essentially arts and crafts and the choir. Wednesday I had choir and losir creatif. We made cards. Something I'm familiar with but I realized quickly that I didn't know how to say "may I borrow your scissors" in French so it was good for my vocab :)

Wednesday night we had dinner at school again and then the two upper level classes did improve. It didn't contain as much talking as when the animateurs did it the week before but it was still hilariously funny. One of my favourite moments was when they were pretending to give a safari at a "bilingual zoo". One of the people was a cow and on cue she mooed in English "Mooooo" and in French "le mooooo" LOL

Thursday was the full day of classes. In the afternoon for the Quebcois culture part my class had cards with significant events in Quebec history. The teacher read out the year "mille-neuf-cent-quatre-vignt-quinze" or 1995 for example and whoever correctly identified the card first got to read out the event. That one was the latest referendum regarding Quebec soverienty. That night Ashley and I ended up back at La Tour for a bit. She wasn't in to whatever we were served for supper so she wanted a snack. Of course the restaurant in the pub was closed by the time we got there :P

Friday after class instead of taking the mini-bus home, Museb and I joined Steve, Courtney and a bunch of others for lunch at a coffee shop downtown called "Cafe Cambrio". Then Museb and I walked to the car rental place where he picked up a car so he could go back to Montreal for the weekend for a conference. The rest of the weekend was free with no scheduled activities. Friday night along with a bunch of people from school, Ashley and I went back to Cafe Cambrio to the "bar" they have in the basement. I put bar in quotes because while they did have a bar, that wasn't really the feel of the place. They had live music that night, a blues cover band called "ExcaliBlues". They were really good. French guys who mostly sang in English but it was really fun.

Okay, I'm fading. That's another week. I'll fill you in on the rest of the weekend and our other adventures another time. Hopefully with pictures!

Week One

Hard to believe that a whole week is already done. This post won't have many pictures because I haven't really taken very many yet.

I arrived Sunday around 6:30pm after a fairly uneventful drive. It never fails to amaze me that little towns exist in all sorts of random spots and that people actually live there. When I got to the school, University of Quebec at Chicoutimi or "UQAC" (pronounced you-kack) I was ushered into the "Centre Sociale", the big area on the bottom floor where we start and finish most days. I was given my welcome pack and had my picture taken for my student ID which they printed off right there. Then I waited while my host family was contacted and came to meet me. I spoke with a few other students and some "Animateurs/Animatrices" aka, the hosts.

My host family, Gilles and Nicole, are an older couple. They have three grown children who have six grandkids between them. Nicole babysits two of them, Mayson and Shawna on a regular basis. Shawna is 8 months and adorable. Mayson is three and a little stinker. Cute as anything but really rotten. The frustrating thing is he has a better French vocabulary than I do!!! It's hard to get him to stop doing something stupid (like climbing on the bookshelf) when you don't really have the words to communicate. I think he understands, he just likes to pretend that he doesn't :P

I wasn't expecting it but it turns out I have two colocataires (roommates) from the program. Ashley is my age and Museb is 22. We're a bit of an odd combination but we've totally bonded. We each (obviously) have our own bedrooms and we share a bathroom. We eat breakfast and supper with the family and lunch at school at the cafeteria.

Another student, Steve, lives across the street and Beth lives one street over. The school sends a "minibus" (15 seater passenger van) to pick us up each day along with the other people on our route. Even though I have my car (Ashley and Museb took the bus up here so I'm the only one with a vehicle) I take the minibus as well because it's a great time to chat with the students and animateurs (in of course). Having the car is great though because we're up on a hill and kind of far from anything.

Someone coined the term "Chicouti-mere" and "Chicouti-pere" for our host families. I refer to Ashley as my "Chicouti-soeur" and Museb as my "Chicouti-frere". Since Steve is the only student in his house along with a dog we refer to that as his "Chiciouti-chien" LOL. Basically it's to distinguish from our real parents.

Monday morning we wrote our placement tests at school. Both written and verbal. There are six levels with two or three classes each. Six is for people who haven't been exposed to any French. One is for those who are "advanced" or basically fluent. I'm in 4A. Museb's in 4B (we're still trying to figure out how much of a difference there is, it appears that A might be slightly more advanced than B but I might just like to think that :P) and Ashley's in 5A. She's fluent in Spanish as well as English so a lot of her words (especially the numbers) have Spanish pronunciation but she's awesome and really confident at just trying to speak. It's great. Museb actually lives in Montreal (he's from Toronto) so he's just learned French from hearing it. He's the best at communicating with and understanding our host family.

Monday afternoon we had a walking tour of downtown Chicoutimi, in the cold and the rain. It was a horrible day. Since then it's thankfully cleared up which has been great. For that evening we heard that people were going to a pub called "La Tour a Biere" it turned out that close to 50 students were there and we had a great time getting to know people from all over the country and celebrating our last night of speaking French.

Tuesday we were assigned to our classes and met our teachers. We had the afternoon free so Ashley, Museb and I picked up Victoria, another girl on our minibus route, and went to the mall. I forgot my hiking shoes at home so I had to buy a new pair. Tuesday night we went to bed pretty early which we needed after our late night on Monday and trying to speak French all day on Tuesday.

