Notable Things of the Week Until Now...

Hello hello... I have approximately 50 minutes before my work day ends...I was going to write about the second day of my Montreal adventure, but I think I don`t really have time for that. (Edit - I didn`t even have time to finish this blog before that...I am now working on it 2 days later). Let`s save that for next time, and I will just summarize what happened on the weekend and other notable things.

1) Saturday - Recruitment Day
Apparently for 2nd and 3rd trimesters, each group must go out and promote Katimavik, in order to attract potential people who may be interested to join the program in the future. In other words, we are pretty much playing the role of Jehovah`s Witnesses, promising people everything under the sky if they do Katimavik...nah not really.
So Valerie splits us up into different groups and at different blocks of time, we were supposed to go to the local mall (Carrefour Alma) and sit at a little table, looking friendly and giving out information/pamphlets at the same time. I was in the same group as Valerie/Mike, and we were supposed to be there at 2 - 5 pm (every group had to do 3 hours slots). So everyone left around 1:30 ish and we all wore our Katimavik T-shirts (except Cynthia because she lost hers) and walked uphill to the mall. Saturday was incredibly gorgeous, the sun was out (I haven`t seen the sun/blue skies in Alma in forever), and it was warm...like a typical spring day. Put much of us in a good mood. The recruitment - not much about it, other than that a) it consists of 2 to 3 of us just sitting there, staring at people passing by with what we hope were friendly gazes and saying bonjour every now and then, while other groups walked around the mall, handing out pamphlets. Honestly, this is absolutely not a good way to do this (in my opinion) because not only are we not targeting the right people, but we are also wasting time, handing out pamphlets to people that are merely going to throw them away (Valerie/Mike/I found one lying on the concrete with footsteps all over it). I would imagine that we would target schools, work employment centers, etc, but Valerie assures me that we will be going to those places at another time, and we are covering more ground this way.
It was all right...met some nice people, met some ignorant people (Stephanie asked this old man whether he knows Katimavik, and he replied with "I do not need to know, I am not Indian"....??? Rebecca and Maxime had fun with it and went to the dollarama to get 2 pairs of underwear and giant sunglasses and dressed themselves up...and attracted some cute boys, haha.
Fun stuff...we are doing this on Friday night again.

Small things of that day:
-Cheryl gave herself a haircut and created some nice bangs. Oh speaking of that...that night Cheryl and Maxime were doing some highlighting in their hair and Valerie saw them. Apparently there is this stupid rule (with many others) that you are not allowed to dye your hair in the house. So Valerie said she will figure something out to "punish" them. We will see about that.
-The Day before...Maxime was shaving Charles`s hair, but left the middle part thus creating a mohawk-like haircut (he got rid of it on Sunday though)
-It was so nice out we had supper on the porch...it`s nice to have the view of the river and downtown as you eat, with the wind gently blowing on your bare feet...
-Had my first good conversation with Valerie about being Chinese, the cultural aspect and how it mingles with the western culture

2) Sylvie Jean - she is this folk singer that I thought was going to give a free show in Cafe Sofa that night. Because it is always nice to have free entertainment, I told people in the house about it (apparently Valerie really likes her) plus Annie at work. Unfortunately, I was given wrong information and when I got there a bit earlier I found out that there was no show, and instead there was a private party going on. So feeling a tad embarrassed, I had to muster up courage and tell Cheryl/Valerie that there was no show. I found out from Annie next day that she actually brought a friend and Aurelie along, only to find out there was no show...and the poster we both saw in the washrooms of the cafe was actually from last year...how utterly stupid of me. Time to laugh at myself. Hahahahaha

Sunday - Hiking in Val-Jalbert
So we left the house at around 10 pm (we actually had the option of either going during the morning or the afternoon, and a good number of people chose to go during the morning. This was a bit disappointing for me, because I would have liked to volunteer in the cafe that Sunday since they have this show with violin performance and breakfast combined...I wouldn`t mind a free performance (the show apparently costs $10) and potential tips, haha. But all is well, and we drove for 45 minutes to Val-Jalbert...I am not going to describe it because I have linked it to Wikipedia. Read it if you want to know more...it`s a pretty cool place, with waterfalls and old mills and other things. The hike is mostly uphill, with the cart stop (I can`t seem to think of the word for those carts that bring you uphill) marking as the middle of the hike. It may sound like that the hike is hard, but it really isn`t...it took around 15 minutes to get to the stop, and another 15-20 minutes to reach to the "top". And it`s mostly stairways. Oddly enough, the view in the middle was more spectacular than from the top, as from the middle we could see more of the town and the waterfall than from the top. Overall the hike was pleasant, even though the stairs were slippery from the snow and ice...many of us were sliding as we go up and down, and it doesn`t help that we have to duck each other`s snowball attacks too.

