Dear friends and family. I’m not dead! I’m sorry that I
haven’t been updating this blog! Now that I’ve finally got around to it, SORRY
THAT IT IS SO Loooooong!!! I’m not expecting anybody to reach the end of this-
If anything, I’ll just keep this buried deep in the abyss of
the internet, and use it to remember my first three weeks in Canada with affection!
So I’m well and truly settled into my apartment and work
routine in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts. My apartment is amazing. I have my own
kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, lounge and washer/dryer units for cheaper rent then
last year when I was sharing a house with three other girls in St Andrews! The
Irish and Canadian assistants are a stones throw away, and we have made a habit
out of falling asleep on each others beds, eating Jolly ranchers and watching
mtv. Here are some photos for you to get an idea of the space in my appartment:
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| My appartment is the top floor. I have my own staircase on the left. |
I arrived in Montreal on the 4th of September,
and was lucky to be on the same flight as another assistant, Emma! When I told
the MELS (Minestere de l’Education, du Sport et des Loisirs du Quebec) team my
flight number, they told me that I wouldn’t be the only assistant on that
flight, much to my relief! I somehow managed to get my luggage within the
weight restriction of 23kg, but this means that I came with no winter clothes,
no books, no toiletries, and hardly any clothes. I’m sincerely hoping that this
excuses my spend on our Walmart voyage to Matane (the nearest large town) last
week of 189 dollars (ahhhhh). When it got to the point where I was taking
individual socks out of my suitcase and reweighing it, in the desperate hope
that it would knock a kilo off my luggage weight, I knew that I would have to
make some ruthless decisions, leave out lots of things, and buy them here!
By the time it was time for me to leave, the packing process
had addled my brain to the extent that I was pretty unemotional about the whole
‘saying goodbye to your family for a year’ thing…I was also very excited about
the long haul flight, as it was my first time on one (apart from the
traumatising Iberia plane I took to Peru, which was so uncomfortable that I
banish it from memory). Upon arriving, Emma and I went through customs. I was
not amused when, upon going through Immigration, the French Canadian man
stamping my passport , along with his collegue in the booth next to him, roared
with laughter when I told him that I would be living in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts for
a year. He said ‘even WE don’t understand the French that they speak up
there’. Great!
We took the hotel shuttle bus to the ‘Hotel Quality’ on the
outskirts of Montreal where our training was held over the next three
days. And Quality it was! The hotel had a swimming pool,
sauna, and gym, which everybody was pretty pumped about! The weather was a
perfect 26 degrees, and everyone went on a jolly trip around Montreal, ate
Poutine (a local speciality of chips, cheese curds and gravy), and sunned
themselves before the training began. There were about 70 of us being trained-
around 35 Brits, 20 Germans and 15 Mexicans. We had some great food and heard
speeches by a woman from the British council in Montreal, and members of the
MELS team. Then we had some workshops which involved us acting out classroom
scenarios, which were then performed. Hilarity ensued…
On Friday, we were all bussed out to our individual
destinations. I am living high up the Gaspe Peninsula, which means that I was on the
infamous Gaspe road trip. We left at 1pm on Friday, and Jenny and I (the two British assistants who will be working in Sainte-Anne) arrived at around 7pm on Sunday
night. There were many stops dropping people off along the way, and we got to
drive through some stunning scenery, and stay in two motels- one of which was
on the shore of the St Lawrence!
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| En Route to Sainte-Anne-des-Monts! (Photo courtesy of Will :)) |
In Gaspe, we met a member of the Commission scolaire des
Chic-Chocs (basically the woman in charge of education for my area), and she
took all the assistants from Sainte-Anne and Gaspe on a walk in the National
Park. We didn’t see any Bears unfortunately, but the scenery was stunning, and
I saw my very first chipmunk scurry across the path. (I have also seen my first
skunk crossing a drive in Ste-Anne. WIN!)
Then it was back to Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, where we would be living
for the next 9 months. Jenny and I said an emotional goodbye to Renaud (our
awesome driver, and member of MELS) and were left to meet our ‘Responsables’
who will be keeping an eye on us during our time here.
