Christmas at the Conlon’s

I am on the bus again, leaving Ottawa for Toronto, the last one of my travels within Canada. Quite a few happy events have passed since I last wrote on the 23^rd. I had a great Christmas in a very warm and welcoming family and a generally nice holiday period.

On Sunday the whole house hold got ready for Christmas Eve and Christmas day festivities. Last minute gift wrapping, picking out suitable outfits and discussing what colour make-up to wear (that’s what happens when you have 25-year-old twins in the family, who are uncommonly vain!) Mama Conlon started preparing the turkey stuffing bright and early in the morning. Yams had to be cooked and potatoes to be mashed. The Wiener SängerKnaben gave the whole atmosphere that pinch of cheer and joy, typical of this season! The family spent a year and a half in Vienna a decade ago and they are still quite partial to everything that sounds or looks Austrian, and that includes an apron embroidered with dancing Austrian folk ladies and a CD my grandmother would be envious of.
On Christmas Eve, we were invited to Annamarie's (the oldest daughter) parents-in-law. We had a very nice meal and a very nice evening in general. We did a Conlon-version of Secret Santa, which was great fun.

On Christmas day, we went to church in the morning. When we got back, we had a light lunch, while following up on Mr. Turkey in the oven. The big fellow needed 7 hours of roasting and looked more delicious every minute! After lunch we exchanged gifts and stockings, which are small gifts, such as a CD and a chocolate (well, "chocolate"…) bar. Ma and Pa Conlon gave me a presse-papier Canada goose, made by a Canadian company specialising in those kinds of artefacts. I really liked it, and I can picture it standing on my desk at home, as a reminder of my great time in Manotick.

In the afternoon, Laura Grace and I baked 2 apple pies, with the help of Betty Crocker’s recipe. Betty Crocker is probably the biggest and best cook book editor in the USA and as Mama Conlon is from Minnesota, American influence was noticeable in her house. The cook book is the ultimate guide to wholesome and typical American cuisine. We had a lot of fun and the pies turned out to be done to a turn! Annamarie and her husband Brad came over for dinner. I was very curious to try out the turkey and other dishes, which I only knew from films or ‘Friends’ episodes. It was a very delicious and full meal and everyone liked the apple pie, which made Betty (Laura Grace) and Miss Crocker (myself, we were quite taken with the whole cook book concept!) very proud.

We had a nice evening, watching some Pride and Prejudice episodes (the BBC version). Brad suggested to have a gingerbread house-decorating contest, so we made two teams: Laura Grace and Margaret Mary (the twins) against Annamarie, Elizabeth Ann and me. We each had a gingerbread house, icing and sweets and gummy bears to make a winning design-house. We had a lot of fun, and by the end of the decorating, we were just as covered in icing as the houses were!

Sales start on Boxing Day in Canada, so Tuesday brought me to a selection of Winners and HomeSense stores to skim the racks for bargains and Winner-deals. Winners is some sort of discount clothing store that buys over all the double orders and such from major brands and sells them at at least half of the original price. Boxing Day clearance took an extra 25% off of the price, so it really was a day for deals! I found a very nice Ralph Lauren sweater at 75% discount and some nice leather gloves (for a ridiculously cheap price). I also purchased Betty Crocker’s cook book for $ 10, which I am quite excited about! Next time you come to visit me, odds are I am going to serve you a nice American meal!

We were quite exhausted when we got home and the only thing we were still able to do, was finish the BBC Pride and Prejudice. I was quite taken with Colin Firth’s performance, but somehow could not get over Jane Bennet’s manly face. But, other than that, it is a very nice filming of an even nicer book.

This morning, I packed my bags, sent some e-mails, took the last opportunity to chat with Laura Grace, had lunch and took off to the bus terminal.

Thanks to the whole Conlon family, I have an excellent week to look back on and a Christmas I am very unlikely to ever forget!

Ottawa and freezing rain: 3 days in a real Canadian family

I have been in Ottawa, Canada's capital for 3 days now and I think that calls for a post to be written. Quite a few things have happened, interesting, intriguing and culture shocking events, so you might want to read on.

Wednesday, December 20

I took the Greyhound bus at 9:30 and arrived in Ottawa-city five hours later, everything went well. I was picked up by Laura Grace and her father Paul. They live in Manotick, some 20 minutes away from down town Ottawa, in a very peaceful little village, with mostly American-style house. I was delighted to see one house after another I might want to live in one day! I met the rest of the family: Martin, Annamarie and her husband Brad, Laura Grace's twin sister Margaret Mary and Elizabeth Ann. They all use their double names and it is quite a challenge to get them right when I need them... I always think before I talk!

Thursday, December 21

On Thursday, Laura Grace and I took off to down town Ottawa. We visited the National Gallery of Canada, a nice museum, located in a very lovely building, overlooking Parliament hill and Ottawa river. We spent quite some time there, browsing through the different galleries. The group of seven, Canada's best known and probably most talented painters, and the European section probably were the ones to recommend. After that, we had lunch at the Rideau Center, another huge mall. We mingled with the hundreds of crazy Christmas shoppers and tried to find an empty table in the overcrowded shopping center. People looked preoccupied, stressed-out and quite distressed in their quest for the perfect Christmas gift. Quite amusing if you are not part of it and just look at it from the sideline! Laura Grace made me eat poutine, a local 'delicatesse' ... Basically, it is French fries (as the Americans call them), with gravy and cheddar cheese lumps. I am not sure how that would be welcomed in Belgium, but I thought of the good old Belgian fries with quite some nostalgia when eating it! Those Northern Americans, it really is not easy to make them understand and appreciate good cooking!
In the afternoon, we visited the Parliament, another nice building. We took the tour, which required us to go through several metal detectors and even officials searching us for explosives or other items that might cause damage to the nation of Canada! We went through the House of Commons, the Senate, the very nice library and were allowed to take pictures. The whole inside was beautifully (and tastefully, for once!) decorated for Christmas! We also went up to the peace tower and visited the Memorial room, where the people who died for the country are commemorated. John McCrae, the Canadian soldier who wrote the famous poem "On Flanders Fields" is probably one of the most direct links between Belgium and Canada and he is honoured there as well.
After that we strolled along Spark street, an open air mall, we took the bus home and had a nice dinner.
As all the Conlon girls are Jane Austen fans, we watched the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice and had a lot of fun, imagining to live in the 1800s!

Friday, December 22

Yesterday, Margaret Mary, Laura Grace and I went to the Museum of Science and Technology, my first science museum ever and it was worth it! We spend 6 hours there, and really, it was not boring at all! At one point, I even considered studying science and for those of you who know me a bit, that is a big step! The museum gave an overview of the development of scientific experiments and inventions with lots of interactive displays. The feature I liked most was 'Autopsy of a murder', a room where you had to be the chief inspector and solve a murder by finding clues. In the meantime, you learn about the different techniques that are used to solve crimes. It made me realise that investigative journalism is still alive in America and is a realistic option!
When we got out of the museum at 5pm, Ottawa's streets had turned into skating ranks... It's a Canadian phenomenon, called 'freezing rain' and as the name reveals, it is rain that freezes onto the ground. Everything is covered in a thin layer of ice. You see cars slipping, and gliding over the streets, it is very difficult to stay upright and extremely cold. You just wish to be indoors basically. I was shocked to see how dangerous it is to go out by car in these weather conditions. I don't think it is an easy country to live in during wintertime.
When we got home, safely, we had dinner and a very nice conversation about cheap clothing and holiday shopping!
We watched one episode of the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice and went to bed, exhausted from a very full, interesting and quite challenging day!

Today is Saturday. I am talking to my family, even pa has bothered to come down to our house to see me, on webcam that is. They are all getting ready for Christmas, and so is this family. Tomorrow will be dedicated to getting the Turkey stuffing ready and relax for a peaceful and joyful Christmas!
I hope your Christmas will be merry and filled with gifts of happiness and good cheer!
Happy holidays everyone!