Let me talk about 2 Mike moments here:
1) American Idol/Amazing Race - when everyone except for Cynthia got to the top of the hike, we waited for Cynthia while we relaxed. And when Cynthia almost got to the top, we cheered her on to hurry a bit...and that`s when I made a comment about this similar to Amazing Race Finale, where everyone cheers at the winners as they run to the mat...and we kind of started a conversation on that note, with me saying that Mike would be highly entertaining in Amazing Race. That`s when Mike (or someone) asked who was the guy that went on American Idol and got a record deal because of his bad singing (William Hung, if you guys can still remember)...and after 2 seconds of waiting he answered with "wait I know, it`s Wai Han Tang!!!" Cynthia/Stephen were like "oh my godddddd" while Zach burst out laughing in this "oh no you didn`t" tone...and I was shocked, and then I just laughed loud enough that it echoes off the hills at his answer...Wai Han Tang is my Chinese name, for those of you that do not know.
2) This one is not something he did...while we were up there everyone took pictures, and Rebecca somehow captured this AWESOME photo (totally natural, no one really posed) of Maxime/Charles/Valerie standing on one side, with different degrees of disgust on their face as they all stare at one direction...and in the other side/direction there is Mike, staring back at them. I first found this picture as I looked at Rebecca`s photos, and honestly I can`t marvel at it enough...so I showed it to Rebecca, who pretty much reacted the same way I did and the cycle continues...I am going to see if I can put the picture up here another time.

What else happened that day? I hung out in the cafe for a little bit (man what a loser, I am still there even when I am not working) and Annie showed me her trailer, which is very cool looking...all hippie, full of her personality, and she drove me home (really not necessary and not allowed, as she didn`t sign the driving permission form, but who really cares?). Afterwards I walked to Zellers and gave in...actually bought a CD player since my stupid MP3 broke (I will have to send in the warranty soon)...meanwhile I am going to hunt for a better CD player on Ebay since the one I bought (Sony, almost $40 bucks) keeps skipping with my new Kylie Minogue CD but nothing else...very strange...and I will return the one I bought. Thank god for 30 day refunds.

New things:
1) Charles shaved his mohawk off, but Mike requested for a mohawk. So Cheryl did it for him and now...hmmm...let`s just say good thing his mother is not here. Mike is also thinking of dying his mohawk, and probably as I am typing this in the cafe Cheryl or someone else is dying it for him. This should be interesting.
2) After 2 months, Stephen has finally shaved his beard off. This was done with persuaision (is this how you spell it?) from Cheryl (cough cough) and now Stephen looks clean-cut and a couple of years younger. Stephen claims it`s his choice to do it but...cough cough...=)
3) How to put this kindly...I almost got into a car accident one day after work, and could have died. As I was about to cross the street a car stopped to allow me to do so (this is rare in Quebec, let me tell you)...so I do...and out of the middle of nowhere a van drives out and quickly heads to me...then the driver sees me and swivels to the other side of the road, and kind of goes around me and swivels back to where he should be...holy shit...crisse de merde? ;)
4) Oh yes...I actually donated blood yesterday. I was walking on the streets to do my usual grocery shopping and I saw that there was a blood donation thing going on in the town hotel on Apr 17/18. Since I have never given blood before but have always wanted to (this was one of my "to do things in life"), I decided to do so. It was ok...the French makes the situation rather interesting, and people kept saying "wow you are from so far away"...and it didn`t really hurt (pain with needles is 6 shots plus a blood test...oh yeah that was me)...and there were cookies and juice at the end, which is always cool. And no, no fainting or anything! I actually carried my bag and jacket with my left arm (the arm that they took blood out of). I am trying to push others in my house to do it too, but I doubt that`s happening (somehow many of them said they are afraid of needles...and I love Stephen`s reply: "I am not giving them blood because it`s my blood". And when I told him that his blood will eventually be broken down and excreted, his reply: "well that`s even better because like time, my blood is for me to waste..." What a dick =P.
PS. Ady if you get mail about my blood test, can you decipher the French and tell me what blood type I have? Thanks.

Last thing - I have an idea. I am thinking of inviting Alexandre Cloutier (the Bloc Quebecois representative in Saguenay Lac St-Jean, and winner of the provincial seat here. I don`t know if you guys remember me talking about him, but he is the super charismatic and "good looking" politician that wowed the ladies and others during the debate in Cafe Sofa in the election period) to the house and have a discussion on Quebec separation and politicis and stuff. And this guy hangs out in the cafe. However 1) I don`t think he will say yes because he is probably very busy and he is slightly of a celebrity (he reminds me a bit of JFK). 2) Quebec Separation is a bit of a touchy subject, I think. A lot of people actually do not like talking about it, I find. But wouldn`t that be cool? And we could understand the Quebec culture so much more...I am going to give it a try. Fingers crossed.