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.

The bright lights (shows) of the big city

First time to Quebec City and how do we get there? Lison just happens to be driving and and gives us a lift. I swear we get more than our money's worth for our rent. Brilliant, non-exploitative brilliance.

Just before leaving Dad said "hope you find a good Winter coat" I said, "I'm not going 200km to go shopping. I'm going for a party!" (the response was "Even better!"). So yes, we headed South to celebrate Nick's birthday. Eibhlin and I arrived at the hostel and immediately bumped into two other assistants, then on our quest to find the Allo-Stop office walked past Andy's housemate and his brother. First time to a strange city and three familiar faces in less than 40 minutes. Madness.

It was beautiful sunshine so

we spent most of Saturday-day wandering about looking at buildings and water which suited me very well. Saw a one-man-band playing old favourites such as California Dreamin'. Stopped off for an expensive beer, tried to nick some crisps (nearly said "chips" - stupid Americanisms) from the people next to us, succeeded and were very disappointed. Ick.

Aaaanyhoo, after a rather nice dinner of fish and chips with an over-attentive waiter, at least until we wanted the bill, we headed back to the hostel to get ready to meet the others and bumped into the St-Georges Crew. We weren't allowed to drink in the rooms but we befriended a French girl in our dorm and started the party.

She came with us to see the Moulin d'images which was an amazing light show out by the port. When I say "light show" it was more like a huge cinema experience on the side of several industrial buildings with pyrotechnics and booming sound effects. I was massively impressed and didn't even mind that it turned cold about 9:30.

On the way back to Andy's (to get the party started) we invaded his l

ocal depanneur. The girl on the till looked very surprised about how many people were shuffling in, picking up copious quantities of booze and blocking the doorway. Mind you, with sales like that she looked pretty happy.

Andy's place is pretty impressive. There's three of them in a pretty central house that's spacious and fairly minimalist - perfect for house parties. Space and not much to break. We were only going there for one drink and impressively Andy managed to mobilise the troops and get us on to a bar before heading for Bistro to get our groove on, throw some shapes etc.

We invaded the place and made the dancefloor our own. A few locals tried to join the group just to have a dance but they couldn't keep up with our awesome moves. I use "awesome" in the loosest possible sense. We were definitely going for maximum flailing, minimum cool.

At one point Emma coerced a breakdancer into throwing down, mostly by going into the middle and doing some sort of chicken-esque move and daring him to do better. He didn't seem very keen to show off but we made him anyway!

2:40am and time to head to Chez Ashton for a poutine fix. My first time in Quebec and it was everything I'd heard it to be. Yum.

I got up early the next morning to watch the Grand Prix. Totally worth it. Lewis crashed on the final lap and gifted Kimi third place. I was grinning all day.

I and a couple of the St-Georges lot met Laura M in Second Cup to sample their indulgent hot chocolate before meeting everyone else and heading to Cosmos for brunch. And my, what a brunch it was. Yum yum yum.

After that Eibhlin and I called into the Allo-Stop office to book a lift home and then everyone piled onto Andy's bed to watch

silly YouTube videos.

We got to the meeting place for the Allo-Stop (this is a brilliant car-pooling service that is cheap, convenient and a chance to practice some French) and shortly after our lift arrived and we had a really nice journey chatting about Quebec, England and Ireland and the people that live there. If only we didn't have to walk 50 minutes after being dropped off to get back to the house it would've been the perfect end to a fabulous weekend. 200km isn't far for a party.

The kindness of Canadians part II

On our first Sunday in RdL Lucie drove the four of us assistants out to Kamouraska to visit a brilliant German bakery and have lunch in the cafe next to it. Yum yum yum. She bought us bread and lunch (she said it was on the school board but I'm not convinced that wasn't a ploy to make us stop trying to pay our own ways). We had a somewhat confusing bilingual conversation with our waiter because no one was sure whether it was more polite to speak English or French.

Having studied a novel called Kamouraska, which was set, unsurprisingly, in Kamouraska, I was pretty excited. Unfortunately we didn't see to much of the place but it doesn't take long by car so we'll have to get Vicky to drive us back out there (friends with cars = win).

There was a secondary motive to our trip - to find the true identity of "Pearl". One of the assistants in RdL last year, Colin, had also been taken to the bakery and had rather fallen for one of the girls that works there. On my first evening in the town the story was recounted to me and it was the stuff that soppy films are made of. Or would be if he'd actually managed to contact the girl. After several failed trips to Kamouraska (the bakery was closed) he was told the girl he liked was called Pearl and that she had a boyfriend. So he stopped trying. Then it turned out Pearl is the other one! Lucie recounted the saga to the poor girl while she was getting our order. She took it well but possibly because her (highly unsuccessful) "stalker" is now several hundred kilometres away (near Quebec City).

We were then taken to Lucie's parents' place which is on the outskirts of RdL to meet them and the cat/kittens (so cute!). Because Lucie is so ridiculously active she doesn't have time to keep pets but she rescued a cat and then it had kittens so they're being distributed amongst members of her family.

