Got up at 8ish this morning. After a shower and some breakfast Tae came over, we picked up Natalie and went to the water park. When we got there, we could pretty much do whatever we felt like, so me and Tae and Nat and Eliza spent the morning doing the waterslides. Then we had lunch and did the lazy river, got a beaver tail and then sat in the hot tub for like an hour. Then we got out and got a massive thing of cotton candy and went home. When we got home, Tae and I painted our nails and went to the park and then she went home and me and Nat had dinner. It was just us for dinner tonight because the rest of the family was out, so we had leftover chicken and potatoes. After that we had a fire and roasted more marshmallows and then made our lunches and went to bed. I am very tired and can hardly believe i only have a week left here!

I didn’t get up until 10:15AM today. When I did get up, I helped Gilberte make crepes and then ate those crepes with raspberries. After that, Gilberte took me and Nat to the little tiny open air market down the street (there were like 5 stalls and one of them was just a guy with two crates of eggplants). Then we went to vieux Saint-rose where there was another (larger) market. We looked around for a bit and then went to our volunteering activity. When we got there, we weren’t actually in the right place, but when we texted James-Elizabeth, she said she was going to be a half hour late anyways, so me and Nat got sushi for lunch. Then we did our volunteering, which was garbage clean up in this park and on a little beach. After that, we went to get ice cream. I had frozen pineapple yogurt, which was really very good.

After that, me and Eliza and Nat headed to our house and we had a really nice dinner. It was roasted chicken with carrots and potatoes yams and rutabagas cooked with it and pickled beats on the side. It reminded me a bit of a Christmas dinner. Then we went to the grocery store and got some snacks and then came home and roasted marshmallows over the fire. Tae came over at that point and we had another sit around the fire and talk kind of evening. Then Eliza went home and me and Nat and Tae watched Alice in wonderland. Then we walked Tae home and went to bed. Not a super eventful day, but fun all the same.

Usual morning routine on fast forward. At work this morning we watched monsters Inc. and in afternoon we did the showcase so I kinda didn’t do anything which was nice. After work I showered and then me and both Natalies and Tae and Kaila caught the train to Montreal. When we got there we had poutine for dinner and then went to the Eaton center. We split up and me and Tae found the lindt chocolate store which was fantastic. They had these bins set up in the middle middle and you got a bag and you could put whatever kinds of truffles you wanted in the bag and then you paid by weight. Needless to say we each got a bag. In mine I had two kinds of dark chocolate, milk chocolate, raspberry, sea salt and caramel, hazelnut, orange and almond plus they gave us a free sample of the coconut truffle. 

After that we just kinda wandered through the gigantic mall. Close to the end we found a bookstore and I got a journal but that was pretty much it. Then we met up with everybody else and went back to vieu port. We did mostly souvenir type shopping and I got a ring as well. Natalie who lives with me plus Kaila and Tae got some henna tattoos and then we took the train home. When we got home, we pretty much went to bed right away because it was kinda late. It was nice to have the time to go back to vieu port because it really is nice there.

Usual morning routine except in the dark because we still had no power. At work today we had the camp wide game and I kinda had my own group in the afternoon which was weird, plus it was really hot. After work I showered and then went with Gilberte to the grocery store to get stuff for dinner. And the power was back on! We had make your own pizzas and salad and then me and Tae went on an adventure. Our adventure consisted of us going to get ice cream sandwiches and then french fries cuz we’re really healthy. 

Then we came back to my house and Sylvain taught us how to make bread. We hung around and talked for a bit and then I walked Tae home, made my lunch and went to bed. Relativity chill day, but it was nice to hang around and talk with Tae. 

Usual morning routine. At work today, we had our usual morning assembly, but opposite day style which was kinda fun. In the afternoon, we made masks too, so lots of things at work. When I got home, the power was out, which is why this post is a day late, but it was still pretty light out and there was still hot water for a shower so all was well. Dinner was various grocery store pasta/quinoa salad type things and carrots with hummus because no stove. Then James-Elizabeth picked us up and took us to rabaska (which might sound like Arbraska, but they’re not at all the same). It was like a very large canoe (10 people in one boat). We paddled around the river that separates Laval from Boisbriand and we saw herons and ducks and geese and beavers as well as Celine Dion’s river side “chalet” (I use quotation marks because it’s really a mansion but whatever). We learned a little about the river and then paddled back. When we got home the power was still out, like we expected, so we just ate some snacks and went to bed. Today was kind of a chill day, but I got more bug bites from being on the river so there’s that. 

Usual morning routine. There was a giant lizard at work today as part of some specialty but I didn’t know much about it until this lady walked through the door casually carrying a really large reptile. It was also pool day but that’s a little less interesting. After work I showered and we had steak and rice noodles and veggies for dinner. After that we went and found Tae and then met Aaron, Natalie and Kaila at the ice cream store up the street.

 I had toblerone ice cream in a waffle cone that had chocolate and nuts on it. We sat in the park with the swans and some fat geese and ate our ice cream on the swinging bench.

When we finished our ice cream, we went to the grocery store and got stuff for smores (including the really giant marshmallows) and then went back to our house and had a fire and ate way to much sugar. Kaila took some really great pictures of me eating super gracefully but I don’t have them yet. We hung around chatting, mostly about work, until just before 10:00PM, when Kaila and Aaron left and Natalie left shortly after them. Then we walked Tae home, cleaned up the backyard, made our lunches and went to bed. It was really nice to have everyone over and Vero even got to say hi to everyone which was cool.

