Cooking, Cleaning and Promiscuity

So I have just finished being house manager for the VERY LAST TIME IN KATIMAVIK and I think it went quite well. I mean we did not put dates in spaghetti, salmon bones in tagine or make a yam and avocado purée so I think it is safe to say that we have eaten much worse. I always enjoyed house manging but there are somethings that I not going to miss. Never again will I have to pretend like I cleaned the bathroom or act like I cared when we ran out of soy milk. Anyways,this past week I got the honour to house manage with L.A, meaning I successfully house managed with all of girls in my group. Now this usually it wouldn't mean anything to me but recently I have gotten the rap as the promiscuous gentleman in my Katimavik group and I do not believe it is entirely warranted. It is true that I have slept in all of the girls beds here in Alma (including my PL's), that more often then not I will strip tease to Olivia Newton John's Physical and it yes I can sometimes be found in outfits that put Adam Lambert to shame but other then that my slate is clean. I don't think that it isn't so much that I am promiscuous but rather the fact that the other guys in my group are so un-promiscuous. So to make a long story short I am not in the wrong it is just everyone else around me.

The thing I am going to miss most about house management is grocery shopping. Something about buying food for 10 people brings out the best in people. Back in Newmarket, Shoshana and I went to the grocery store decked in matching outfits, which consisted of pink spandex and a jean shirt, so going shopping is always a fun filled experience. This past week with L.A was no exception. We went to the usual Maxi (le panier le moins cher) and we got right down to business by attracting the attention of everyone around us by being as loud and obnoxious as possible. We had one old guy come up to us a condone us for being English saying "YOU ARE IN QUEBEC" and a second creepy old man who told our PL Emilie that she looked far to young to have children of our age.

Another part of our House Management duties was picking a theme dinner and we had a grape night. We made everyone cover themselves in balloons before the could eat.







It turned out pretty well....



Can you guess who this is? Well If you don't know you will have to come back to my blog tomorrow and find out. The mystery person will be revealed in a 6 minute home video which includes, yes the balloons, a knife and a skateboard!

Cheers to a Poorly Written Blog Post....

It has been a while since I wrote a sappy blog post and I am quite tempted to write one just because it is 11:29PM and seeing that I have very little to talk about it might make for a good blog post but I think I will refrain and tell you about my week and other random things instead.

The first thing I wanted to talk about is Mexicans. Now I am in no way racist but we have a Mexican in our group and in a joking manner me and Shoshana have started making fun of him just because he is Mexican. We didn`t think he cared about the blasphemy and that he realized we were joking but apparently it is getting to him. Now me and Shoshana feel like crap, but here is the kicker, now that we got into the rhythm of horribly insulting Tom we cannot seem to stop. Making fun of Tom is not something that you can quit cold turkey, just like cigarettes or Vogue, so Shoshana decided on the drastic measure of whenever she says a racist comment to Tom that she has to give him 25 cents. I soon may have to follow suit because Tom`s patience seems to be wearing thin. Relations with Tom may also be strained though because about an hour ago Shoshana and I were in my room talking (while Tom was sleeping) and although he never wakes up, once he falls asleep, I guess we were too loud and he woke up. He was not the happiest camper, although Tom does like camping, and I know for a fact that he can`t fall back asleep because he just came up to the computer room scowling....

Anyways moving on, the Glee finale was this week and when that episode finished it felt like the end of and era. I started Katimavik as the only Gleek in my group and I was forced to watch Glee in seclusion with headphones on. Fast forward to today and I successfully converted everyone in my group except for Mik who vehemently hates the award winning show. I guess it is to bad for him because Glee music plays 24/7 and most of us have watched each episode at least twice. This past episode was super cute and I loved the Journey medley that New Directions performed. Watching Glee end on Wednesday, because we have to wait until we can illegally download it, made me think of Katimavik`s journey which is coming to and end and although I will be sad I cannot wait to get back home. It is a weird mixture of sadness, excitement and happiness all mixed up into my confused head. My Alma trimester has been incredible and I am the happiest I`ve been in Katimavik here in Quebec.

