Surprise!

I'm back! (Not sure for how long, probably only very sporadically) 

So I got that job I posted about all those months ago. And it was really not for me and I spent my evenings and weekends tired and in a bad mood and definitely did not fancy writing about it. I didn't move thousands of kilometres away from my family and friends to be miserable. So I quit.

That was scary. After five years of being officially a student I couldn't cope with being a call-centre robot for a billion dollar company that considered 7 minutes per day adequate for "personal" time (but would then pull you up if you used all of this allocated time).  We were given "positioning statements" for almost any situation so that we could promote the company's position. I didn't necessarily feel that this was in the customers' best interests but the company assured us it was. I think the moment that really did it for me was the lecture on tones of voice and how to use different tones for different call types to make the customers trust us. 

I quit because I wasn't happy and the search for a job more suited to me had ground to a halt since money started being deposited in my bank account. Now, after several weeks of writing letters to companies that interested me (whether or not they were advertising a position), meeting people, demonstrating enthusiasm and independent thinking and as many skills as I could come up with, I may just have found something very interesting and well suited to me.

I'm supposed to start tomorrow and I don't want to jinx it. I'm being a bit cautious because during these weeks of unemployment this is the third job I thought I was getting and the other two haven't come up with any work yet. I'm also feeling uncharacteristically superstitious as the way this job came about seems very much to have been some sort of fate. Just as I was starting to think I might have to give up on trying to start a career and seriously look for another just-a-job (funds running low) I got a call, for a job I applied to in November. I met with the executive director (ED) yesterday. This morning I bumped into an employee who said she was looking forward to working with me (my mind is going "I don't remember being offered or officially accepting a job offer"), I met the ED again today and she bought cake to celebrate my joining the team.  She also felt like it was fate (her words) as she very suddenly needed someone just about exactly like me and I just happened to be available. From the news I'd had leading up to this week, I had been expecting to have other work at this point but the people promising the mythical work didn't come through. 

The job is all sorts of things that interest me and is for a non-profit organisation (unlike the billion dollar telecoms company of before). This means the pay is less but the guilt is non-existent. The ED is also a Lindy Hopper. This makes everything more awesome.

Swing Station

Last night was Swing Station which was totally AWESOME. 

I have tried four different ways to sum it up and it seems I cannot in any kind of cohesive and grammatical sentence. Therefore: bullet points! The order of the ideas has no relation to the importance of the idea in relation to the other ideas.

• dance
• video
• clown/percussionist
• live band
• tap/balboa/lindy/charleston/air steps
• train station
• train
• club
• couple
• gang
• children
• underwater
• mime
• drum solo with smoke
• THOMAS BLACHARZ

I had a ridiculous grin on my face for the rest of the evening, it was so charming and the musicality was fantastic. The choreography and the music are specific to the show but I couldn't work out if the music was written to the movements or the movements were choreographed to the music. There was a really interesting vignette in which three dancers each represented (or were represented by?) a different instrument (piano, double bass, violin). The interplay and choreography was very impressive. 

I so badly need to dance. Unfortunately the social dance I was looking forward to on Wednesday will not happen until next Wednesday due to the venue not confirming until a couple of hours until the social was supposed to take place (seriously, wtf?).

However, it turns out these dances will be every other Wednesday and the university wants a social dance once a month as well. No classes at the moment but there will be dancing!

As for the job front, I've handed out a number of CVs and taken the initial test for one but not heard anything so far. There seem to plenty of offers for shop assistants but having done that (when I was 16) I'm really looking for a post-uni job. Surely someone in this town must want someone who can speak English and not just people with a degree in administration (?!?)

Seriously? SERIOUSLY?

Three days of outdoor summer swing dancing in Montreal which I would so love to go to:
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010

For the first I'll be at the qualifying of the Montreal Formula 1 Grand Prix YAAAAAYYY!!!! Which is a good enough reason to miss the dancing, except the racing doesn't go on that late. But the dancing is not so much a "day" as an "afternoon" so that is NO help.

The second I plan to be at the VANCOUVER FOLK FESTIVAL. Oh. Yes. Hopefully. Tickets not a problem but there is a distinct lack of accommodation and as I'll have all my stuff with me camping is not an option. 

The third I plan to be in England for. So I think you'd better start planning me an awesome Welcome Back party, hadn't you?

On a completely unrelated note, I bought some cherry sweets which loudly proclaimed that they contained "real fruit juice". Only when I read the ingredients did I find this to be pear juice. Um, okay.

Pancake Day FAIL.

These crazy people don't know what pancake day is. Only my second favourite holiday-that-you-don't-get-time-off-for after the one where we burn a pretend guy...

It was also my day off and I went SKIING. With MUCH greater success than last time. Much. However, this means the next time I will get to sleep in past 7 am is likely to be 26th February. Ten days! Aaaaarrrrghhhh!

On the plus side this is because of SKIIIIIIING and SWIIIIIIIING. Two things that look very similar when written like that. I will sleep when... ummm... I don't have skiing or swinging to do?

Due to both of these I did not get pancakes today. Booooooo. After skiing I didn't have much time before swing to make myself half respectable. 

On the plus side, I got a ROSE! From a male person! First time EVER. 

Let me give you a brief history of the flowers I've been given:

I've had a single stem pink thing (dunno what it was) from the (retired) female owner of the shop I used to work in. The (now retired) manageress of said shop gave me a huuuuge bunch to say good luck at uni and well done in your A-levels. A colleague, also of the same shop, gave me flowers for my 18th (I will be 23 in May) and for my last birthday Abbs gave me some lilies that she'd been given but found the pollen too much for her nose. Second hand flowers. Not that I was in a position to complain. I was also given a small flowering plant by my responsable in France. Which I managed to not kill (result). My responsable was a sweet French lady a couple of years off retirement. 