Wednesday was our first full day of class. My teacher is great. She's Quebecois and really big on proper pronunciation but we have a lot of fun with it. This week has been a lot of review but somehow I feel like this time around it's actually sinking in. It's great. We've had people leave our class to go down a level and to go up but I feel like I'm really in the right place. I understand the teacher for the most part but I still feel challenged by the coursework.

Wednesday night the Canucks played the Sharks so we went out to the "Bistro" across from the school. It was $2 beer night so the place was pretty packed. They have a project screen so it was a great way to watch the game, and again talk to people. Pretty much everyone is a student back home so we all have a lot in common and lots to talk about.

Thursday was class all day. Usually we just have class in the mornings and activities in the afternoon but Thursday's we have "culture" classes in the afternoons. This week in my class we made posters advertising a local tourist attraction. My group did one for a bike trek around Lac St. Jean. Others in our class did Nouvelle France and La Pulperie de Chicoutimi both of which we'ell be visiting in the next few weeks. La Pulperie is at the bottom of the hill that we live on as well and we pass it every day. I'm looking forward to visiting.

Thursday was another relatively early night. Ashley and Museb actually went over to Steve's (he has a pool table and a hot tub) but I was having an allergy attack so I just stayed home.

Friday was class in the morning and activities in the afternoon. Group 4 actually had a free afternoon so I just worked on homework and there is a LOT of it. It's great exercise but it takes awhile. I want to make sure that I stay on top of it so I get the best experience out of this.

Friday night was our "Soiree Bienvenue" at the school. They transformed the "Centre Sociale" into a night club complete with a bar and we partied there till about midnight when we moved over to La Tour again. I was home around 1am and slept in today.

Tomorrow we go for a day trip to Parc National du Fjord-du-Saguenay. And now you're up to date! It's been really busy but really fun.

My day in Ottawa

What a wet miserable day!!! Yesterday was muggy and hot. During the night it finally started raining and today it didn't stop. It was warm though so I didn't have to dress up and I just made do with wet feet. Despite the rain I managed to cover a fair bit of ground. My main stops were the Parliament Building and the Canadian Museum of War. I also went over to the Museum of Civilization (which is across the river in Gatineau, Quebec) but only to watch an IMAX show. I finished my wanderings at Chapters where I picked up a better French dictionary (I bought one in Quebec City in January but it's intended for French speaking people so it's hard to use) and a verb book.

I called my parents when I got back to the hostel and Dad asked if Ottawa is what I expected. It's an interesting question. I found when I was in Washington, DC that, while I didn't know where things were located, I recognized most of the buildings and monuments. Here (in my own country, ironically) I really only recognize the Parliament Building, and only the Centre Block at that. Everything else has been all new.

Spring is here so there are lots of pretty flowers around to enjoy and since Ottawa is right on the river, it's a very pretty city. Even if it is overcast. There is so much to see here and it was a nice break before starting school on Monday (I have to keep saying that so I don't forget that's what this is all about!) It's been interesting to be right on the border of Ontario and Quebec as well. Most of the tour guides here are bilingual and many of the people in the shops. I keep rehearsing French in my head but when I talk it's all English. It's very annoying. I suppose it's a confidence issue. And the fact that I'm obviously Anglophone. Hopefully when I'm in a community where they don't SPEAK English, I'll use more French. That's the goal anyways.

Friday the 13th Road Trips

April 13, 2007 I was dodging tornadoes on my way between San Antonio and Dallas, Texas.

May 13, 2011 on a beautiful day I drove from Waterloo to Ottawa, Ontario.

Gotta love Friday the 13th road trips!!!

The drive itself was rather uneventful. I drank a lot, I stopped for a lot of bathroom breaks. I listened to music and day dreamed. I took a twenty minute nap in a parking lot in a town called Smith Falls and woke up so sweaty that it took me an hour to cool down properly. I still felt gross when I arrived in Ottawa and after climbing the six flights of stairs up to my room I had a sponge bath too cool down. I was going to take a full shower but I didn't really have the time.

My hostel was recommended by the trip coordinator from the History Students Association. The same guy who planned our Quebec City trip in January. The HSA has stayed here in previous years and enjoyed it so I knew it would be good. It took a different route up than what is typically suggested by Google Maps and it wound through the country. Rather unspectacular scenery but pretty in the fresh springness. There was very little traffic that way as well which was nice.

Arriving in Ottawa I hit rush hour/construction so by the time I finally found the hostel and parked I admit I was a bit rattled. After being lulled by quiet country roads all day the bustle of the city was a bit nuts. After my aforementioned sponge bath, I took a quick walk over to the Parliament Buildings just to check them out. I intend to take a full tour tomorrow. I wanted to be back at the hostel for 7pm when the tour started here.

I've uploaded all the photos to Facebook. Is anyone here not a friend of mine there? Because frankly I'm tired right now :P I may double up some posts (like the ones from last weekend) but to me the blog is for the narrative of my activities. Posting pictures is separate. I have a lot of people on Facebook who don't read my blog. Or I don't know if they do. I'm okay with that. I've said all along, I blog for me...and for scrapbooking. I've chosen not to tell people about my blog so I can be more open with what I put here. What I upload to Facebook I know everyone and their dog (yes I have dogs as friends :P) will see it and that's okay too. Anyways, I guess I'm ending this post on a bit of a philosophical note. I want to try and do more blogging because I like having the record and Facebook doesn't always cut it. I need to find a balance so I'm not spending hours on both though. If you have any comments or suggestions please let me know :)