Guyyyyyyyys!!! It’s August!!!! What the heck!!! Despite my use of too many exclamation points, it was the usual morning routine. This week I’m with the very standard summer camp group. No real speciality, we just kinda play games. After work I showered and then Gilberte took me and Nat to st Catherine st. We are wraps and carrots for dinner on the way. St Catherine st is just a really long street with lots and lots of stores. It reminded me a lot of Toronto actually. Nat wanted to go to urban outfitters but we went the wrong way the first time so we did a lot of walking. When we finally got there, I tried on one thing and then put it back because it was like $80, Nat got a T-shirt and some sunglasses and Hao Wei showed up at some point. I don’t think we actually went into any other stores after that, besides a brief detour get smoothies (the mango variety for me) and later on when we stopped at burger King so Hao Wei could eat something cuz he hadn’t had dinner. Other than that, we just walked and walked and I’m feeling it now. We got home kinda last after dropping Hao Wei off so we made our lunches, had a quick snack and then went to bed. I’m very tired, but my legs have stopped screaming which I appreciate.

I didn’t get up until 10:45AM today, which was glorious. When I did get up, everybody else was already out on the lake but they had left me some bacon so I ate that and some toast and then sat on the end of the dock and drank tea. They all came back very shortly after but I sat on the dock watching the fish and basking the sunshine for as least an hour. After that me and Nat went on another little paddle because Nat wanted take pictures of the frogs (which were plentiful). We kinda didn’t do anything else until lunch which was pizza and veggies and Gilberte took me and Nat into the little town by the cabin. It was very cute but there wasn’t much there so we went into one store, got some ice cream and they went back to the cabin. When we got back Gilberte and Nat and I went down to the little beach type spot on the other side of the road. It wasn’t really a beach but there was a small amount of sand and some water so there you go. We went for a very brief swim but got out almost immediately because there was lots of stuff growing on the bottom and touching our legs. We hung around for a bit longer and then paddled back and packed up our stuff. The ride back was much quicker as there was less traffic. When we got home, we unpacked the car and had tortellini and sauce for dinner. After that I had a shower, made my lunch and went to bed. I had a really good time at the cabin, I wish we had had more time there! It was very relaxing and nice to have a break.

Not the usual morning routine. I’m trying to keep you on your toes. This morning i didn’t get up until 9:30AM ish. When I did get up, I packed my stuff for the cabin and then us and Gilberte’s family had a family breakfast of tomato omelette, bread and cheese and fruit. After breakfast we finished getting ready to go, said goodbye to Gilberte’s family (who were all really nice) and then headed to the cabin. The traffic was pretty bad so it took us about 2 hours to get there but we did stop at a roadside market (kind of like sliver rill) and got fruits and vegetables and cookies. When we got to the cabin, me and Nat needed a moment to get over how cute it was. 

Apparently they were on a TV show awhile ago called chic shack where they redo your cabin/chalet whatever so it’s very nicely decorated. After we unloaded the car me and Nat went on a paddle boat ride and toured the area. The lake that the cabin is on is quite small so it didn’t take us long. There were tones of frogs though! We were actually afraid they might jump into the boat but they didn’t. After our boat ride we had dinner corn on the cob from the maker and then i read my book in the hammock that had a view of the lake (rough life. I know). I finished my book so I relaxed in the hammock and listened to music until I had an unintentional nap. When i woke up again, we had a snack of fizzy lemonade and salt and vinaigre chips and sat in the sunshine. For dinner we had salmon, rice and green beans. After dinner we started a fire in the fire pit and sat around the fire talking and laughing and occasionally singing or making fun of the music coming from other cabins. We sat around the fire until after it was dark and looked at the stars drank tea. We even saw a shooting star. Also the bull frogs were making a lot of noise. When we finally went inside, we proudly partook in some pecan pie, did the dishes and then brushed our teeth and went to bed. Today was a very relaxed kinda day which was really nice. Even the weather was perfect, sunny but not hot and it cooled down in the evening giving me a reason to wear my new sweater! 

Wow! What a month! Usual morning routine except condensed cuz I was late getting up (haha, woops). After work today I came home and showered and then got to meet some of Gilberte’s visiting family. Then me and Tae made our way to Montreal. We took the train part of the way which was really fun. 
From there we took the metro into vieux port where we met up with both Natalies and Kaila for dinner. Me and Tae shared a Swiss cheese fondue with bread and apples and grapes for dipping and we each had a sweet crepe for dessert. My crepe was filled with strawberries and bananas, covered with chocolate sauce and severed with vanilla ice cream. 

Ya, me and Tae had to work at the whole cheese thing. After dinner we wandered around vieux port, which is startlingly similar to downtown Victoria in parts. I got a Montreal hoodie as did many of the others. Then Kaila and the Natalie (that doesn’t live with me) went on the zip line that goes over the water. It was cool because it was night and it’s all lit up. While they were doing that me and Nat and Tae wandered around a bit more. We even found a Mimi restaurant!
Like what?! I didn’t know I had a restaurant! Nobody tells me anything. Then we found the zip liners and made for the metro. Me and Tae got off before the others and took the train the rest of the way home because we wanted to see what it was like at night. Dark the answer in case you were wondering, but I really liked taking the train because it’s much quieter than the metro. When we got home a bunch of Gilberte’s family that is visiting was still up so we chatted with them for awhile. We talked to her sister and her brother (who is quite funny) but her mom had already gone to bed. Shortly after that, we went to bed as well because it had been a long day and we have a busy day again tomorrow. It was really nice to go to Montreal and not have a fixed schedule and I’m really glad we got to try the train out.