The Sexy Librarian

My job placement here in Alma is working at one of the local elementary schools and so far I am having a blast. My duties have been pretty slack. Basically I float from classroom to classroom helping kids with small math problems and chatting with them in my broken French. I like staying in the younger classes though because they are way more forgiving of me when I make a mistake or when I have no idea what they are saying. It is also nice to be with the younger classes because they don’t take jabs at my sexuality thinking that I can’t understand them, unlike some of those premature prepubescent grade four boys. My favourite class though has to be the grade twos just because there is a wall full of compliments many of which lists all the things like about me. They even have a schedule of who gets to hold my hand on the way to music class.

Another project that I have gotten to do is reorganize their library, which was a complete mess. I wasn’t even sure if the books were organized in the first place because they were all over the place, shoved into the small grey IKEA-like shelves. For those of you who are thinking that this blog post is about the extremely attractive school librarian, who is six feet tall (without heels) with bleach blond hair and a fashion sense that is sophisticated but seductive all at the same time (i.e think framed glasses, long sleeved fitted argyle sweater with a mini skirt and black leggings), that is helping me sort the books then I am sorry to disappoint you because this blog post is extremely egoistical and all about me. For the past week and a half I have sat in the musty second floor library and sorted books, only to have them messed up by classes of students who come by and have no regard for the dewey decimal system. Even if it was over thirty degrees in the library during the heat wave because the school has no air conditioning and even if the fan that I found in the janitorial closet was stolen from me by the guidance councillor, I persevered and finally finished on Friday. Every single book is perfectly placed and the place looks pristine ...but I am resigned to the fact that come Monday morning, when the grade fours have library time, my perfectly classed books will be nothing more than a bunch of books waiting to be messed up.

Yoooooooow Kelly Clarkson

So it is 72 hours here in Alma and I decided to stay at the house with Jessica, L.A and Shoshana to just relax and have fun. We have had a productive weekend so far. Between sleeping, eating, and being on the computer we have managed to find time to spend with each other. Last night, while we were all gathered in the computer room, L.A found hundreds of stickers in the closet. There is not a whole lot you can do with that many stickers but supposedly covering my body in them was a valid use. Being me I couldn't say no so I changed into some spandex and then proceeded to get covered in the bright multi-colored stickers.

The finished product was quite a master piece even if I could hardly move. Nevertheless I figured how to hobble around and I soon mastered this technique. I looked like a modern art exhibit so it was only natural that we decided to go out for a walk in downtown Alma. I was a traffic stopper thats for sure. No, I really was. I was so slow walking across the road that an elderly couple could have easily walked faster than me. After we had our fun talking with people on the street and waving at cars driving by, the time came to take the stickers off. When I first decided to be "stickered", I didn't think much on how the stickers would come off....and in hindsight if I had, it may have deterred me from putting the stickers on in the first place. If you have ever waxed before I am sure you can wallow in my pain because it was surreal.

Tom, (who hadn't left for his camping adventure yet) filmed the horrific experience...

Facelessbook

So a few of you may have noticed that I have been absent from a little social networking service known as Facebook. On April 20th at 1:33 am I made a pledge to not use Facebook for a whole month. I took such evasive action because I wanted to show others that facebook doesn't rule my life and I can live quite fine without it. Shoshana and Thony soon followed suit, so the three of us set out on our quest for supremacy. It wasn't too hard to stay away from facebook at the beginning but by the time Day 2 came along all three of us were feeling the pressure in a world without facebook and doubts began to creep in on whether we could make in through this extreme month. Disaster struck our group on Day 8 when Thony gave in and we found him updating his status and commenting on pictures of his friends. Shoshana and I were devastated but somehow we found the strength to make it though that obstacle.

If you have ever been addicted to an unhealthy or illegal substance like LSD, cocaine or a Cosmo Subscription, then you know that getting over that addiction is like living hell. Trying to get over facebook was ten times worse. Shoshana and I even got so desperate that we ended up checking out the male personal ads on Craigslist in an attempt to find something to do on the computer. Neither of us were impressed with what the Saguenay region on Craigslist had to offer and this left the void in our hearts larger than ever. In fact when if comes to gentlemen here in Quebec, I think I can speak for both Shoshana and me when I say the best "dibs dibs" so far has be Thony's dad and he is neither from the Saguenay region or on Craigslist.