Goodbye melancholy and the Nutcracker

Saturday evening 9pm. I'm in my room, just had dinner and for the first time, I actually don't want to write this post... The feeling that everything is coming to an end, that the term is really over, that I am going home in less than a month is a bit overwhelming and, as I had expected, not the feeling I want to have at this point. Of course I am happy to see my friends and family again, but I think that we all want to hold on to something that worked out for you, something that made you happy, something that taught you a lot. And this whole exchange experience did work out for me and did enrich me in a way that I had not expected. So, now I realise that this is one of the last posts I'll be writing, I do have to ask you to excuse me for throwing in a meloncholy thought or cheesy line hither and thither.

Last Wednesday, only a few hours after I got back from Montréal, the group said goodbye to Lydie, Aurélie and Jessica, yes, the 3 Françaises. We went out for dinner in the Green Room on Bloor Street, had some drinks and a few 'French' laughs. The majority of the gang took off to a club, but I said goodbye to them there, as I still don't like clubs, wild parties or dancing (which prooves that, deep down, I'm still the same person as the one that left Belgium on September 6th). We had a lot of fun together, over the semester and those three ladies were kind of the center point of the group. Great people, and I felt quite sad walking home afterwards, knowing that they will be back for the second semester, whereas I will be in Leuven... I am sure I will see them again, once we're all back in Europe but at least it didn't feel like a goodbye-for-ever. And by the way, once you have lived in North America, the distance between France and Belgium, really isn't as challenging as it used to look!

On Thursday I worked on my bachelor paper, mainly. I am reading Pride and Prejudice for the umpteenth time, and this time I have the perfect excuse! It is unbelievable how rich that novel is, and dear gentlemen, may I remind you that it was written by a WOMAN, over 200 years ago! The language, the wit, the irony, the humour and the uncertainty about whether Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth are getting together or not (even when you perfectly know they do end up marrying each other every time you finish the novel) make this Jane Austen story one you should absolutely read before you leave this earth. Really, I'm serious, read it, you won't regret it.

Friday, more of the same. In the afternoon I had a coffee at Timothy's World Coffee with Charlotte. We covered a wide variety of topics, ranging from driver's licences to Christmas cards. On our way over to her appartment, we stopped over at Honest Ed's, because I wanted to take a picture of Ed's little paradise-on-earth and take the tour of his surreal shop. You really need a video-cam to capture the whole atmosphere, and I attempted at doing so by just taking some pictures to never forget the level of craziness and lunacy that is acceptable in Canada. Lynette, Charlotte and I cooked a very fine meal together and spent a very pleasant evening chatting.

Today, (guess!) I worked myself through some more Austen-material, always a delight of course. I did laundry and talked to my sisters online. They both were in an extremely funny and slightly crazy mood, which is caused by exams, they assured me. I kind of miss them, I realised... the way they pull each other's hair, the way they start arguing (I could follow all this on webcam) over who gets to type, the way they hit each other one moment and hug each other the next, Julie's eyes, full of mischievous and adventurous plans and Fré's contagious smile... They're really one of a kind!
At 2pm, Katharina and I had tickets for the Nutcracker, performed by the National Ballet of Canada. It was the matinée performance, which included tons of kids, dressed up as if they were about to kiss the Queen's hand. All very American, I can assure you! The ballet was very good, I liked it a lot. Although I know the music and have seen the ballet before, I never grow tired of watching ballerinas, light as feathers, flying over the stage in a perfect combination of beautiful music and elegance of movements. It just takes away the worries that happen to be in your head and makes you feel quite small compared to those dancers and the composer who gave life to the story by writing music that still does the trick.
Lynette and Charlotte joined us for a cup of coffee afterwards and we had a nice and easy afternoon. At about 7pm, I said goodbye to Lynette, who's leaving for Hawaii early next week, and Katharina, who's leaving for the States when I'll be in Ottawa. Another two people that will be in Toronto, when I won't be...

I guess there's no point fighting it. My time in Toronto really has come to an end... I sigh and say goodbye... there's nothing else to do. Life goes on, luckily the memory stays.

A great weekend in Québec, je me souviens…

I am in the bus, heading back to Toronto, and my weekend in Danville/Montréal is definitively over now. Full and varied as it was, I am going to try to give you an idea of what I did, since I arrived last Friday.

First of all, this wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for Martine and Patrick, the niece of my grandfather and her French husband, who moved to Québec 26 years ago. They were as thrilled to have me over for the weekend as I was to be there! They really are gorgeous people, very busy with the restaurant ‘Le Temps des Cerises’ and their auberge ‘Jefferey’, but they are both equally friendly, always smiling or laughing and very light-hearted. I don’t doubt it is a hard life, but I think they have really found their little spot in life; they are undoubtedly happy.

When I arrived on Friday, Martine was running her little army in the kitchen in the restaurant. Patrick drove me to the auberge, 300m further along the road. I stayed in one of the unoccupied rooms of the auberge, with my own bathroom, internet connection and TV. Extremely cosy and clean, the difference with my room in Toronto couldn’t have been more violent. We had dinner, mainly leftovers from the restaurant, so quite a fine meal!

On Saturday, we did some food shopping for the restaurant in Asbestos, the next village. The name derives from the mine that used to be there, but is now used as a mine for other, less dangerous, materials. We had a nice lunch in the restaurant (Belgian fries! Real ones!). In the afternoon Martine took me and Gus for a walk :). Gus is the family dog, a big hairy fellow, looks a bit overwhelming at first but we made friends within the hour, wouldn’t hurt a fly. Danville is a very cute and very North-American village: wooden houses, shocking Christmas decorations (a wide range going from inflatable Santas and reindeer to flickering and multicolour lights!) and all this covered in a romantic layer of snow. It was absolutely beautiful. On Saturday evening, Martine and Patrick had to work in the restaurant, so I stayed at home, doing some ironing and watching Maman, j’ai rate l’avion, aka Home Alone!

Early morning on Sunday, because we had to go to Montréal (1h30 by car) to distribute ‘les confitures et marmelades’, which Martine makes. Patrick and two of the three daughters, Alexandra and Gaëlle, did some dégustations in several shops in Montréal to get their products on the market. Martine and I covered all of Montréal by car, so I saw everything I read about in Canadian Literature in real life: le quartier juif, the Square Mile, le Vieux Montréal, Rue Ste Catherine, St-Henri and so on. My personal guide Martine, a Belgian in heart, had something interesting to tell about nearly everything, which made me realise that she has really blended in in Canadian and Québecois life. We went to a Christmas tree market, had a nice lunch with Gaëlle and finished our day in the vegetable and fruit market. We drove home, had a really nice meal, I showed them some pictures of Nieuwerkerken and our home and even though we were all dead tired we had a long and entertaining evening.

Monday brought me to Canada’s other side: the natives. 60 km out of Danville there is a reserve and museum of the Abénaki tribe, which Martine thought I had to see. On our way over to Odanak, we visited Albert, the most unusual person I ever met. Albert lives in an extremely old (even to European standards) house, quite in the middle of nowhere. He grows flowers and specific kinds of bushes, which he sells to flower shops in Montréal. When we entered his house, it was as if we passed through a magical time gate that brought us back to the late 1800s. It reminded me a bit of the mining houses, such as the ones in Disneyland, near Big Thunder Mountain :) . Everything was so old, very cosy, small and very rural! I really couldn’t believe my eyes! Extremely intriguing and sobering to see how ‘back to nature’ can bring people so much satisfaction and happiness. We had a cup of coffee and said goodbye to Albert, whom I will most definitely never forget!

We arrived in the reserve and drove through to the museum. Native Reserves are, as most of you probably picture them, NOT a bunch of tepees in a circle and savages running around a fire with tomahawks. They actually look like very normal Canadian villages, a bit smaller and a bit poorer, but other than that, just regular villages. The people are dressed as most Canadians – and I’m afraid that the cliché of the Canadian in a checked outdoor shirt is true – the only things that give away that they are descendants from the first peoples of the land are their faces and raven black hair. The museum gave a good impression of how the different tribes used to live and how things evolved to the present-day situation. There is a lot of discrimination towards Indians and they are considered to be a retarded group. However, efforts are being made to preserve their culture and knowledge, the museum being one of these. Other than that, some tribes make typical souvenirs that are sold in several gift shops in Montréal, the profits of which go largely to the fund of protecting their way of life and culture. I really was impressed to learn about Canada’s past and its efforts to secure its future.

