October Update

Hello friends! So the snow is starting to fall in the Haute-Gaspésie. I went into the national park on Saturday the 13^th (not even MID WAY THROUGH October!), and there was so much snow that the car started to slide from side to side on the ice, and we had to turn back.

Whilst the third years in Saint Andrews appear to be stressing about crucial essays, and staying up in the library, I have been colouring in union jacks and singing ’10 green bottles’ with my primary school classes. In all seriousness, if I were to compare the two experiences, I would say that whilst university produces stressful bursts of work (all nighters in the library etc.), as an assistant, the work is less stressful, but it is always there. School starts at 8am if I’m teaching primary, and 9am if I’m teaching secondary. I can’t arrive 10 minutes late, as I did for pretty much every 9am tutorial I attended in second year! I’m in school for around 4 hours day, and do a bit of prep in the evenings. I follow a 9 day timetable, which is rather confusing. 

I am also starting to feel like a member of the townsfolk here. Instead of wishing me a ‘pleasant holiday’ when I go to the supermarket, the cashiers bag my items up and eye me up and down with recognition. The other assistants and I also had people coming up to us at the bar, saying ‘you’re the new assistants, aren’t you?’ which made us feel like the local celebrities!

Since I last wrote a blog, a few more things have been crossed off my bucket list of things to do in Quebec:

1) I hitchhiked for the first time in my life! In order to get into the national park (there are no buses), you need to have a car, which Jenny and I don’t have. We decided to hitchhike into the park, which was a risky strategy. We realised just before we started that we might potentially hitch successfully into the park, and then be unable to find someone to give us a ride back, meaning that we would be stuck there overnight with the moose and the bears! All was well however. Within 5 minutes of waiting outside Tim Hortons, we met a lovely lady called Sylvie, who was going into the park hiking for the day, and was willing to give Jenny, Lydia, Sarah and I a lift. We ended up spending the entire day with her, coming back together in the early evening.

Sylvie (the woman who took us into the park) is on the left!

 2) I saw some moose! As we were driving back from our days hike, Jenny emmited a blood curdling scream, which made me jump a foot in the air and brace in preparation for a crash. It turned out to be a moose at the side of the road. They aren’t hunted in the national park, and are used to seeing people on walks, so weren’t put off when we pulled over and went to take photos and get a better look at them! We ended up spotting four or five!

3) I hosted a dinner party for two teachers from my school and the other assistants. I cooked toad in the hole, as a traditional English dish. It was the first time that I have made it, and think that it will become one of my staple recipes (it’s so easy to make!)

4) I offended a pupil. On a particularly bad day of Primary School teaching, a class wouldn’t stop shouting and running round. Nobody was listening to my instructions, so I yelled ‘shut up!’. A girl on the second row thought that I had been shouting at her, and had shouted ‘Salope!’ (which means bitch/ slut!). I tried to explain to her that I hadn’t been calling her a slut (she’s about 9 years old…why would I do that?), but I don’t think that she swallowed it!

5) I made my debut on the stage in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts. My role was (drumroll….) page-turner!!  I use the piano in the ‘maison de la culture’ to practice on a couple of times a week. When, last week, a page turner was needed in a concert there, I was the person that they phoned! The concert was amazing. It was a clarinetist who is in the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and a rising star pianist, both touring Canada as part of a young talent scheme. I was in total awe of them, and it was so cool to sit so close.

Here is a clip of the tour:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YP-z56m_Uw

6) I celebrated Thanksgiving (or l’action de grâce as it’s known here) with some real Canadians! The assistant from Ontario, Jennifer had her mother over to stay, and along with one of her teachers, Robert, and Jenny, we cooked a sumptuous meal, washed down with a good amount of wine. It felt a little like Christmas, as afterwards we watched two episodes of Friends (just like Christmas afternoon telly…)

7) I saw some famous ex ‘Canadiens’ players in Matane. If you haven’t heard of the ‘Canadiens’, which I hadn’t, they’re one of the best ice hockey teams in Canada. I didn’t have a clue who they were, but everybody was going crazy asking for their autographs after the match, so I feel like it should be included here!

Thank-you for reading! Until next time, goodbye! Or, they say in Quebec: ‘Salut, Bye Bye!’