Continued...

So to pick up where I left off 10 days ago (umm...oops), another fantastic fun thing we did a while ago was to go see the Holiday Train. The Holiday Train is a really cool train that is dressed up in lights and stuff and sent down the track from Toronto to I-don't-know-where. But in between Toronto and I-don't-know-where, there is Schreiber. We were used as hot dog giver-outers and hot chocolate pourers. I was on hot chocolate detail and got to see a lot of the people that is see in the library all the time as well as the kids in the school I work at. It was nice to see everyone all together and waiting for this Holiday Train that I had never heard of before. It is obviously a very well loved tradition in the town. Anyway, I was pouring hot chocolate for people and Jessy was putting marshmallows in the cup. However, we only worked until the Holiday Train started pulling into the yard.


Besides the train being really cool looking (although we didn't actually get to see it at night when it is at it's best, but at 4:00pm or so) there is also a musical guest on board that sings you some sweet sweet tunes. This year, the musical guests were a woman named Tracy Brown and a man named Johnny Reid, both of them country singers. Now you may thinking "ewwcountryeww" but believe me, Johnny Reid is not an "ewwcountryeww" country singer. To begin with, he is Irish and has a delicious Irish accent. Also, this song is just not an ewwy song. It's really good. In fact I had heard it for this first time in the Katimavan in our first week here and I liked it so much that I tried to remember lyrics so I could look it up later on Google. Then I listened to it over and over. I like this song A LOT. In fact it is a house favourite. And when I realized that the singer on the Holiday Train was the very same singer on my mp3, I got very excited. He sings so well in person! As does Tracy Brown, but I don't know any of her songs where as I DO know Johnny Reid's 'Darlin'. Oh my god, it is such a good song. I'm going to include two Youtube videos that you can look at so you can see and hear what I did.

This is Tracy Brown and Johnny Reid singing a duet. When I was at the train, there was about this much light, so you can understand why I didn't really get to appreciate the lights as much.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMByEK2JyM8&feature=related


This is just Johnny Reid, singing 'Darlin'. It is night time in this video so the lights look much more impressive.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b3-Gb4x6cQ


We all had so much fun that day. It was absolutely frozen and we were all cold but we moved an danced and waved our hands in the air and had an awesome time.

The next day we went to the Rec Center and painted all the windows in the gym, the games room and another room that I think is used for town meetings or something. There is a very official looking gavel in it and big comfy tall chairs. Basically, all the windows that can be seen from the highway have been covered in winter themed Katima-graffiti. Because I am a perfectionist (especially when it comes to artsy things and painting) I took about three hours to draw up and paint my window. It wasn't helped by the fact that I was in a very awkward position, squished from behind by a treadmill, which was actually being used while I was painting at one point, and in front by a magazine rack that refused to come off the wall it was attached to. But the painting is so cute and lovely (though you can still see streaks because it wasn't very good paint).




And here is the finished picture. Please ignore the grubby hand prints all over the place, but it is impossible to not put your hands on the glass while drawing and painting...unless you are wearing gloves I suppose.




Because I am such a perfectionist when it comes to painting, I ended up being the last person there and had to clean up and walk home on my own which was very :( and cold and not something I enjoyed in the slightest.


A funny sidenote, while Simon and Rosie were waiting around for everyone to finish, they started commenting on some of the people who came in to work out while we were there. In particular they were commenting on this one man who was about 40 years old, attactive and with a very nice butt...and they commented on this out loud but in french. Now they had no idea that he understands french, nor that he was going to be joining us the very next morning for our walk to Secret Beach, which he did.



They were so embarrassed. It was pretty hilarious to see their reaction when Terri told them that the man they had been making such complimentary comments about could hear and understand them and would also be walking with us for an hour or so as well as having dinner over. It was all quite hilarious.



Last weekend we went sledding with our new crazy carpets and had so much fun...but also a lot of sore muscles. There were a lot of kids on the hill with us so we had to be careful with the sledding, but it worked out okay. On the hill there is this crazy dip and mogul that hurts like hell if you hit it the wrong way or really quickly. It turns out that crazy carpets aren't all that good for moguls because, although you move fast and get a a lot of hang time, you have to land sometime and there is no padding when you use a crazy carpet.