We had lunch in Montréal with Frédérique, the first daughter. We walked a bit, dropped off some products downtown and in the early evening, Martine brought me to Alexandra’s room, where I stayed to visit Montréal. Cathérine, Alex’s roommate, works in a big hotel in the city as a guide for tourists, so we made a list of all the things I wanted to do on Tuesday. If it wasn’t for her, I probably wouldn’t have been able to visit everything that’s worth visiting in one day!

I woke up quite early on Tuesday to have a nice and long day in Québec’s biggest city. The sun was shining and a temperature of -5°, a truly lovely day to visit this city. I felt a very obvious tourist, with my little map and camera, but I didn’t really care! I covered all Montréal, did some shopping on Rue Ste Catherine and by 16h30 I was completely exhausted. I found a very cosy Second Cup, ordered a large latte and just sat in the comfortable couches and wrote a long letter to my grandparents. I had dinner with a friend of a friend (one of my friends in Toronto told one of her friends in Montréal that I would be there) in the city and by 22h30 I was back in the apartment. I packed my bags, watched the end of Cath’s film and went to bed.

After a profound night’s rest I got up quite early to catch my bus, which I am still in, at this very moment! We are halfway there. Every Canadian number/license plate shows what province the car comes from. And of course, this is accompanied with a little slogan (just to let you know, that we just passed a truck that is moving a house!!! An entire house! Prefab, brought to your door !). So, every number plate has a slogan, Ontario’s is Ontario, Yours to discover and Québec’s? Québec, Je me souviens…And I will remember this weekend!

End of exams and first day in Montréal/Danville

Unbelievable. Yesterday at 4 pm, I accomplished my 'academic mission'! Last exam (Littérature Francophone) went well, beter than expected! These last few weeks have been absolutely crazy. A couple of papers and then of course my 4-exams-in-3-days schedule. Madness! It was probably a good thing that I didn't realise 100% what was going on, I was just living on instinct. Get up, eat, study, eat, study, class, study, eat, exam, eat, study, sleep and that from Monday till Thursday. At 4, when I walked out of the examination room, I felt as light as a feather, worriless and quite without a new exam to get ready for!
I had Canadian Literature on Tuesday (6pm), which didn't go too well, unfortunately. I had a quite pleasing grade for that course so far, but I am sure my exam will take that considerably down. 18th Century Women Writing on Wednesday (3pm), which went ok, not great but ok. Should get a reasonable grade for that. Only two hours later we had to hand in our Mediaeval French-take home exam, which I hadn't finished yet. Quite a challenge, but I sent it 5 minutes before the deadline. Living on the edge has never treated me better! And then, my final Swift paper to hand in at 11, on Thursday and my last exam at 2 pm.
On Thursday evening I met up with Sarah, who happened to be in Toronto for a wedding anniversary. She lived in Steenberg last year and we have emailed since she left. We went to the Nathan Philips Square skating rink, but since it was -19° (taking the wind factor into account) we were in desparate need of something warm (anything!). We went to Eaton Centre and had a nice Starbucks Coffee, thank god for Starbucks!. Next, I took her to my tiny room, showed her the 23rd floor-view of Toronto's skyline and gave her a 5$ China Town bag to take back to Belgium with all my books and course notes. Thanks again Sarah! You solved my bag problem very efficiently. Hope everything went well, with both you and the bag!
This morning (Friday), I took the bus to Montréal at 9.30. It was only in the bus that I realised just how tired I was. I slept quite a lot, feeling the stress and pressure leave my system! Patrick came to pick me up at the bus terminal and we drove to Danville, the village (approximatey 2000 inhabitants!) where they live! I am so happy to be invited to their cosy home! Martine and Patrick have an 'auberge' and a restaurant, both equally homely. They live in one part of the auberge and the restaurant is about 300m away. They showed me my room, the gigantic TV and then, they had to rush back to the restaurant. I just watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on TV and sent some emails. I am going to start writing some letters and emails when I finish this post and just enjoy the serenity of a weekend without obligatory studying. Live in Canada hasn't treated me too bad, I guess.
Hope to hear from you soon! Some of you seem to have disappeared from this life! Let's hope it's just studying that keeps them occupied!

Soirée Belge and official opening of Toronto's Holiday Season

Last Thursday, Bram and I joined our culinary skills and prepared a nice Belgian dish for the Algonquin group at the French girls' place. We prepared witloof met kaas en hesp with potatoes à l'ail, which admittedly was Lydie's idea. We had to peal potatoes for 12 people, which took us quite a while. Everything, even the cheese sauce, worked out really well and they all seemed to like it. By midnight, people started to help themselves to seconds (or thirds or forths!) and by the time we all went home we had finished everything, rather to the disappointment of Jessica and Lydie who had hoped to survive on leftovers the next day! It was a fun evening, because everyone was in a good mood, we had nice food and wine and all together a great and relaxing night.
We exchanged Algonquin pictures and films and amasingly enough, everyone paid me the extra part of the trip! I guess I am an intimidating person, when it comes to asking people to pay :)

This evening, Toronto officially opened the Holiday Season with a beautiful Light Cavalcade and fireworks. A concert to precede it and the lighting of the Christmas tree and the fireworks as highlight of the evening. This all took place next to the City Hall (the 'old' one) and in front of the Parliament building, probably one of Toronto's most famous sights. The fireworks really were one of a kind, as they were even set up on the rooftop of the Parliament! There was a skating rank and everyone just was in a holiday mood, Lydie taking pictures as if she were one of those obsessed Japanese people Toronto seems to be full of. I'll probably get her pictures tomorrow and I will put them on my photo-site for you to taste a bit of America's Christmas craziness! I find myself going happily along with the Holiday groove, I even put up the Christmas featured cup holders of Starbucks and the Second Cup on my noteboard by way of bringing the spirit into my small room! Christmas Carrols merrily play on my computer and I am so much looking forward to spending Christmas in a real Canadian family! Laura Grace, one of my friends, invited me to spend a week with her and her family in Ottawa, including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, which I am very grateful for! We will visit Ottawa and surroundings and wrap ourselves in the goodwill and peace that are typical of the end of December! When I get back, there's only a few days left to clean up here, say hi to everyone and leave for New York.

Lately, I have been writing on a Swift paper, which is actually very interesting and I even dare say that I am enjoying myself writing it. I'll have a presentation to do on it this Thursday. I have been spending a lot of time in Robarts' library, 4th floor ('la quatrième'!!!). There nearly always is someone of the gang performing his or her duties as a zealous student, and it's always nicer to study together than on you own. After this paper, I'll have about 5 days to get ready for my race of exams and then, on December 7th, it will be over! My term will be finished and there will be nothing to worry about anymore! (well, not exactly nothing, but far less anyway!) Quite a nice and calming thought to wrap up this post! Enjoy the Holiday Season everyone!

Algonquin Pictures

I made a new website for pictures: easier to watch, easier to upload!

http://picasaweb.google.com/anoukmorren

Go and admire the landscape!

Pas de 'moose', ni de 'caribou' mais weekend super dans le Parc Algonquin

A genuinely fun and full weekend in the Algonquin Park. There were small and slightly bigger adventures, car problems and unexpected circumstances, but this whole minitrip to Ontario's biggest Provincial Park turned out to be one of my better weekends on Canadian soil. But let's not rush and begin at the beginning.