Anyways going back to the Facebook story, the two of us found ourselves in quite a predicament having two weeks to go and very little will power to carry on. Several times were we caught looking at others who were enjoying the benefits of Facebook and therefore forced out of the room and away from the temptation. After several "Cry on my Shoulder" meetings and breakdowns, where we laid on the floor looking completely dejected, we decided to man up and take this challenge head on. I am happy to inform you that we have both made it to the end of our month and I am looking forward to getting the chance to go on Facebook when the clock strikes 1:33 am tomorrow morning. I would be lying to you if I told you I wouldn't stay awake for this grand affair. It was actually quite an interesting experience being without Facebook because I realized how dependent I was on Facebook and how much time I wasted when I was online. Not having Facebook also gave me way more time to blog. If you ever get a wave of insanity and decide to also try the "Facebook fast" whether it be for a week, or month let me know how it goes because it is way harder than it looks. The "Facebook Fast" is definitely not meant for the weak or weary.

P.S I have written a lot tonight and there have not been too many visuals so here are some pictures even if they are not related to my story.

So a few weeks ago we went to see a Pyramid in Chicoutimi...



...and it was pretty cool...



...well it has to be cool if its name is the Ha! Ha! Pyramid.



...proof just in case you didn't believe me!

Rain Poncho's are a Glorious Thing

...so I have very little to update on in Katimavik life but I am sitting in the computer room beside Shoshana and she is blogging so I felt obliged to update my own. My week has mainly consisted of reading Twilight and updating my Itunes so all my songs have album artwork. Believe me this is a hard task when someone who goes by the name of Shoshana has over 5000 songs most of which have no artwork or that of a shirtless cowboy. I am dividing this task by letters and I am doing a letter a day. I am on B. It isn't terrible though because the next section I am working on is Britney Spears entire discography. Another thing we did this week was a Rock Star theme supper. My outfit was something else. I have come to the sad realization that a lot of theme suppers have ended in me wearing scandalous outfits (or lack thereof an outfit) where I feel WAY to over exposed. In this past weeks supper I looked as if I would be the child of Lady Gaga and Adam Lambert...if she could ride his disco stick.) Lady Gaga might want to enlist the help of Rihanna's Rude Boy if she wants that to happen. Anyways I was wearing spandex and little mirrors from a disco ball all over my body....the pictures will never make their way to the interweb so you will just half to imagine that unpleasant combo.

Hope you enjoyed my little update...I must get started on reading Shoshana's HUGE blog post since she has been working on it for three hours. I think I should give her the courtesy of reading it. They are actually incredible, I don't know why you are wasting time on my Katimavik blog. Check out her blog! If I was smart enough to post a link I would...but I can't. I think you can find it on my dash board.

Oh and I think Rain Poncho's are pretty incredible! I wore one to the zoo last week and it was like I was in my own little bubble.

La Zoo Sauvage and the Monkey Pit

I am going to start of my blog off tonight with a question. (Well I guess I started with a statement but that is beside the point!) Have you ever had one of those ideas that are really amazing in principal but then actually turn out to be extremely stupid! Things that come to mind are eating pickles and ice cream together or wearing vertical and horizontal stripes in the same outfit. Well if you said yes to that question I hope you can relate to the story I am about to blog about.

This past weekend my group went to the zoo with another Katimavik group. The whole weekend was all quite fine and dandy minus the fact that it was below freezing and there was a bit of snow, but it was fantastic. The Zoo was very nice and there was even had a section on animals from Asia.(They also had a Mongolian section which was kind of redundant because Mongolia is in Asia but I guess I am not on the board of directors for the zoo so my opinion doesn't matter.)In this section they had two Amur Tigers, some crazy looking birds that went by the name of Red Crown Cranes and these really funky monkeys (the Japanese Macaque) that had cool red faces. Anyways there was this interactive course kids could do on the boardwalk that coincided with what it was like to be a monkey. One of the obstacles was a monkey pit which I assumed you had to jump over. I attempted this and the result was so extremely horrible that I can't really explain it, so I guess you will have to watch it instead....



.... As I was running up to the pit I thought it looked kind of long to jump over but I was already committed so I thought I might as well give it a try. If I was not incompetent and if I read the sign, I would have realize that you were suppose to jump into the pit and jump out to see what it is like for a monkey to jump vertically. As the result of my foolishness I got a nasty bruise above my knee cap and I lost a bit of my dignity but on the bright side it gave me something to blog about!

Photo of the Week: Sky Bound

This picture was taken a few weeks ago (i.e when I still had hair) but I feel it is epic enough to make it my photo of the week. I am sorry I don't have more time to write some stuff, but a more substantial post is on the way!

Chicken Hearts, Facial Hair and Taylor Lautner...

What do those three things have in common? Well they are all subjects in this weeks video blog! What is this blog post be about then? Even I can't fully answer that question! It was extremely late (I was tired) and I tried to do a video blog. I am putting this up against my better judgement. I am doing this because I don't want all my "hard work" go to waste, so please be nice and don't make too much fun of me...