There were two really bad landings, mine being one of them. I hit my head on the ground...and then it bounced up and hit the ground again. I ended up lying on the hill backwards with my head lower down the hill than my feet. It was fun though. And it didn't actually hurt all that badly at the time. I was wearing a headband/ear coverer which was really thick so it actually padded my landing somewhat. Terri was very concerned that I was concused in some way and I couldn't give her a confident answer that I wasn't since I've never been concused before...but I ended up being fine. Well, the next day my neck was sore as hell, but that was too be expected. Rosie was another person who landed very badly. She was on this large tube that the other kids on the hill were using and let us borrow. She just flipped off that thing after the mogul and hit her back, shoulder and head. It was a mess and we were all concerned but laughing because it was such a spectacularily bad landing. Actually it was a little scary at first because when she landed she kinda fell, rolled and then ended up on all fours with her head just hanging down. At that point we all started to walk down to her (and Terri ran) but then she started colourfully swearing in french. It was quite impressive. And she was lucid enough after that fall to know that it would be a bad idea to say any english swear words since there were still kids on the hill. I should explain that the f-word is very popular in Quebec to the point that it is much less serious there than it is in english Canada to use and it is thrown around in conversation much more easily.



Anyway, we caught the fall on Jessy's camera and now watch it anytime we feel the need to laugh...we also show it to everyone who asks what we have been doing lately.


And that seems like enough stories for today.


Toodles,



Sara

So much to say...

I realize that it has (again) been a very long time since I've posted anything. Actually, I guess that might not be right since I don't actually remember what the date was the last time I reported anything, but anyway, I have a lot of stuff to say and I already know that I'm not going to be able to remember everything.

I guess I'm just going to have to start events as they come because I really don't remember what came first and on what date anything occured. I've decided to post a bunch of pictures though to help you visualize just what we did this past however many days have passed.

Okay. First! The Senior's Christmas Party. We were all dressed up as elves. Enough said.

...

No not really. I'll elaborate and not leave you with such a hilarious mental picture and no story to picture it in. We were dropped off at the Senior Center in Terrace Bay at about 5 pm. We all had costumes that Simon had made for us earlier which consisted of a red or white tunic with iron on christmas themed decals. The tunic was tied with a length of green rope and the costume was topped off with a santa hat with elf ears attached. Should you like to see a picture...Here it is.

Like good little elves we took people's coats and hung them up. Then we entered the gym (the senior center is an old elementary school) which was so beautifully made up! There were about twenty different strands of warm glowing lights strung over our heads. The effect was just gorgeous. The tables looked were dressed up in white, red, gold and green and christmas trees were impressively tall. There was just this beautiful glow about the place even though everyone was sitting on plastic school chairs. It doesn't convey well in pictures, but still, I'll show you one.


We also got to eat (still in costume) among the guests so as to interact with the people more. After dinner we were all called up to the front of the gym and we preformed a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday in french and english to people in the gym with December birthdays, which included Jessy (pictured above for those who don't know him) who turned 20 the night before. I'll tell you about that day after this one.

We were then ordered by Santa and Mrs. Claus to hand out the presents the guests brought to the party. It was lots of fun being Santa's little helpers and we even got awarded for our embarrassment. Each of us got a little gift to take home! We got individual Christmas mugs with a hot chocolate packet, a cookie in a Christmas tin and an assortment of Christmas chocolates. It was so nice of them and made me smile.

The day before this was Jessy's 20'th birthday. We went to an old fashioned Christmas skating party at the Terrace Bay Rec Center. It was so much fun! Terri had discovered a box of skates in the basement before we came and we all tried them on and found the right sizes (except Jessy who has feet that are too large for his own good...joke Jessy!) and got them all sharpened up. My skates were amazing. They were old in a totally cool way. They were made of leather and looked about 30 years old (literally because they were much older than I am I think, and I'm 19). They were so old that people around me were commenting on just how old they were. And they were hockey skates. I didn't realize just how much I relied on picks until there weren't any. It was kinda scary just how off balance I felt without the picks..well, that could have been also because the skates were a bit too big and also not tiedd tight enough. I had to re-lace the skates because the old laces were rotten and short, so by the time I was finished doing that my hands were frozen and not very useful in the tyeing department. Eventually though I got comfortable with them and I was wizzing around the place. Not really though. I was slow and awkward, but better than when I first started.

On the ice there were a few christmas trees, a bench, and Santa! It was really nice skating around with all those people and some real Christmas carols on the speakers. And when Santa came out the kids were so cute and exciting. He handed out a bunch of small reineer stuffy animals and all the kids got one. Actually, the half of us who asked for one got one too. Mine is green and cute. I named mine Je-Sais and Maddy named hers Je-Ne-Sais-Pas.