SATURDAY
Saturday morning, 8.45am, all - or nearly all, because Lynette and Charlotte got a bit lost - were present in front of 'Rent-a-wreck' (what's in a name...), unfortunately we had to wait till 9.15 for Mr. Rent-a-wreck to arrive. After having arranged the paperwork, we took off in our 2 Ford Windstar minivans, Aurélie driving the first, Per driving the second. Our mapquest online directions quickly turned out to be not as accurate as I had hoped, which made us lose about 40 minutes. Around 11am we were well on our way north, towards Barry's Bay and the park. The landscape wasn't awsome, however, Aurélie did remark at some point: ça commence quand-même à faire des ondulations maintenant! Eh, je me demande, comment ça s'appelle, les petites collines? I didn't realise she was looking for the English word and I replied, obviously in one of my linguistic moods: Des 'collinettes' peut-être... First flaw of the trip... :)
Around 2.45 pm, we arrived in the park, and decided to do a small hiking track right away. We went up to Algonquin's visitors center, where the whole 'what's the difference between a moose and a caribou?' discussion was solved. Aurélie got confused with French translation of moose, which turned out to be élan, which however is not to be mistaken for a caribou, which is caribou in French. The visitors center had some good and interesting billboards and scenes about the animals we might encounter during our hiking trips: foxes, moose, beavers (and beaver dams), wolves, bears, ... Very confident to encounter at least one of those, we took off for the 1.5km Spruce Bog Boardwalk, which was a very nice walk of about half an hour on steady and firm paths. After that, we all felt up to another similar walk and headed toward the Beaver Pond trail. The park was absolutely beautiful, being covered in a thin layer of snow. We saw some quite impressing beaver dams and some amasing lakes. We didn't see, however, that its rating was 'moderate', while the first one was a trail open to the disabled. The Beaver Pond track turned out to be quite muddy and very rocky, and as it was nearly dusk, we realised halfway through that we might need some flash lights in order to find the way back. With Linas keeping everyone's spirits up by telling ghost stories in the dark forest, we hiked on. If it hadn't been for my flash light, we wouldn't have seen the arrow sign and we probably still would have been looking for the main road. We headed towards Barry's Bay, a very typical 'outback' village of 1 200 inhabitants; our little group of 13 constituted 1 percent of the population, just to give you an idea... :) We had a good meal in a nice place and arrived at 10ish at the Mountain View Motel, which appeared to be quite desolate. They had promised me to leave the keys in an envelope at the door, but no sign of the envelope nor keys at our arrival. Calling the owners wasn't really an option because no one had reach on their mobile phones, which made us realise just how much we were in Canada's outback. 20 minutes later, when we all started planning to spend the night in our cars, the owners arrived and gave us the keys to our cottage and room. We watched Harry Potter (and the goblet of fire) on television had crisps, biscuits and drinks and - most of us - went to bed at a reasonable hour.

SUNDAY
Despite the many night owls among us we managed to hit the road at around 9.45. We had a typical breakfast in one of those VERY American diners and arrived at the park around 12.30 We had decided earlier to do the 10 km Track & Tower Trail (moderate level) and set off, bien en forme. It was around 0°C, so mud and puddles were frozen, which made things a little less slippery than the evening before. It turned out to be a beautiful trail with parts of it along the lake. We all made it to the lookout point and had a breathtaking view of the Cache Lake. It took us the full 3 hours to get back to the cars. Luckily we took cookies and pretzels to prevent us from becoming hyper-faim ;). As we were all quite exhausted we were relieved to see the cars and get in to warm up a bit. But, as you might recall, our car rental firm was called 'rent-a-wreck' and of course, that name couldn't be taken as a joke. One of our minivans had, we thought, a flat battery. We sent the car that was still running to one of the visitor centers to get help. In the mean time, a very friendly Canadian hiker helped us out: we retried charging the battery and Linas discovered it was a security system problem and managed to start the car. The euphoria was great when we found ourselves back on the road. Our car did miss the encounter with two moose, but we were just happy to have our Windstar back in good shape! We headed for Toronto, but had dinner first in one of the less-than-2000-people towns along the road. The restaurant was all decorated for Christmas, very 'kitch' but extremely American (again). Just the way you see it in the films. We arrived back in Toronto safely at about 10pm, satisfied and slightly tired from a great trip up North!

It was the first time many of us really experienced Canada's country side (and cold!). The cars, the little towns, the motel, it all added up to a great weekend with a great group of people. We laughed a lot and just had a good time together. The dominating language was French, which didn't bother me at all. Les 3 Françaises are great girls and French just comes with their package :) I didn't mind at all and we were flexible anyway with language issues (Aurélie: c'est vachement 'cute' ça!)

Quote of the trip (this one had the whole car laughing). Aurélie was very impressed with the 5 speeds on the windscreen wipers and more or less screamed: 'Eh, les filles, il y a 5 speed pour les essuie-glaces! Essayons. Le premier.... (nothing much happend when putting them on speed 1) bon, c'est tous les quarts d'heure. Le deuxième... (not a lot of difference) allez, c'est tous les 10 minutes!
It's probably one of those things you had to be there to find it funny, but I luckily was there and thanks to our fine group we had an unforgettable weekend in Algonquin Provincial Park.

P.S.: as soon as people put their pictures online I will post some of them here. Check them out, the scenery is unrivalled!

Christmas Craziness

November in North-America probably inevitably comes with a more than healthy dose of christmas 'seasoning'. Over the last week, I have witnessed Toronto getting herself ready for another Christmas. Starbucks and The Second Cup changed the every-day colour of their paper cups to christmas green-and-red, which I realised, was the symbolic start of the holiday season. The rest of the city soon followed: they put up the Christmas lights over Yonge Street, Eaton center - the mall- now has reindeer dangling from the ceiling, display windows excessively use powdery snow that's supposed to remain there until January and jolly christmas trees are put up in the main shopping centers. Even the 'Hablamos Español' hotdog seller that I walk past every morning put a bit of christmas decorations up. Of course, this is only a start, there's undoubtedly more to follow! Unfortunately, the snow that would match this scene is absent, instead we just have real downpours and foggy and very humid weather. (Not good for the hairdo! My chain of bad hairdays hasn't been interrupted for weeks now.)
I don't know whether it's the weather or just the time of year, or maybe even the Christmas season arriving, but I have noticed some abnormal behaviour among the squirrel population. I don't know whether it's mating season for my little furry friends, but sexual activity, I have noticed, is more than healthy these last two weeks. They run around like crazy, chasing each other, they even abandon their nuts, which (believe me) is a big thing for a squirrel. They just don't mind where or at what time of day. On Monday, two of them were more or less blocking the passage to Emmanuel College, running around in circles for a minute or so, to end up doing what they were obviously there for. They had a whole audience too, but that was really the least thing Mr and Mrs Squirrel paid attention to.


On campus, things haven't really changed. My crazy paper rush is finally over. I managed to complete and hand in all my papers by their due dates, but feel completely exhausted now. I need a good night's rest today and a relaxing weekend. The last two weeks have just been a bit too busy. I found myself running from one class to another, using every free minute to read or even write on - yes of course - my papers. I hope I at least did reasonably ok. A couple of weeks of anxious waiting for the grades now, I guess. But today, at 4pm the hassle just ended and I felt so carefree when I walked home! I had a good day by the way. A very interesting Swift class, mainly because of the people I sat next to. To my left, a very jet-lagged Glenn, who spent the weekend in London for a photo shoot for his record label. To my right, Alexandra, always in the mood for some fun and folly. We heard some good presentations and I realised that Swift appeals to me more every week. I even like his poetry! A rare but perfect combination of formal mastery and diction and raving satire or hilarious parody. Unrivalled, without a doubt. Good and interesting, but quick lunch at Hart House at 1, followed by Francophone Literature at 2. I handed in my paper and just felt on top of the world for bringing this to a good end (so far!).

Tomorrow will be quite relaxing too: ISC pancake breakfast at 10am, some reading (The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, by Mordecai Richeler for my Can. Lit class), women writing class at 3 and cooking dinner with a friend in the evening. On Saturday morning, we are leaving for the Algonquin park. I hope everything goes well, because I was the one who arranged the whole trip and if something goes wrong, I'm sure I will be the one everyone will come to...