As well as getting to play with small cats, Lucie's parents have an impressive kitchen garden so we were sent home with bags of gooseberries as well.

The kindness of strangers part I

While officially I believe the first few days in Montreal were intended to give us administrative and teaching advice there was a very important secondary function: networking. By putting all the British, Irish, German, French and Mexican assistants into one hotel we got to know one another pretty quick and gained instant friends. Just exactly what you want when you've arrived in a new continent/country for an extended time.

Before the "workshops" began (and thoughtlessly interrupted our eating of free food - no please not another coffee break, I can't see free food and not eat it but I swear I'll explode) we had a chance to see a bit of Montreal (and we saw quite a lot of it from Mont Royal, above).

The socialising was confirmed by an evening bowling. It started pathetically enough but I did learn and did not completely embarrass myself. Plus another evening of pubbing at Hurley's Irish Bar in downtown Montreal. I'm still a little excited that I'm in a land where "downtown" exists. It isn't just in the movies.

Friday afternoon we were cruelly severed from our new friends and shipped off to our various destinations. Some had days of travelling ahead of them but I arrived in RdL at 8pm that evening. Only one hour after the scheduled time. Eibhlin and I were met by Lucie (who I'm sure will feature prominently) and taken to Lison's place where we now live. So I'd met Eibhlin on the Wednesday, Lucie Friday evening and only about an hour before Lison but everyone is ridiculously lovely and friendly and generous. Lucky really.

On the Saturday Lucie took us to hers for dinner and to meet Vicky and Fiona - the Canadian monitors working in local primary schools. We sampled her famous penne which was, as expected, very nice indeed and were treated to stories of mountain expeditions and personal philosophies (everything is perfect).

So far Canadians seem to be awesomely positive people which, I must admit, I find a little bit scary. We have been welcomed by so many people, quite a few of whom have shared their life-affirming beliefs with us.

Hugs and kisses and treats in a bag

Tuesday evening, Barfly, downtown Montreal.

Having arrived Monday afternoon and done my best to stay up until 10pm local time (23 hours since I got up) to try and fool my body clock into not being jet lagged, Tuesday was my opportunity to see some of Montreal before the training started. And what an introduction to Canada it was.

Two other monitors had arrived Monday evening and a few more turned up Tuesday day time, four of whom I cajoled into heading downtown for a gig I’d been told about.

After a slice of pizza and a can of fizz for almost no money we turned up at the bar – black and scruffy on the outside, dark and dingy on the inside, “Montreal’s favourite dive bar” according to one of the band. The drinks were cheap, $4.75 a pint while light outside, $5.45 when it got dark.

The band was L’embouscade – three key members plus a few friends, including Mark Berube, one of my all time favourite musicians. He was sitting at the bar by the stage when I went over to say hey, not really expecting him to recognise me after more than two years. I should’ve had more faith in the friendliness of Canadians.

“Hey, Jen! You made it. How’s it going?” accompanied by a hug and kiss on the cheek. So we had a chat, later on he came over to where I was sitting with my friends to meet them too before disappearing. He came back just before the band were due on stage, sidled up and said “a present, don’t tell anyone” as he passed me his new album under the table. The joy of this was magnified by the fact that to save weight I'd left all my CDs at home and was stuck with just mp3s. I was already missing my music collection so a CD with a jewel case and insert was just what I needed.

The band was amazing. I’d read a review that said “as precise as a terrorist strike and as tight as the finest knit sweater” and I’d have to agree. It was just a shame that it was the drummer’s last gig with the band before he goes to study in Vancouver and that the band seemed to be built around the drummer who also did lead vocals and played melodica.

It was the perfect start to my time in Canada. Perfect.

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.

In these shoes?

It feels like something that may have happened some months ago but it was only yesterday that I met my Mum and sister and went to the Clothes Show Live.

Talking to Mum today we worked out that so far in 2008 I've seen my parents for less than 3 weeks. That's less than a short uni holiday. We predict that this trend is likely to continue as I grow up more.

With any luck I'll be running off to Quebec some time in August (2009) until sometime in June (2010) - best part of ten months.

Anyway, yes, the Clothes Show was on tv when I was little and I loved it. Mum always wanted to take me and my sister and has been waiting for us to be old enough.

I feel that I was pretty cunning about the shopping element of it: I got two items that I'd seen in town but couldn't justify at that price and managed to get them for considerably less. I got a pair of shoes that fitted a description I had in my head but didn't know existed for less than expected. Also they are Irregular Choice - a brand I've lusted over for some time. I got a handmade prototype one-of-a-kind top that just happened to be my size and my colour (has a bit of Westwood feel about it).

We saw the main show (from afar) introduced by Dave Berry and Alex Pettyfer, featuring the Saturdays (wearing two-tone tights). The models were accompanied by dancers including a bit to a big band version of Wonderwall - it totally worked.

