Je suis en Quebec!

Je suis en Quebec! Did you know that the province of Quebec is not supposed to have an accent over the first e, but if you are referring to Quebec City it is either Quebec City (in english) or Québec (en français)!? Montréal should always have the accent whether in french or english apparently, according to a government guide I just browsed through. I don't know how to do the accents on my keyboard though so they are copied and pasted! That is such a pathetic excuse though, but I guess I'm saying please don't mind my bad writing :P

Anyways it is lovely to be back in Quebec, minus the fact that I can hardly speak French at all anymore. I guess I'll get back in to it quickly, having no other choice!

Through Quebec we drove through some lovely country side along the river. We stopped at a rest stop to stretch our legs, enjoy the view, and use the outhouse. It was the most hilarious outhouse I have ever seen! On the front door there was a sign with a women's figure, and a sign with a men's figure with an arrow pointing forward. If you stepped forward along the outside of the outhouse to the back there was a funnel installed on the wall and two pieces of wood to make sides for a urinal. It was funny. There was also an apple tree at the rest stop so we got to have a little snack as well.

On our way up to Quebec City we stopped in Trois-Rivières. Trois-Rivières was where I did Explore, a five-week summer French immersion program in 2007. It was so neat to go back there. We didn't go past the college where I stayed and studied, but we went downtown and to the walk along the river. I saw so many places that I really recognized, and so many places that I never remembered seeing before. There is a restaurant on the boardwalk along the river which I do not remember being there. Right outside of the huge Canada Post building they are working on making an outdoor pedestrian plaza with fountains and a tower with a flame coming off the top! I really want to go back and spend some time in Trois-Rivières. I think those of us from Explore TR 2007 should have a reunion there!

We got to Quebec City in time for dinner and went to St. Hubert. It was the ultimate chicken place. On one side was a take-out section which was what I sort of expected the entire place to be, but the other side was basically like a Swiss Chalet. The food there was so good and we got unlimited coleslaw which was really funny because a day or two ago Grayden was saying all he wanted was coleslaw! For me they had coleslaw with vinegar and oil, instead of the creamy coleslaw dressing which I'm not a huge fan of.

We spent last night at a hotel/bar/club called Ozone. It is so cool. They have huge crazy art and mirrors in the entry and hallway. Our hotel room has an entire wall that is a mirror, and the carpet is striped. There are green lights outside the rooms doors to the outside balcony, and on the roof of the hotel are lights that change colour continuously. In the parking lot there are rectangular light towers that change colours as well. It is just a super funky place. I was expecting it to be really loud last night, but it wasn't at all. The loudest thing is the construction going on next door which began bright and early. I was so tired that it didn't really matter much though.

I don't really know what we're going to get up to this afternoon but I am excited for the training session to begin. I'll be spending the next three days staying at the Delta hotel downtown for the Pan-Canadian Odyssey Training Session. I'm not sure how many language monitors there are, but I know from BC there are 30 of us, and provinces with larger populations will have more than 30. There will definitely be a couple hundred of us. Vicki, one of my best friends from Toronto who I met at Explore in Trois-Rivières will be here for the training as well. I'll meet her tonight after she gets in at the train station, and we'll hopefully go to Chez Ashton soon!

Papa and Grayden have booked another night at this hotel, Ozone, and will be exploring around Quebec City for the next few days I believe, or that is the "plan" at this point! Anyways, I'll try to keep up with these posts over the next few days about what is going on here! I hope everyone is enjoying the end of summer, and getting excited to go back to school for those of you that are going back!