I am going to turn in soon; for the first time this week, I am going to sleep for 8 hours on end, without obsessive dreams about deadlines coming a day sooner than I thought. Just some well deserved rest!

The way our memory works

Another Tuesday has passed, and should you not have noticed(and I am pointing it out right now) Tuesday evenings tend to be my inspirational writing days, especially because Prof. O' Connor's wise words are still fresh in my mind.

I have been thinking about the phenomenon of 'memory' quite a lot, lately. I blame it on the fact that it is actually dripping through that all that is left from an incredibly fun and interesting period or event of one's life is a good memory. That's it, nothing more, a memory you can reminisce about, a memory that has the ability to draw a smile and fill you with warmth and enthusiasm. But basically, that's it. I read the following line in Mavis Gallant's Linnet Muir stories, and although I didn't realise it at the time, I think that sentence was the catalyst of my pondering the whole memory-issue:

"I did not forget her, I forgot about her."

This is Linnet herself speaking, referring to her mother, whom she - quite obviously - has not a close relationship with. She left home at the age of 18 and fell out with her mother mainly because she rejected and neglected her. Read that sentence again. That, I realised, sums up how our memory works. You meet people who forget you, you forget people you meet, it is only very rarely that you meet those people you can't forget. Those people are your friends. We all, at least at one point in our lives, think about a specific person we haven't heard of or talked to in years; someone we haven't even missed. Our memory can be a cruel device; it can blattantly cast out people and welcome others, it can idealise certain events and minimise others, it has the power to make a choice of what to keep and what to get rid of. Much like what happens when you clean up your hard disk on your computer, when you come to think of it. However, I am quite convinced that we ourselves have control over the choices our memory makes. The more memories you - consciously - make with people, the harder it will be to forget them, because forgetting them would mean forgetting all the happy memories that include that specific person. Of course, memory-making requires time, dedication and persistence, as friendship is not built on shabby grounds or shallow interest. It is a constant investment, a constant 'making the memory' but if you manage to make that effort, the reward you get is even beyond the power of a memory. It is the today, filled with a shared past and a future stretching out before the two of you.

You cán get around the tricks your memory plays on you by actively investing in every day and by cherishing the good and full days you had so far. I am not promoting a completely hedonistic way of life, solely inspired by Carpe Diem (those of you who know me a little better, know that discipline and order are omnipresent in my life ;) !!) , but I would like to encourage you all to become aware that life doens't give you second chances, so don't waste the one you do get in unawareness and lack of interest. There is so much out there to discover, waiting to be discovered, waiting to become someone's memory...

First half of the Canadian Adventures...

I am precisely two months in Toronto, today. Two more to go... It is all going too fast, there is too much to do and too little hours in a day. I realised just now, how full my first two months have been. The hassle of paperwork and the getting-used-to-everything-new phase seem to be cast away to the far past. As hard as I tried to remember and absorb every single moment, you inevitably lose most of those precious memories, it is only the big and important things that stay with you. I have had some thoroughly good and fulfulling days and weeks in this amazing city, and I wouldn't have wanted to miss a single second of it all. Of course, there was a lot of work to go through, readings, literature, midterms and papers and essays of course, but then that is what I came for in the first place. And besides, I really musn't complain about my courses, they are all interesting (well, not all equally interesting, but that would just be an ideal world, wouldn't it) and I have the feeling that I have improved several skills in leaps and bounds. Moreover, in two months we managed to 'establish' a pretty close and amazing group of people from all over Europe. The Algonquin park trip in two weeks will probably be the reward for two and a half months of hard work. We all deserve that... :)

My days are incredibly full lately. Even 18 hours of active living seems to be not enough. I never go to bed because I am bored, I never have 5 minutes left, where I start wondering myself what I might do next. Obviously, that's all part of the fun, but there's hardly any time to do all the things I thought I would have time for. This website, for instance. My initial plan was to write here more often, about the small and slightly bigger things of life, but there is just too little time. My last paper is due on November 16th and I hope I will have some free time after that to start checking off my to do list!

This weekend's tone was mainly set by studying. Some of the highlights were Laurens calling me, completely out of the blue. I subconsciously enjoyed the craziness of his whim! Great, although slightly loony guy! First time my Wycik-phone actually did come in handy!
The A(lma)-team surprised me with a joint card today! Thanks girls, count me in from February onwards! I am absolutely picking up on that 'koninginnehapje met frieten aan €3.10' when I get back!

Apart from the above, no transatlantic news that's worth mentioning. We had a nice evening at Future's backery yesterday evening, after a completely and ridiculously stupid evening of allegedly funny sketches. Well, Future's chocolate explosion cake made up for it. Other than that, life just goes on, in it's own merry way, as I am sure it does in Belgium too!

Half through midterm/paper season

It has been a while since I have written here and I know I don't have to apologise for that, as I have never made any life-binding commitment to posting something every week, but I feel morally obliged to keep you guys informed of my current situation across the 'pond'. Needless to point out to you that papers and midterms, my two companions along the way, have kept me busy and even up at night. However, I just got back the grades for my Medieval French midterm and was quite shocked to see that I got an A+ (94%) for it. Thank you, mister Perceval!!

At the moment I am working on my Canadian Literature class paper, which is very demanding, but nonetheless interesting to attempt to handle. One of my 'new friends', Matt (American journalist who's now taking some science courses at U of T) is helping me to make my 'performance meet up with my potential' in the sense that he has been going through the parts I've written so far and gives suggestions and corrections. Very inspiring comments and ultimately useful advice for my possible future in journalism, so I feel I'm learning à cent à l'heure!

I also got splendid news from my 'relatives' in Canada (thrice removed at least!). The Satre-family is related to my grandfather; Martine (the lady-of-the-house) is my grandfather's (pa's) niece and they come to visit Belgium every year and usually drop by my grandparents' house as well. E-mail and websites made it easy for me to get in touch with them and they promptly invited me to spend a long weekend in Montreal and Danville with them. So, I will be going to visit Montreal and the surrounding country side from Dec. 8 till Dec. 12. I consider it to be a well-deserved treat after my exams, which end on the 7th. I spoke to Martine on the phone today and she seemed very happy to hear me and was looking forward to meet met in about a month. She also wanted to 'vérifier si je me rappelle encore un peu de patois de Saint-Trond de ma jeunesse' All very well, but I didn't realise we spoke 'un patois' in the vicinity of Sint-Truiden... :)

As much as I want to go on about my great life in Toronto and about the things I have been doing here (not much actually, as I come to think of it, apart from reading, writing and studying.), Les Damnés de la Terre is awaiting me. Prof. Tcheuyap likes to present us with texts and articles that mainly deal with violence in every possible form of appearance. Quite heavy bed time reading, I have to admit!

The alternatives of death

Have you ever thought about the alternatives of death? As I was reading Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels earlier today, I got to the part where Gulliver is in the Kingdom of Luggnagg and learns that every once in a while there are people born with a spot above their left eyebrow, indicating that they are immortal. Think of it. Would you like to be born immortal? I don’t think there is anyone who actually embraces death, but have you ever allowed yourself to consider the alternative? Provided that his health is good, that his social and financial situation is just a notch above average and that he has a happy life in general, man doesn’t want to shake off his mortal coil and say goodbye to everything and everyone who has helped him become the person he is. And that’s only normal and natural, I know, but just take a second to consider the opposite. Would you like to walk around knowing that you can take that same walk again tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, or in 10578 years? What’s the point in living if we don’t have a specific goal to work towards? How can anyone possibly be meant to lead a meaningful and accomplished life when there is no ‘dead’-line to make? You can put things off until no matter when, you will be there to do them anyway. Really, there seems so little point in being here, if you know you’ll be here for ever (and take a minute to reflect what ‘for ever’ actually means.) Imagine all the changes your environment goes through; compare it, if you will, with your own grandparents having to handle the internet or mobile phones, but then 100 times worse.