There was another, smaller, show pretty much just with models but you could get a lot closer which was good as the clothes were the main event there. It featured Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, Gareth Pugh, Giles Deacon and some I've forgotten.

I walked home from the station. It was a really good end to the day - a woman outside Vodka Revolution wearing black with gold hotpants and a gold headband was firespinning - I didn't see a hat for collecting money but didn't get close enough to check. When I got to the Co-op I nipped in for Camomile tea thinking that I wanted it enough to pay 79p for 20 bags and then the label said £1.19! Fortunately when the girl bleeped it it said 79p and then we discussed the 50 pence piece I gave her. It had a soldier carrying another - I already had one like it in my small connection of coins with interesting pictures on.

Pretty darned excited at the prospect of wearing my new shoes tomorrow and SWING DANCE! It has been like nine days since I last did it. I'm gasping for a dance. Err?

Also feeling somewhat more smug about Christmas now that I've spent some money on other people (even if it hasn't been dispatched yet). At least I know what I'm doing. Well, not entirely. Don't know about housemates at all. Previously we did Secret Santa but it is different this year as there are very old and very new friendships within the house - don't know half of them at all well enough. I'll make cards. Soon. Yes.

www.cbcradio.ca/radio2 - Drive with Rich Terfry. Yes. It is keeping me up because I don't want to miss any but I know I need to sleep. Poetry on the radio.

Talking of radio, listened to Peach's show today. Started off very well but did go a bit downhill when they started sorting out their social life. Hello, audience *waves*!

Ten days left to get sorted before I go home for Christmas. It doesn't feel like long but I like the pressure.

Wednesday

Was supposed to be researching and writing up of articles, however, we weren't all allowed into Berlaymont so we were sent into town to find our own way.

Mulitilingualism was my choice of topic (because I'm totally into it) and we happened upon and language school so I had a little chat to them, in French, whilst being videoed for the journalism department website.

Also talked to a couple of interpreters hanging about the EC before my brief interview (that really wasn't much of one as he just ignored what I asked and said what he wanted) with Pietro Petrucci, spokesperson for Multilingualism.

It is an area that hasn't really been written about much because it is still pretty new but I can't find and interesting angle.

Caught up with a couple of our group inside and then went to find food and drinkies in town. Waffle! Before getting back to the hotel for 4pm pile. We were supposed to get there and leave pronto for the station. Some didn't arrive until 4:30 (sans apology).

The rest of the day was really just trains and camomile tea.

It fair wore me out.

Bruxelles, ma belle

Geoff Meade (my new hero) disapproves of the blogging/facebook/twitter culture where everyone wants their thoughts to be public, their voice to be out there - yelling along with everyone else in the enormous clamour of the internet.

Yes, it is highly self-centred and most people have nothing noteworthy to say. I include myself within that grouping yet I will continue for I need to practice my English. I should say that I am English but after a year in France I've lost a lot of my linguistic capabilities in my mother tongue.

I really ought to sleep mais j'ai fait la grasse matinée so I'm not overly tired and I want to YAY a bit about Brussels before I forget it all.

Monday - Bus at 8am, Train at 9:15, arrive in London at midday. Brief introduction to the European Commission (EC), everyone started talking to each other and got very excited at the free sandwiches, quiche, party sausages and such like.
Took Eurostar to Brussels that evening, hadn't taken reading material as whenever I do in such situations it remains unread - I nicked the G2 off one of the guys I'd just met.
Arrive about 9:30pm in Brussels, get to hotel sometime after 10pm and go out looking for food/drink. Not greatly successful (but not greatly hungry thanks to fruit pastels).

Tuesday - Forgot to change the time zone on my phone/alarm clock so woke up when Fiona bashed on my door at the time when we were supposed to be going down to breakfast. Got ready VERY quickly. Still, I wasn't late for the meeting of the European Journalism Centre (EJC) rep at 8:15am, others were.
Had little intro bits to the EJC and the EC - one by Jean-Paul Marthoz (dude).
Went to the EC (Berlaymont Building) to check it out a bit, see their AV services, go to a press briefing and meet with a spokesperson for Competition.
Lunch at a fancy restaurant (l'Atélier) - three course meal plus aperitif plus wine - with the head of Press & Public Affairs of the UK Permanent Represenation to the EU.
Back to EJC building to be talked to by Simon Taylor (European Voice) and Geoff Meade (Press Association) and then bother them a bit after, supposedly about the challenges of EU reporting.
Quick coffee break before "European Current Affaires" with Jacki Davis (ex-journo, works for a think tank, married to Geoff - I wish I was related to them) Philppe Ricard (Le Monde, very French) and Hajo Friedrich (Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung, very German).
Dinner at another fancy joint (La Manufacture) - seated next to a journalist for Radio France and opposite one of the main guys for the European Parliament Press Room.
Wandered aimlessly for a bit in the rain after and then ended up at an Irish bar. Ah well. Back to the hotel about half past midnight.

Wednesday - tbc I'm going to bed now