I unfortunatley don't have any good pictures of the skating since I was concentrating more on not falling. On that note, one with the next event!

After skating we went to Wah's for their buffet night and ate well. Also, we invited John, our Schreiber friend that I met at the work. However, of all the people there, only Jessy and I could do any REAL celebrating. I had a rum and coke, he had a vodka and orange juice. And I also was able to have some wine at the Senior Christmas Party which was nice. Everyone was very jealous. Apparently wine is a well loved drink in our group. While eating Terri went back to the house and brought the pack of birthday hats she had bought earlier and we all out them on. Then we decided that they would look better if they were all on Jessy at one time.

We then walked back to the house (in frigid windy weather... it was not fun) and played pin the tail on the donkey. I don't think I've laughed as much playing that game as I did that night. When we spun people we didn't necessarily point them in the right direction making it that much more hilarious for everyone else.
We then played a game of keep up with a ballon in which you were not allowed to use your hands. It was much like hacky sack but much slower. That was suprisingly a lot of fun. After that we hung out on our KING SIZED MATTRESS!!!! in the living room. Yeah. You read that right. We have a random mattress in our living room loaded up with about ten extra pillows and blankets and sheets. It's so comfy.

I think that will have to be all for this post. I have some anxious people waiting to use my laptop so they can watch some movies or something.

Sara

No Posts! Oh no!

I'm sorry. I truely am. It's not that I didn't have the time in the 10...no wait, it's been more hasn't it...the more than 10 days that I've been gone to write anything. I just haven't had anything to write about. Although the Quinton's seemed like a busy house...they aren't so busy when they are sick and both Tom and Sandy were sick the entire time we were with them. It was hard not being able to do anything all night long, but having Sarah there helped. And there was a TV, not that we used it much. Sarah spent most of her time on the computer, catching up with friends and family, and I spent most of my time reading. Sometimes I'd join Tom to watch some show or another but I've grown so used to not watching TV (not to mention that I don't know anything that is happening in my shows) that I've found that even when it's available, I didn't really need it. Also we had movies and cards to occupy us. I introduced Sarah to The Breakfast Club and Rocky Horror Picture. She really like The Breakfast Club. Rocky Horror? Not as much.

Speaking of movies, we are all testing ourselves using movies. We have been watching a lot of English movies with out subtitles and people have not needed a lot of translation. In fact I just finished watching Juno with Alyssanne and we only had to pause the movie two or three times to clear things up. I've been trying to test myself too. I have a movie called Bon Cop Bad Cop that I (and a lot of people) just love. They speak french and english in the movie but you can have subtitles only in english OR french, not both at the same time. There is also an option without subtitles for the bilingual viewer. Sarah and I were brave and tried that option while at the Quintons. Now I've seen this movie quite a few times so I know what is being said basically, but still, I didn't need to ask anything, and I actually was able to recognise what was being said just by listening. It makes me so excited to think just how far I've come from where I was. Just how much more I understand. I can listen to a conversation going on around me and get the general idea of what's being said, which isn't easy when the people speaking aren't slowing down for you. I can speak so much more french now and even though it is not very grammatically correct, I've got all the basic words I need in the right place. And before I didn't know anything. It's amazing what being even slightly immersed and just listening and TRYING to speak will teach you.

Today we had a bit of a short day at work. The clouds and radio station were both telling us that there was going to be a storm today and they were correct. I don't really know how much snow we got today. It was probably only 5-10 cm, but the wind blowing it around made driving a very slow and careful affair. Actually, Donna (my work boss) was saying that we may want to go home at noon or earlier if the storm kept up. As it was we left at about 2:00 or so because it was just too much of a risk to try to stick around. We also found out that they literally close the highway at 5:00 pm if it's been storming and we would have probably been stuck in Schreiber the rest of the night if they hadn't cleared up the highway. We had it all figured out though if that is what ended up happening. Everyone was supposed to meet at the library and if Terri hadn't come to pick us up 5 than we would go to the Press Box Restaurant until Terri could come to get us. If she couldn't she would call and we would get a room for the night at the motel attached to the restaurant. We are oh so prepared.

So that is my update for the day. It's been nice having a break from the Katima-house, but I think we all mostly prefer it to being away from eachother. Everyone was very happy to get back to the house and be close to eachother again.

Let the shenanigans commence once more!

Sara