I think part of the reason why we have been capable of making progress in any field of science and learning is the fact that man has this uncontrollable need to prove himself, to leave a mark, to check off his ‘to do’-list before he leaves his earthly dwelling, to contribute to the lives of others, to ‘make a difference’. So, take away the appointment with death none of us is going to escape and what have you got left? A life, stretching out before you like a sea that never ends. And as incredible as sea trips can be, I am quite convinced that you don’t want to be on the water for ever. Even the most luxurious ships eventually – and luckily – come to shore. Water tends to frighten, tends to overwhelm by its depth and mystery; a life without an end must have about the same effect. Once you realise that you’re not going to be around for ever, you automatically want to make the most of it, you become active and productive because you know that you are in the prime of your life and that you won’t get a second chance to do it all over again. Even if it’s only calling a friend you haven’t seen in a long time, or finally finishing that project you started years ago, once you are aware of the shortness of life you become more dynamic. And this doesn’t mean that you are ever going to be ready or willing to leave all your accomplishments behind and swap your spot on earth for a less attractive spot under the earth; that means that you had a good and full life. And of course death impacts those who stay behind more than those who are taken away, but really what’s the point in living if there is no target to aim at. The sorry thing is obviously that none of us knows when that cut-off date is supposed to arrive. It could be tomorrow, it could be in half a century. And if you’re terribly optimistic, which I cannot deny myself to be, you could even say that the arbitrariness of death, pushes us to make the most out of EACH day and not only the days that we feel like making the most out of. I had never thought about the matter in this way, but I have to say that I am almost happy with the thought that I am mortal. I have a goal in my life, we all have a goal in our lives and that in itself should be enough to lead a challenging, yet interesting life. Of course I am not saying that I am going to start dancing around at people’s funeral because they have ‘reached their goal’, that would obviously be terribly indecent. And I know I will be absolutely devastated to lose a loved one but, still I think I prefer dying some day (and let’s hope not one of the following days, my ‘to do’ list is far from being checked off.) to staying around forever.

A new day tomorrow, I know what I am going to do and I thoroughly hope you will all experience the satisfying and blissful feeling of aiming for a target and reaching it.

“Aim at the sun and you may not reach it,

But your arrow will fly far higher than if aimed at an object

On a level with yourself” (Unknown)

Why I love English so much

This is what professor O'Connor wrote at the end of the first hand-out about our major paper. When I read it, I was absolutely convinced that I wasn't the only one who found this entertainingly witty and that's why I am sharing it with all those who want to read it!

Reasons why the English Language is hard to learn

1. The bandage was wound around the wound.
2. The farm was used to produce produce.
3. The dumps was so full that it had to refuse more refuse
4. We must polish the Polish furniture.
5. He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9. When, shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10. I did not object to the object.
11. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13. They were too close to the door to close it.
14. The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18. After a number of injections my jaw got number
19. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let’s face it – English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England nor French fries in France. Sweetmeats are dandies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.

We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers writer but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham?

If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend, that you comb through annals of history but not a single annal? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another?

Have you noticed that we talk about certain things only when they are absent? Have you ever seen a horseful carriage or a strapful gown? Met a sung hero or experienced requited love? Have you ever run into someone who was combobulated, gruntled, ruly or peccable? And where are all those people who ARE spring chickens or who would ACTUALLY hurt a fly?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn’t a race at all). That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible. However, when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it.

Visual Material of Antonin's Birthday party

Lydie in stylish pink protected against Canadian freezing temperatures!

Charlotte, Jessica (the 3rd of the French girls) and Linas, all three very aware of me taking a picture of them :)

Linas and Bram, in what seems to be an amusing conversation

Aurélie and Per, just the way he is, a lot of fun and a pinch of craziness :)

Belgian 'entretient' in the bar we went to afterwards!

The guys: Linas, Antonin the birthday boy and Bram, obviously thinking very deeply!

Per and I in a discussion, Charlotte very aware that someone is taking a picture!

Our table at Antonin's Birthday. We all enjoyed the meal ànd the Italian wine!

The potentially prophetic power of the letter 'B'

It's 10 pm in Toronto, I have just cooked a very quick meal of courgette, ginger and potatoes after my - late - Canadian Literature class. It is by far my most interesting course - and please note that I decided to take it only after week 2 which could mean that late and quick decisions could be just as valuable as very pondered ones. Not only is the professor incredible (you just cannot imagine how eloquent and intelligent that man is. I just sit in my little seat and listen with awe and admiration to the man, hoping that some day I might come near his talent, but realising that that's probably vain hope.), the things we discuss are always so captivating and so relevant to the scope of the course. Anyway, we are dealing with Canadian poetry at this point (F.R. Scott and A.M. Klein) and today we read a poem by Klein entitled Krieghoff: Calligrammes that looks at the possibilities of words on a page with regard to their colour and shape. Klein investigates in this poem the different options in painting (Krieghoff is a Canadian painter) and in poetry and raises the question whether letters are adequate substitutes for colours and shapes. He gives the poet a creative power in the sense that he can arrange letters, their order and their lay-out on the page and thereby creating meaning and evoke specific mental images in the reader's head. The poem reveals the power of language: the first line says 'Let the blank whiteness of this page be snow' and then you immediately picture snow. One word has the potential to create a whole scene, something a painter needs a whole painting for. Klein then goes on giving meaning to the shape of letters: 'the ladder H that prongs above the chimney' for instance, or 'bosomed farmwife B', which brings me to the title of this post!

After the break (I am going to start to point out from this paragraph onwards how the letter B is omnipresent in my life, I have only noticed it today! So, 'break', a B-word), professor O'Connor came walking in with a pile of papers which all of us immediately recognised as our corrected in-class essays of two weeks ago... 'I am going to make you wait for this for another hour. Think of it as a reward for coming out in this dreadful weather - rain all day - and for staying with me till the end' he said. Anyway, as the hour slowly passed by, I could feel the jitters increase and at 8.45 I really started wondering why for goodness sake I didn't go to the 'washroom' (the Canadian word for restroom/bathroom/toilet) during the break! And then, at 8.50, he started his speech - for Professor O'Connor does not lecture, he gives speeches, with an unrivalled persuasion and ardour - on the Leacock in-class essay. I can't remember all of his words right now, but I distinctly remember him saying (and again, that made a big impression): 'I urge you to NOT just look at the letter that will be written at the bottom of the comment sheet included with your essay. I make it an issue to write at least one page of comments per student, so those hundreds or thousands of letters of comment are far more valuable than that one letter you might all be looking for in a couple of minutes'. He distributed the corrected essays, I took mine, my hands definitely shaking, (I can't deny I feel worried about the high standards in this class) and didn't open the booklet until I got out of the class... I got a B+ and really could not believe it! (of course I got a B, what other letter would suit my life at this point!) I was so extremely relieved to realise that there is still hope of getting a good mark for the major paper of this class! I am extremely satisfied with the result because I wasn't at all confident of what I wrote during that one awful hour in class two weeks ago. His concluding remark was: A solid effort, Anouk! I don't know why, but I've got the impression that professors find me (or my writing) 'solid'... and the letter that apparently accompanies 'solid writing' is B, as I got a B+ for my Swift paper as well (and about the same comment)

Moving on to a completetly different sort of 'B', yesterday Laura Grace invited me to come over to Knox for her Birthday. We (i.e. the Knox girls and I) watched Sense and Sensibility, had some birthday cake and laughed quite a lot! Simple formula, but fun nonetheless.

I don't know whether there will be any more Bs, in one form or another, in the following days, but I can tell you that I wouldn't mind at all! Bram (there, another B!) has got his first midterm tomorrow and Per and the French girls had their first one today. It is awfully quiet on MSN and everyone seems to be surrounded with this halo of studying effort. I hope everything has gone and will continue to go well for everybody! My first midterm is next Monday but, in the meantime I've got some papers to write and some assignments to hand in. So, busy as ever on this side of the Atlantic, but the B's all make it worthwile!