The last thing I wanted to talk about was the fact that it is well after midnight and that I have to wake up in less than five hours. We are spending the weekend in Chicoutimi where we will be volunteering, going to meuseums and seeing BEACH BOYS!!!!! Yeah thats right the Beach Boys!!!! I am so pumped that I had to put multiple exclamation marks. This is where I bid my good night and where I tell you that I plan to have a nice blog post about my weekend`s travel come Monday or Tuesday....Wednesday if I am lazy!

P.S Nacho Libre is Terrible!

Photos of the week: House Management Highlights

So the following pictures appear to nothing in common and are extremely random but the one factor that links them together is house management. Every week we have two house managers and they stay home from work so they can cook and clean. The pictures describe themselves (unless I put a little comment on them which I probably will).



This is quite an old picture actually dating back to the time when my group resided in Newmarket. This is me getting rid of left overs!





Jessica`s famous Chick Pea Soup! She made it when she had the flu so it became taboo. Me and Shoshana, who both had the pleasure of tasting it, went to the extreme lenghts of eathing garlic to prevent us from getting sick.



Anthony cleaning the oven...that duty had been neglected for a few weeks so it was pretty rank (yes I did use the word rank and yes I do know it is no longer 2007)



Mr. Peanut Butter Man. Shoshana wanted to clean the glass of the oven but there was this sticky substance that wasn't coming off. When all else fails turn to peanut butter. It worked like a charm but Shoshana felt the job wouldn;t be complete until the blob of peanut butter was turned into a face.



Over 72 hours we found celery that was wilting. It is said that celery can become once more eatable (is that a word) if it is put in water. SO we tried it but then place the celery on the wrong side of the fridge. OUr fridge has a nasty habit of freezing things.



Once a week we have a theme dinner. Jessica and Andréanne had a rockstar theme and decorated appropriately.



L.A`s and Shoshana`s poutine...with a twist :)

Billeting Part One: Working at the Carwash

In am a little behind on the times since billeting is already more than half way done, but between working, sleeping and reading the Twilight Saga there is little time left for writing blog posts. Nevertheless I wanted to fill everyone in on what I have been up to during the last week. Last Friday we all commenced the journey known as billeting. For those of you who do not know what billeting is, well basically it is when you get picked up by a random stranger (sometimes strangers) and get taken to their house to live out the next stage of your life. In my case the next stage would last 9 days and my strangers were the Provencher family. Pauline, Albert and Dereck are all super nice and staying with them has been a good workout for my French since none of them speak English. Dereck and I did watch Harry Potter in English last night so that was kinda cool! Dereck is 16 and is basically the cooler version of me. He has mastered the Justin Beiber hair flick to a tee, goes to an arts high school and has cooler clothes than me. Guhh I will not admit that I am jealous. I haven’t been able to spend much time with him though because he is in the middle of exams so he is super stressed and my Twilight reading schedule keeps me super busy.

Anyways a few of the other highlights during the billeting cycle have been spending an afternoon with Dereck`s Grandma (it was actually quite a fun date, we went flower shopping and then I went back to her place for tea), cycling with Pauline (I am so glad I have spandex), Pauline`s cooking (we had Chinese Fondue last night and it was like heaven in my mouth), and working at a car wash. That will be an experience I will not forget. Last Sunday our Katimavik group (minus Fred...she was wind surfing or sick I am not sure which one) volunteered for La Nichée (an organization that helps mothers and their babies through tough times) to wash cars. The day started off quite nicely. The two fire fighters, who came to set up our water stations, were so incredibly good looking that saying they are good looking is an understatement. I was a tad slow in realizing that though because L.A and Jessica had ``dibs dibed`` them both leaving me and Shoshana with nothing but our overly large signs that we were told to put up. That was when the wind picked up. The temperature was around 20 degrees and sunny but this wind was blistering cold and lasted the ENTIRE day. It made washing cars slightly difficult. I still had a fantastic time though. It was the first time I took part in a car wash and I would definitely do it again. I really liked when the drivers would blast music for us as we washed their car, except when it was this mid forty year old creepo who played Nelly Furtado`s Maneater while he sat in his huge Ford 150 and watched us. ICK! All in all it has been a good week of billeting but I miss my group and I am excited to get back to the Katimavik house.



I think they should date....just saying



Thony working his stuff at the car wash!

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!