Looking for pretty things and a good cup of tea

Ooops, it has been too long, sorry about that.

Turns out I've been living life rather than writing about it ...which has to be a good thing right?

Last time I was massively looking forward to a swing social dance. Unfortunately seven people turned up. Three of the seven were 1. Myself 2. Denis and 3. Denis' dance and teaching partner, Caro. Also I've pretty much decided that I don't like East Coast Swing. It doesn't look nice and isn't that fun to dance. Lindy for life!

So, last Sunday Denis and I drove down to Montreal. He had to go for work and as I had no job at the time nor any interviews scheduled I got to go to. I thought it was going to be like a free mini holiday, turned out a bit more expensive than I'd assumed. I bought a dining table and four chairs from IKEA. Denis is in the process of paying me back, seeing as I'm not likely to be paid for a good four weeks, I'm not really in a position to buy furniture.

I'm somewhat more certain about pay day seeing as while I was in Montreal I was FINALLY* offered a job. It is with a huge national telecommunications company, in their Rimouski call centre as a customer service represent-ant (the French is "Représentant(e), service à la clientèle" and, although I shall not be carrying bits of leaf on my back, I'm pretty sure I will be the human equivalent of a worker ant).

* Five weeks after I arrived, four weeks after I started looking. Not so bad but due to the end of uni and the proximity of school starting to my leaving date I feel like I haven't actually done anything since mid-June.

Montreal was fun. It was good to get out of Rimouski and meet other people. Not that I'm short of people to meet here. I mostly pounded the streets, looking for pretty things and a good cup of tea.

I also got a catch up chat with Jamie, who assistanted in Joliette when I was in RDL. It was fun to talk English with someone who a) speaks exceedingly good English and b) has a very British sense of humour ...In real life. Skype is a great way to keep in touch but it isn't a patch on actually sitting a matter of centimetres from someone. Although, throwing playing cards at someone in real life is slightly less entertaining than it is via Skype.

I found a cafe in which I'm pretty sure the guy in charge is the brother of C.R. Avery and where soup is served in wooden bowls and the large chai latte is only $4 but comes with a cinnamon stick in it. Also, when I bought my lunch the till didn't have change for a twenty so, in a totally laid back way, C.R.'s brother said he'd bring my latte and change over when they were ready. And he did. I was really thinking that I'd just donated a rather large tip (as in more than 100% of the price of the meal) but nope, C.R. clearly has an honest and reliable brother. I shouldn't be surprised, he is Canadian.

Right, first day of work/work training tomorrow. Time to get myself ready. Wish me luck.

Walk the Chewbacca

This post is starting life in Denis' office at 21:20, Tuesday. He has to speak to someone in China at a time convenient to them. I don't have to be here, I mostly came along to make going back to work after 9pm slightly less painful.

Wednesday there will be no working in the evening. There will be dancing! At possibly the worst advertised social. This has been on the cards since last week (when the venue decided to wait until 10 hours before the event to confirm and then moved it to this week) but the one person who is in a position to put the event on Facebook waited until about 8pm this evening. Oh well, probably will mean more space on the dancefloor for me, muahahahaaaa!

So Saturday night we celebrated Hallowe'en by dressing up (as Jessica Rabbit and Chewbacca) and playing Beer Pong with the Queen of Hearts, some kind of Sexy Rabbit Princess With Feathers (??), Fairy, Prisoner, Baseball Player, Harry Potter, and a bunch of people who couldn't be bothered to dress up. Beginners' luck did not help at all and my team lost. My team also mostly refused to drink all the beer we were supposed to; but it was really horrible beer and we lost really badly so I don't feel bad about essentially cheating. 

We then headed to a bar where Chewbacca was a huge hit and I couldn't hear anything anyone said. My lip reading in French is terrible so I mostly just nodded; they could have been saying anything (Denis recently introduced me to How I Met Your Mother - turns out the secret is to start with season 1, episode 1 and get the proper character introductions otherwise it is far less funny).

Sunday I watched Ghostbusters for the first time, except it was actually S.O.S. Fantômes, because I watched it in French. Still good, in a very 80s way. Talking of the 80s, I have been reliving my childhood and listening to songs from NOW 1987 such as the exceedingly dated but no less funky Walk the Dinosaur. 

Monday evening started with a "cocktail" (where beer, wine and soft drinks were available for consumption). It was for the Liberal Party of Quebec and I met Michelle Courchesne who was very taken with the story of how I came to be in Rimouski (i.e. Denis). She said we should turn it into a book. Unfortunately, I think the book would be pretty short and probably very chick-lit-y due to subject matter and lack of content. Although, if it looks like I'll never find a job that would give me something to do.

Then we headed off to Denis' wine-tasting class. I was allowed to come for free because it was Denis and Marc who were "teaching" that evening. It was a good job I was there, otherwise a paying customer would have had to hold the map of Lebanon in the style of glamourous assistant. And then there was whisky tasting. Not quite sure how that fits in with a wine class but at least it was something I wanted to hear about (as obviously I'm happy to taste as much free wine and whisky as people are willing to give me). I didn't learn anything new as the focus was very much on Scotch whisky - the one type I know a little about. Unsurprisingly the English girl with Scots blood did know more about it that the bloke from Quebec.

So a "cocktail" where no cocktails were served and "wine tasting" with whisky sampling. Clearly Monday was a night of things not being what they seemed - appropriate for Hallowe'en.

Tuesday afternoon was not only productive but good fun. I met up with Claire as she's not working this week. We drank tea and talked painting and knitting. Plus, in the really cool tea room Claire took me to (that I'd totally walked past not realising what it was) I bumped into Raf, who I'd met at the "cocktail". It's almost like I know people here.

Right, people have arrived, pre-dancing. I should be less un-sociable and get my head out of my computer.