Antonin turning 21

Last Thursday Antonin had his 21st birthday and neither Lydie nor Aurélie wanted to let that happy event pass without at least having a nice meal and a good glass of (non-Canadian) wine. We arranged to meet up in Little Italy, in the far west of Toronto and as Linas and I live in the far east of the city it took us a 45 minutes' walk through very wintery weather conditions: -3° according to some, 1° according to others; either way it felt cold! I am actually starting to worry about the state of affairs in winter... Anyway, we found a cosy little Italian restaurant and had a good meal with a nice glass (or some nice glasses) of wine. As ever, the atmosphere was good. Somehow, conversations never seem to stop in our little group and we also somehow laugh a lot thanks to some amusing characters among us. After dinner we went to a bar and had a drink, didn't stay too long because everyone except me seems to be troubled with midterms coming up. Linas and I took the streetcar home, endlessly prefering to be a bit lazy to walking all the way back in the cold night! End of a fun evening.

Earlier that day I received my grade for my Swift paper, the one I had worked quite hard on . When I saw my mark (B+) I was not really sure how to feel because I simply didn't know how letter grades translate to percentage grades. B+ turns out to be the equivalent of 78%, which, to me, is a very satisfactory result! I never expected to get more than 70% for a paper, because it is not easy to score higher than that on written assignments, in Leuven. I am starting to like U of T more every day! I also liked the comment Prof. de Quehen wrote next to the B+: A solid piece of writing, Anouk! I am actually relieved that I got a reasonable mark for my first paper, because I worked hard on it and put all my energy in it. The Canadian Literature major paper doesn't seem impossible anymore, although standards appear to be higher for that course... Oh dear!

Apart from that, nothing exciting has happened. Each and every student is preparing for midterms or working on papers or reading lists. I myself have just started Gulliver's Travels and I am working on my Can. Lit paper on two Canadian books about the problems that exist between English and French-speaking Canadians. Some elements look very familiar and sometimes it almost feels as if I am reading a story about Brussels instead of Montréal! I have an appointment with Prof. O'Connor on Monday, so I better get prepared for that!

Oh yes, a quite amusing thing is that I have had several Canadians coming up to me saying how much they like my name! The funniest two instances were a girl in my Swift class (You have my favourite name e-ver! My first daughter is definitely going to be called Anouk!) and Prof. O'Connor (I absolutely love your name! I somehow always picture Anouk Aimée, one of my favourite actresses. Do you know her?) - of course I do. She plays Napoléon's mother in the series. Quite an elegant lady, so I decided to take that as a compliment!

Reasons to be blissfully happy

Reasons to be blissfully happy about how life has treated me up until now:

- I am alive and kicking. My health condition is in no way - except for my horrid hand problem, but that in itself is not even worth mentioning- alarming or problematic, which I realise could change very rapidly

- I feel right about what I am doing at this point in my life and so far the decisions I made haven't backfired on me (so far...!) This goes for studying as well as for every-day life

- I have a bio rythm a lot of people could envy. I can get the most out of my day thanks to my unusal capacity to survive on 6 hours of sleep. I only lose one quarter of my day in slumber, isn't that great?! I have got three quarters left to embrace life and enjoy it to the fullest.

- The more I am learning about literature and the more I am acutally reading, the more I am convinced that books and essays have richness beyond the power of money and wealth. I thoroughly enjoy reading and admiring other people's wit and talent and feel proud of the whole race of mankind when I do!

- I have a great number of people that care about me. This wasn't always obvious to me but I realised that the absence from my usual environment does affect at least some people and I have to admit that this is at times flattering...(ah! Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas...!) It also shows that man needs other people around him to confirm his exsitence, to mirror his acts and to exchange bits and pieces of his personality. And I am aware that I am building new friendships that might even have the potential to become life-lasting ones.

- I deeply enjoyed witnissing Toronto wake up this morning. It's one of those small things only a few people seem to understand. Getting up early, light has not yet reached your part of the world, opening a window, and listening, smelling and feeling how every aspect of the city or village you're in comes to life again, as by wonder, every second counts, every minute alters the view you have, alters the sounds, even alters the smells. It's one of those moments that just make you aware that we are but dots in the spectrum of the universe.

- I am in Toronto and I am able to enjoy what this great city has to offer. I can walk past Starbucks and smell the coffee and muffins, I can watch the squirrel population, with which I have agreed on a truce in battle, I can cross College Street first to the North, then to the West, or the other way around, it doesn't really matter, life just gives me the opportunity to choose, I can go to Dominion 24/7 and decide whether to have Beef Beyond Belief or Pork Chops, I can go to Hart House to have lunch or to read, I can meet all the new people this exchange adventure has thrown in my way (thank you very much) and I can come 'home' and check my e-mail and realise people back home haven't forgotten me. Not bad, ey?!

- My life is as organised and as ordered as I would have liked it to be. A perfect balance of obligations and decisions, just the way I like it.

- My personality is impregnated with optimism and rationality, which in my opinion are good qualities most of the time. I am absolutely aware that those two characteristics are a rare combination and I have noticed that some people could do with some more of one or both of them. Nonetheless I have to admit that there are limits to everything (and I sometimes tend to cross the limits of rationality...)

- I am particulary proud of you for finishing this ridiculously selfish and uninteresting post. Go on and congratulate yourself, be proud of it too! I might as well hand out a prize for those of you who are brave enough to send me an email and admit that they read it through!

Thanksgiving dinner photos (2)

Lydie and Aurélie, les deux Parisiennes! Thanks for the pictures photos guys!


You can find the complete set of Thanksgiving pictures on my MSN-space. Hope everyone has access by now!







Lydie, helping herself to some Thanksgiving desserts: pumpkin pie, apple pie, cranberry pie and chocolates.











Charlotte, University of Amsterdam, and I at the ISC Thanksgiving dinner. Charlotte was not as tired as she looks on this picture!











Table overview. I am surrounded by mainly French speaking people! Très sympa!













Linas and I again. Linas lives 18 floors higher at Neill-Wycik! Nice to have someone around in my area of Toronto!











Deep conversations at that end of the table!













Pretty self-explanatory: me, Aurélie and Linas!

Thanksgiving dinner photos (1)

Left to right: Linas, originally from Lithuania but studying at La Sorbonne, Thom from the UK, Malte and Jens from Arhus and finally Josephine from Sweden. They aparently all like the Canadian beer...














Aurélie and me. Aurélie studies Financial Economics in Paris Dauphine, together with Lydie and Jessica. Great girls!












Antonin, de la Sorbonne :) and Lynette, from the University of Amsterdam in a conversation with many communication gaps.













Antonin and Lydie, both from Paris, in the Crocodile Rock.

Check this out...

Remember I told you about Honest Ed's? The guy even has a website and even Wikipedia has a page dedicated to good old Ed!

http://honesteds.sites.toronto.com/

Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend

A chaotic week finally ends! There were just too many assignments, papers, presentations and exercises to go through! It felt good to walk home on Friday after class knowing that a long and relatively stressless weekend was awaiting me. On Monday I had a Medieval French exercise to hand in (which virtually takes you all Sunday to make!), on Tuesday I had a very stressful in-class essay on a book by a Canadian author. Standards are high in that class and to quote our professor's guidelines for the essay:
" I shall be grading your performance, not your potential, in this assignment. It is entirly your responsibility to ensure that they are one and the same. Please do so, thereby giving me the delightful prospect of doling out high grades with profligate abandon"
An intimidating piece of encouragement, if you're asking me. On Wednesday, I spent most of my time editing and re-editing my Swift-paper, which I had to hand in on Thursday. Thursday afternoon I had another in-class essay on Moi, Tituba, sorcière... one of the African Literature class books. I don't see why professors want to test how well you can do in artificial circumstances, writing as much as you can in one hour at a deadly pace , making sure that not only the contents is acceptable, but that the language and style exceed that of an average Anglophone. I can assure you that after that one hour, you are completely empty and worn out. On Friday I had to hand in a library assignment for '18th Century Women Writing', which was a totally useless exercise. One part of the assignment made you go into Robarts library - a maze in itself- and look at microfilms till your eyes blur. The good thing about it was that the professor also made us go to the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library to look at some genuine 18th Century books. Quite intriguing to hold a copy of the first edition of Anne Finch's poetry in your hands! And then, it was Friday, 4pm and I felt freed of a burden! I was looking forward to the ISC Thanksgiving dinner and to a long weekend (no classes on Monday) of studying and fun.