13 Audition

I have decided to audition of the musical 13 which is being presented by the Noisy Mime theatre company. The quality is not the best but it gets the main point across. The song is from the musical.



...I will come back on later tonight and write some commentary about this blog but I must go make supper so it has to wait for now.

Rase-a-Thon

A long long time ago B.K (before Katimavik), I once asked my friend Erika SchramWOWsky about what my coolest attribute was. I don't even know if she remembers this conversation but the answer she gave me was one I wouldn't forget! She told me that it was my hair which made me who I was and said it was always perfectly placed. Hair is something so materialistic and shallow that it couldn't be what made me cool, does no one care about my caring personality, but the more I thought about it the more sense it made.

I had friends in High School but it wasn't until near the end of grade 10 that my real social life actually started. What was the drastic change that gave me more self confidence to actually make friends and then hang out with them. Well it could have been the years of therapy I went through to feel more empowered about who I am but it is probably more accurate to say that the change coincided when I started to get decent hair cuts instead of the dreaded buzz or bowl cut I got from my lovely mother. There is nothing wrong with getting a family member of friend to cut your hair, infact in Katimavik it is an common occurrence. It is easier on the pocket book and it can even be a good bonding experience for both people. High School is a different world however where looks mean everything. People will judge you in an instant and dismiss you like last years fashion if you are not on your game. When I started getting nice haircuts I all of a sudden didn't feel like people were watching or judging me so I was way more free to just be myself. It may be stupid and petty reasoning but sometimes it is the little things that make the difference.

Anyways let us fast forward to present time. I like to think the hair plays an important role in who I am. I mean I have dyed it twice in the last six months and once again I have changed my look. This time however I decided to completely shave of all my hair. My Katimavik group went to go volunteer at a head shaving fundraiser for cancer. Ten years ago Marie-Helene Cote started this fundraiser with the help of her friends and family. At the time she was battling cancer and she was only in her late teens. She wanted to raise money for people in her situation to get an opportunity to travel and visit remote and beautiful places in the world. A physical experience to motivate individuals battling cancer and give them the extra boost they need in life. Marie-Helene herself went to Kenya with the foundation "On the Tip of the Toes" and got to climb one of the tallest mountains in the region. Marie-Helene unfortunately passed away the following year but her memory lives on. The "Rase-a-thon" has now raised over 1 million dollars for the foundation which has brought numerous smiles to individuals and families navigating through troubling times. It was a no brainer to shed my materialistic guard and help out for a good cause.



...I may have potentially just ruined the one thing that made me decently cool in my life, but hair will grow back and I might find the whole egg head look kind of cool....

A Week of Sand Castles and House Forts

In my last blog post I wrote about the fact that we had no internet due since we were downloading way too much and we had hit our limit. I found it way more time consuming trying to run around the house and find a wireless signal, so I let bygones and bygones and I just waited until May 1st to get back to blog writing. If I was thinking ahead I would have just written something in a Word document and just stored it until I could post it but that would have been to logical. Either way I am here on a Saturday morning, listening to Adam Lambert play on iTunes, trying to figure out what to write about.

It has been a great so far in Alma. I haven't even been here for two weeks but I have already found my groove and feel extremely comfortable here in Quebec. I work at an elementary school called École Maria where I am basically a teachers assistant helping out where I am needed, which so far have been in the music and art classes. Speaking in French has actually been working out fairly well. I find the younger the kids are the more brutally honest they are especially about my grammatical mistakes. There was even this one kid in grade one who inquired if all xylophones spoke French like me. I could not help but smile thinking, sure I can't say "seahorse" in French but at least I know the difference between a language and an instrument.

The warmer weather is coming and I am pretty sure my whole group is excited about the change in temperature. I even ran home from work the other day in shorts (well spandex) and a T-shirt and I wasn't even cold. The school is 15.2 kilometers away but the run along the river is well worth it. Our group is has already gone to the beach twice where we have built sand castles, found treasure and buried me and fellow Katimaviker Anthony in massive sand holes. I know it is only May first but if we think summery thoughts maybe it will come sooner.

Anyways my we are heading into Chicoutimi, home of our former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien (I think), today for a fun filled day of museums and and glass blowing demonstration so I better go and get ready. I am quite content to be here right now (but miss everyone very much) I am going to make the most of my time here since my whole Katimavik adventure will come to end in two months and I will never get an experience quite like this ever again.

P.S Shoshana, Fred, Émilie and me turned our common room into a giant fort made of cushions, couches and blankets!...that was kinda fly. (I realized it was in my title so I had to write about.)



Fred, Andréanne and Shoshana at the beach :)



My head...



We started digging when we found the start of a chain...and it kept going!!!