Almost Everything

Wow. I have really done an awful job of keeping everyone up to date on what I have been doing these last few weeks, and for that I apologize. You see, the problem is this: that I am doing and have done so many things worth blogging about that I have not had the time to blog. I suppose you shall just have to speak with me in person. But, that will take a LOT of talking. So, to give you at least an idea of some of the things that have transpired over these past few weeks, I will try to create a summary. I will also try to limit myself to one photo for each event, but that could be difficult. I hardly know where to begin, but I will try to be brief and to the point. The last events I have written about include my rafting experience and Cap Trinité. Ha, when I look at that, I am overwhelmed by the number of events that I have not written about.

After Cap Trinité, on Sunday, July 18th, I went whale watching. Tadoussac. What a beautiful little touristy town. We ate lunch on the beach and explored the town while waiting for our time to go out on the water.

Lunch included the leftover Nanaimo bars from the movie night before... delicious. The whale watching was fun, but not overly thrilling for me, as I have already seen whales. Nevertheless, they are incredible creatures, and I was very happy to have seen a few up close again.

We also got to wear ridiculously large red suits, which is always a plus. However, the weather was freezing cold. The sky was stormy, and for some reason, our guide seemed to keep steering us into the rain rather than out of it. But despite the frigid wind and pouring rain, I enjoyed the experience, particularly when our guide took us into a sort of inlet. We saw a gorgeous waterfall and beautiful green hills and mountains; I was very happy to have brought my camera.

The following week, from July 19-23 was La Semaine des Amis Secrets - Secret Friend Week. Those of us who wanted to participate, teachers and monitors included, drew names to find out to whom we would be a secret friend. Throughout the week, your secret friend was to give you challenges and rewards, and you were to do the same for the person whose name you drew.

I drew the name of somebody with whom I was already friends, Rong, so it was a lot of fun to think up challenges for her. It was my final challenge to her that I liked the most - a scavenger hunt, in which she was given a page of a sticker story book for Alice in Wonderland - Alice au Pays des Merveilles, with a clue to follow that took her to the next clue, and so on and so forth, thereby taking her through her walk to school and then all over the college, finding pages of the book. Once she had found them all, she had to put together the book and follow the last clue to find her prizes - candy and a journal.

At the bottom of the pages of Alice in Wonderland, I had written a code that revealed who I was, and in the journal, I gave her the key to unlock the code. It was so much fun!

As for the challenges that I received, I did everything to laugh loudly and awkwardly in class, to dress up as a baby. It was a fun experience, and mon amie secrète gave me very good prizes.

At the end of the week, we always have a réunion générale, an assembly during which we draw names for prizes, find out who won tournaments or contests, watch the monitors perform a skit, and discover La Personnalité de la Semaine - The Personality of the Week, for each class. In each class, the students vote for this person, and it is generally based on participation, effort to speak in French, or any other noticeable and appreciable personality traits. Well that week, I won in my class! I was pretty excited, because it meant that I got a lanyard from the college :) Haha. As my teacher called my name, she also revealed that she had been mon amie secrète! I was entirely surprised. She really is an amazing teacher!

Another fun happening that took place during the July 19-23 week was, well, my marvelous brother's birthday on Monday, and also a mandatory movie night that same day. We watched À vos marques, partez! 2. It was a lot easier to understand than the first movie we watched - La grande séduction, as this one revolved around an international teenage swim competition. There were a couple lines in English, and the story was easier to follow, as it involved teenage love. It was a fun cheesy movie.

To finish off the week, we had a Soirée Costumée. Everyone chose "teams", and so my friends and I went as animals. We had Anita as le chat noir, Erica as le lion Québecois (she had a blue boa tail), Sarah as le zèbre, Emily as un guépard... or perhaps it was un léopard, Morgan as le lapin blanc, and myself as un oiseau multicoloré.

The event was a lot of fun, and it was cool to see all of the different costumes! There were two Pacman teams, a team that dressed up as the monitors, a Koodo group, Crayons, and many others. This is us on the bus to the college. We got a lot of curious stares and comments!

On Saturday, I went with Emily and Sarah to the mall in Chicoutimi, because we had not signed up for the zoo activity. Emily was thrilled to find a Tim Hortons, as she had been missing her Ice Caps. We shopped, and saw many other Explore students who had nothing better to do than hang out at the mall in Chicoutimi. It was a nice relaxing day, a good break from having things on the go all the time.

Timeline wise, I have now brought you to my "Le vent et le rafting" post. Sunday was the day of our rafting adventure, which I have already told you about. Which brings me to our last full week in Jonquière! To be continued....