Hey guys! Hope you’re well and you’ve had a good two weeks. In this article, I’m going to give you an update of what I’ve been up to in Quebec.
Those of you who read my personal blog will know that I’ve been looking for a car and the good news is I’ve found and bought one! There are a few reasons why I decided to buy a car, one of them being that the public transport in La Pocatiere is basically nonexistent, it’s getting colder and trekking 15 minutes to the shops is beginning to feel a whole lot longer. Can’t even imagine what it’ll be like in the snow – first of which is due in a few days by the way!
The second bit of news I want to share with you is that I’m currently hosting my first guest from the UK! My sister flew into Montreal last Friday and is visiting me at the moment. We only spent one night in Montreal, but this wasn’t my first time there as it’s the first city I visited in Quebec. It’s where I flew into at the end of August and where I had my few days of induction with the other UK, Mexican and German language assistants.
Last weekend in Montreal, we visited the Notre Dame Basilica and my sister had her first poutine. Poutine is a Quebecois dish consisting of chips, gravy and cheese curds. Cheese curds may not sound all that appetizing but believe me they’re heavenly! They squeak when you eat them, a little bit like halloumi, but they’re less salty.
After returning to La Pocatiere on Saturday, we went to watch one of the English teacher’s son play ice hockey at our local ice rink, Centre Bombardier. The team they were playing against came from Matane which is 300 km further East than La Pocatiere. It was a close match but our home team, Les Voisines, won!
In the evening, we went to the Halloween Parade. There were a few thousand people out on the high street, all dressed up. There were also many tractors in the parade, really reinforcing the agricultural spirit of the area. After the parade, we had a Beaver Tail. A Beaver Tail has nothing to do with meat; it’s like a flat doughnut with toppings. I had one with Avalanche (Skors cheesecake) and my sister had Reese’s Pieces. We then watched the fireworks display which was really impressive.
The last few days have been very Halloween themed, even at school. On Tuesday, we had a pumpkin carving competition and on Thursday a costume competition. There is also a Halloween Party at the Cegep (Cegep is the name of the higher education institution you can attend after secondary school and before uni), which me and my sister are going to.
Hope you’ve all had a Happy Halloween!