stampin4fun: Week two in Chicoutimi

Hello Friends!
Another edition of “what’s Gen doing in Chicoutimi!”
A second week has finished and it’s official: This program is kicking my butt! I’m exhausted all the time! To add to the frustration, I honestly don’t know if my French is getting better! I think I expected that just being surrounded by French all the time would automatically make me bilingual. I thought I’d be able to understand everyone and speak fluently. It’s good to be reminded that things don’t happen magically and to learn to be patient!
Here’s a few pictures of my activities this past week.
The university organized an excursion to the Grand Meeting of First Nations (pow wow)
It was my first time attending anything like this and I was super curious.
There was a very positive atmosphere and it was an enjoyable outing. It reminded me to keep praying for the challenges our First Nations Community face and brought to my mind the people that I met when serving in Thunder Bay last month.

There was also a museum nearby that I also explored.

After the excursion, I felt like going out for dinner and asked around if anyone else was heading downtown once we got back to the University.

It turns out that a wine festival was happening downtown and a few people were heading in that direction. Since I'm not a wine drinker, I wasn't keen to participate in all the tastings but was happy to chat with others.

Of course these photos have a story. Please remember this story is extra humorous to me because all conversations happen in French.

To participate in all the wine tastings you need to buy tasting tickets.

Then you need a glass.

The tasting tickets and the glass are two different purchases.

This is Robert.

Robert bought the tasting tickets. Please note that he didn't buy a glass. (Please note above that Dimitri bought a glass and the tasting tickets)

Why didn't Robert buy a glass?

He didn't buy a glass because the previous evening he came downtown and noticed that people who were done were leaving their glasses on the side of the road. He decided to hide one of these previous used glasses behind a bush. This is where I giggle a lot listening to Robert explain to me, with Dimitri jumping in with extra details, his whole glass hiding plan and how we need to now go look for his glass. For some reason it is extra hilarious having this whole conversation in French.

I suppose this is an excellent way to save $15.

Robert is a student so saving $15 is a good idea.

We walked down the long street to his secret hiding spot.

He then proceeded to go into a restaurant for the sole purpose of using the bathroom to wash his glass.

Apparently the wait staff weren't very impressed but Robert went ahead with the glass washing and came out. I contributed to the effort by giving him one of my santizing wipes I keep in my backpack. Remember all conversations are happening in French. I probably didn't learn the word for "wipes" in french until more recently so I think I called it a santizing towel. However, there was no confusion about my offer since I was waving the little package in the air.

Fabienne (my roommate) and I left Nora, Dimitri and Robert to their wine tasting and we went to find some dinner.

I wonder if it is a Quebec thing that chicken nuggets are served on rice?

Also, since I've arrived I think I've had more cole slaw than I've ever had in my life.

Other highlights of last week:

Getting together with a demonstrator from Chicoutimi and chatting about stamping

I requested that Kevin send me my verb conjugating book and dictionary because the school told me to bring sun screen and mosquito repellant but told me nothing about actual school supplies I needed.

When I opened the dictionary look what I found!

He must have known I would be missing him.

Later in the week I also received a little gift.

The gift only made me miss my family more.

Here's some other adventures: An after school outing in the rain to a local chocolate store.

They had all kinds of chocolate!

The dipped ice cream cones were fantastic!

My first workshop. I was assigned to Improv!

If you know anything about me, spontaneous drama is not my thing. Drama of any kind is not my thing!

Imagine spontaneous drama in French???!!!

I was not happy at the start of the workshop but by the end I was having fun and laughing at all the crazy skits while also laughing at myself. (which resulted in penalty for my team as we're not supposed to laugh when acting!)

Later in the week, our class had an excursion to a local museum

Then to finish off the week, some friends and I went to visit the little white house which was the only house still standing after a huge flood in 1996. We then enjoyed a lovely patio dinner.