Back to the rose. It was for my helping with the swing classes. Which is kinda ridiculous because if I didn't then I wouldn't get to dance. But also pretty awesome. P.S. It's yellow and goes really well with my room.

2 days, 200km, less than $200, 3 hot chocolates.

There are two Allo-Stop stops in RdL. One is at the McDonald's I can see on the other side of the centre commercial on my way to school and is maybe 20 minutes walk from the house, if that. The other is at St Hubert (fast chicken but classier than KFC or Maccy D's. Just about.) which is at least a 50 minute walk away. Unfortunately it was the latter I was headed for on Friday.

It was a chilly walk so I got myself a petrol station hot chocolate to keep warm while I waited for the man. It worked but it wasn't the best way to introduce myself to Canadian hot chocolate. I was to find out they do it pretty well here.

My driver was Jean-Michel. He wore a bandana on his head like a pirate and had small shifty eyes but was neither a pirate or shifty and we had a good chat so I practiced my French. He'd not been to England but knows some of Europe as he has a Swedish girlfriend. We talked about the environment and public transport and travel and drinking cultures. The two hour journey passed quickly enough and it was wonderful to see forests all different autumn colours.

I caught the bus into town from Ste-Foy (a suburb of Quebec City that is about 7 minutes drive from the towncentre in a car, several hours' walk or half an hour by bus. I don't understand it either) picked up a box o'beer and headed to Andy's place. Or should I say André's as Andy was in Germany and my host was André. And a very good host he was too.

We were just discussing what would happen if magicians worked for armies when Stephanie and Salima turned up and we went flyering for an Palestinian hiphop group. I say "flyering" there was a little bit of sticking paper to old posters with sellotape, quite a lot of holding the end of the tape so the roll unwound and rolled off, a bit of making André wear the ruined tape but mostly it was wandering about and looking in shops. We even went to a lovely chocolaterie called Erico for hot chocolate. Much better than the first one I had! Not as thick as the French ones that are pretty much just melted chocolate but not that sweet and so SO good. I was also shown a very sweet épicerie which has all sorts of fancy and expensive and interesting wares dedans.

We then went to get ingredients for dinner, at which point André realised that cuillère à thé de canelle doesn't mean "a spoon of cinnamon tea" (because why would you put cinnamon tea in apple crumble?) but rather "a teaspoon of cinnamon". This story was to be recounted at every possible opportunity.

Dinner was quiche, presided over by Salima and pudding was apple crumble, presided over byAndré for his very first solo baking experience. It was yummy and there was plenty of random yet entertaining conversation with people I'd only met that afternoon.

Saturday I met Laura and Nick in Second Cup for a hot chocolate with whipped cream and chocolate curls. We spent most of the rest of the day in Simons and a couple of other shops out in Ste-Foy but it was my formal introduction to Simons and couldn't been rushed. I bought furry white earmuffs that I'm certain are not vegetarian and a fluffy white beret.

Laura and Nick also found themselves some chic attire.

Hat and earmuffs from Simons Scarf and cardigan from Simons

After the most enjoyable trip to the pretty clothes and accessories we went back to Nick's for tea (Eary Grey) and biscuits. When I saw André later that evening he couldn't get over how British we were being with our tea and biscuits. Fiona always says there is no one more patriotic than an ex-pat and I know I drink a lot more tea here (as I did in France) than I do in England.

Anyway, that evening I took the bus out quite a long way to find the Port-o Swing studio and my whole reason for the weekend in Quebec. You guessed it: Swing dance. It was weird going on my own but I made good dancers dance with me and then other good dancers asked me to dance including ...the Canadian balboa champion (well, the bloke anyway).

Sadly I only got about three hours of dancing in before I had to catch the last bus back (that or a two hour walk after midnight, no thank you). But then I went to Salima's birthday house party where there were cupcakes and dancing and a very old drunk couple who smoked a lot and petticoats and a Newfie (someone from Newfoundland) and discussions over who of the Canadians was the most English.

On Sunday I met Nick and Laura and we (mostly me) cooked brunch for André to say thank you for letting me stay and then I had to run off and get my Allo-Stop so left my fellow Brits to do the washing up. Fortunately I had fed them well and we're all still friends.

Lindy ate my life

Friday night went to Leeds for Lindy Fridays Stays Up Late - we lindy hopped until 1am - there were only about eight of us left by the end including some of the best leaders. Hurrah! Got home sometime after 2am.

Saturday King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys played the Foundry, supported by my beloved Carmen Ghia and the Hot Rods. It isn't that I stalk them, they offer up the information freely. I got to see my friend Tom who I'd not really seen since before Christmas. Carmen Ghia, swing music, dancing, good friends, alcohol - it was a lot to take. Then headed t'pub to see Mike's DJ set and meet up with some other people. Got home sometime around 2am.

Sunday went to see Pockets Filled With Matches at The Grapes and got to talk to the lead singer, Elie, and that made me feel cool. There's just something about these stylish female lead singers. Le sigh. She's like an angsty punk Joni Mitchell. It's amazing.

Tuesday, after Swing Dance, headed down to the Old House for a speakeasy - live music from the Dizzy Club. Dressed up flapper style and flapped at some people I don't know very well. Also discovered someone I'd briefly met before likes Kimi and doesn't like Lewis (for all the same reasons I hate him - hoo-bloody-rah!).

T'was Lindy tonight. Sadly Mike'll not be there for a while as he's been given a DJ slot in town on a Wednesday night and is keen to persue it as he's just starting out. Damn good though.

I'm not giving anything up for Lent. The only thing that really would mean something is Lindy and I need to get as much of that in as possible.

Ella says that music is her boyfriend. Dancing is mine but I'm cheating on it with shoes.