Now for a description of the town and my school!
Sainte-Anne-des-Monts was described in my ‘Rough guide to Canada’ circa 1997 as ‘not one of the more pretty towns’. I
cannot see why this is- It has a lovely old church with wooden clapboard
houses, and beautiful sunsets over the sea every night. What could be more
beautiful? I’ve already fallen in love with the place. It is right by the sea
and the Chic Choc mountains. The town is pretty small, but it has a ‘downtown’-
consisting of a Tim Hortons , two supermarkets, and lots of shops.
There are also lots of clubs to get involved in. This is
probably because Sainte-Anne-des-Monts is a retirement town, so all the oldies
run clubs. I find this great! At the ‘maison de la culture’ on my second
Saturday here, they had a sort of event (a bit like a Freshers fayre) where you
go and sign up for clubs. I signed up for Yoga, an oil painting course of 8
weeks and inquired into piano lessons. I might join the choir too haha but
haven’t made up my mind. There’s a swimming pool in my school, and they have a
cinema once a week (also in my school). And bowling. Last week
there was a circus in town that we went to see, and they were amazing. As you
can see, there’s a lot to keep you busy, and with Matane (a much larger town)
an hour down the coast, you’re never too far from amenities.
The nightlife is surprisingly robust! There are a few bars
on the seafront, and a little way down the coast, a hostel named the ‘Sea
Shack’ hosts late night concerts. There is a hot tub and hammocks strung around
in the trees, with a great view out to sea. Our first visit to the sea shack
involved a day of canoeing on the St Lawrence, watching an amazing sunset and
driving home with our cameras stuck out of the car’s sunroof. We returned a few
nights later in the evening to watch an amazing band play, make friends with
hippy German/French/Polish hikers and drink at their beach bar which looks like
it should be on a beach in Hawaii- not in a town which reaches -30
degrees Celsius each winter…
'Les Chiens de ruelle' playing at the sea shack'!
Other outings include a trip to Rimouski to watch the 'Oceanics' play ice hockey and a night in Matane which involved impromptu paella with Lydia (the monitor there)'s landlord, followed by us going to a heavy metal concert (probably the only people not wearing black there), followed by a night at 'le lounge'.
The people are very friendly here, and will do anything for
you. I’m struggling with the accent at the moment however. When people are
addressing me, I’m fine! It’s listening in to conversations between locals that
I find impossible. I think that what I’m hearing is the French equivalent of a
really strong Southern American drawl. There are words here which don’t exist
outside of this town. For example, the phrase ‘Ben manque’ which means
‘probably’. If I were to say ‘on va ben
manque aller au cinema’ outside of Ste-Anne, nobody would
understand what I was trying to say! Another thing that is really confusing is
that ‘déjeuner’ (which in France means to have
lunch) here means to have breakfast. Dîner (which in France means to have dinner) is to have lunch, and ‘souper’
is to have dinner.
The teaching
itself is going quite well. I’ve been given my own cute classroom which can
seat up to 20 kids, with MY OWN BLACKBOARD. I got really excited when I first
saw it, and proceeded to draw and write my name all over it…). . I can borrow a
projector if I ever want to screen films, and there’s internet etc. Basically,
everything that I need. As a language monitor, it’s my job to take small groups
out of lessons and practice English conversation with them. I’ve pretty much
spent the first two weeks presenting myself to the groups and playing ‘two
truths and a lie’ with them (standard korfball game). I was rather disconcerted
when many of them proceded to write about relatives that had died, and their
dogs. But at least it got them talking !...I’m also teaching some primary
classes (My school is a middle and secondary school mixed). I find this a
little harder as some of the classes are so hyper, and I teach all of them instead
of taking out little groups! I think that this is good in a way though, because
it’s more like real teaching, and will help me to decide if I want to become a
teacher in the long run.
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| My Classroom |
I’m running out of steam here, although there’s so much more
to say. That’s all for now folks! That-you so much for reading, I shall be
updating you with more Ste-Anne small-town drama next week!
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