The Dinner turned out to be great, the food as well as the company. We had everything that is supposed to be there when you celebrate Thanksgiving in North America: turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, 'yams', huge potatoes with sour cream and pumpkin, apple or cranberry pie as a dessert. It was great to actually taste what you see in so many films! Nice table decorations, people in a cheerful mood and a bit dressed up, it somehow reminded me of Christmas... After the meal we went to 'Crocodile Rock' (slogan: 'Having a crocking good time'), a club in downtown Toronto, with the European lot. At the entrance, the female part of the group got a pleasant surprise: ladies night, no cover :) The man at the entrance set the mood welcoming me with 'come on in, sweetheart, no paying for you tonight'. We had fun talking and have some drinks. The Canadian beer, by the way, is not a high-flyer, especially when you've got the Belgian examples to compare with. I also get to work on my French quite a lot, as the French part of the group doesn't really mind switching back to their mother tongue ;). It was quite late when I got home, but the amount of fun made up big for the loss of sleep! As soon as Aurélie sends me her pictures I will post them here and on my MSN-space.

Today, I have been reading, writing and keeping up with my correspondence. Laundry this morning and a walk to Hart House Library in the afternoon to have a change in environment. No particular plans for tomorrow or Monday so far, but it appears to be that plans are made up 'as you go' here, which adds to the fun-level I guess!

I have been in Toronto for a month now and I just cannot believe how fast this has gone! A quarter of my precious time here is already over... With school, friends and daily toil, days just seem to pass like hours! I am really enjoying every minute of this unique experience and so far the positive aspects far outnumber the negative ones! It is so different from Leuven and Europe and yet all of us seem to thoroughly enjoy it. Toronto is a great city for people dropping by for a short period in their lives. The city is alive with young and dynamic people, everybody trying to find their own way here. Eventhough you encounter hundreds and hundreds of nationalities, Toronto makes you feel at home in between the mix of colours and the bustling activity typical of a young city. It's great, you should come and see for yourselves!

Photo link

For those of you who want to picture the whole thing, I posted some photos on my MSN-space. Here's the address:
http://jededeauville.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?owner=1
Hope to post some more visual material later!

Sa underbart!

This Saturday, the 'European lot' joined the ISC on the trip to Niagara Falls, Niagara wine festival and Niagara-on-the-Lake. Departure at 9 am, luckily not at 9 sharp or some of us would have had to stay in Toronto... Our- female- bus driver took us to Niagara Falls in an hour and a half and dropped us off right in front of them! We decided to take 'The Maid of the Mist' as we only had two hours to look around and to get the real experience, we got some *fashionable* rain coats and embarked on 'the vessel'! Quite an experience, I have to say, the water, the mist, the humidity and the power of nature... and us in our plastic blue coats. I felt so extremely little when we headed for the horse shoe falls. You are actually surrounded by mist, damp and water and all you can see is the massive amount of water heading towards you, but then just thundering down where the cliff ends. Per (from Sweden, great guy, especially when he speaks Swedish sa underbart!!!) told me that the Falls rank amoungst the 7 world wonders, and I can sure understand why. It really was impressive to look at! After our Maid of the Mist ride we had lunch in Niagara Falls-city (or whatever you call the city near the falls!), which was extremely touristy and very Las-Vegas-in-Canada-ish. In our yellow bus (the ISC fellows sure seem to like those yellow school buses!) we headed towards the wine festival in Niagara. In Europe, when mentioning a wine festival, you automatically picture a quite elitist sort of event, with nicely dressed,elegant and distinguished people. Well, in Canada this is not exactly the case. Next to the wine stands, there are hotdogs, Thai food, or barbeque dishes, which sums up to lots of smells mixed and the fat American sort of people you see in films. Add to that very noisy cover bands and you've got Niagara wine festival! Nonetheless, we had a good time there, chatting and tasting the Canadian wine (which is not half as good as French or Italian wine). After two hours of alcohol :) we left for the final stop of our trip: Niagara-on-the-Lake. We only spent 40 minutes there, as we were running out of time. A very Disney-like touristy little town with a lot of - heavily overpriced - shops and tons of French tourists! In general a very entertaining day! By now, we have formed some sort of 'European group' (the Korean/Japanese/Chinese/Taiwanese tend to glue together) consisting of: Per (Sweden), Thomas (England), Aurélie, Lydie and Sabrina (3 'Françaises'), Antonin (France), Jens and Malte(Denmark), Linas (Lituania/France) and Bram and me. We tend to have interesting and fun topics to talk about and I hope we will get to know each other better during the following weeks.
Once we arrived in Toronto on Saturday evening I rushed to my room, picked up my stuff and rushed back to Laura-Grace's room in Knox College for a girl's night! We first did some French homework, finding ourselves immensely brave to be able to show the courage to start doing homework at 9pm, and then watched Pride and Prejudice with the other people of the residence. Unfortunately, it was America's (Kiera Knightly) version, with the extra scene in the end. In my opinion Jane Austen would have absolutely loved the film, but must have absolutely hated the last scene. It is just sooo extremely unlikely that Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy would behave like they did in that scene! Quite a shame, I should not have watched those last 5 minutes, when I come to think of it, it just reduced the fun of it! We had a nice evening, including popcorn, pops, sweets and chocolates and lots of chatting! When we finally went to bed, we had all hoped for a sound night's sleep, but Knox's fire alarm prevented that! The thing went mad at 4.15 and they were only able to turn it off at 5.15! Not good for some of us, although I didn't mind the loss of the precious hours of sleep and found the whole enchilada very amusing! Quite an uproar at Knox, which is usually calm and silent! I joined the girls for a late brunch (those UofT meal plans are sure worth the money!) and headed to St. Michael's Library at around 2pm. I finished my assignment and did some Medieval French language (I am absolutely dreading that exam!).
Dinner at Bram's and then a peaceful night in bed, that's all there's left to the weekend!

How Canadian Literature can lead one to ponder...

ENG356H1. A course code among so many others, but Topics in Canadian literature: Literary Montreal really grabbed me by the throat yesterday. At the moment we are reading and discussing Stephen Leacock's Arcadian Adventures of the Idle Rich, a story set in Chicago (but you have to imagine it's Montreal. That's how modern literature works, or so I have been told.) about the 'happy few', the 'square milers', the 'new money', the very rich. The book is one big satire on a class that is idle, immensely corrupt, naive and extremely wealthy. Leacock satirizes this class - curious thing to know is that he worked himself up and managed to belong to the 'idle rich' himself - all through the 200 pages, no alternative presented, no redemption, no building up, only towing down. Around page 150 I started wondering whether he was actually going to propose a solution to the corruption and power of money, but as the question crossed my mind, I felt incredibly naive. Of course he was not going to present me with a perfect solution, of course there was not going to be a happy last line to the novel, this is just how this social class works apparently. That was more or less how I felt when finishing the book. When I got to the class things got clearer. Professor O'Connor encourages - read: gently forces - us to give our own opinion on the book in order to start the discussion (this is what we do during the first of the 3-hour lecture!). As I heard the different interpretations and thoughts of my fellow students, I realised that I was not the only one looking for a positive note amoung the bitterness. And then there was this one comment of a girl sitting in the second row:
' Professor, why didn't Leacock bring a middle class family into the story, in order to contrast their 'virtue' with the 'vice' of the idle rich?'
And Prof. O'Connor replied: 'Dear X (here he said the girl's name, he knows us all by name, unfortunately I can't remember hers), maybe there is no such thing as 'virtue'. Maybe Leacock didn't bring another class into the story because maybe, middle class members are just as corrupt, idle and vicious as the idle rich. I want each and every one of you to think about this. Look at yourselves, are you not part of 'the idle rich'? Are our politicians not corrupt? Is our system not characterised by inefficiency and an enormous waste of money and time?'
And all went silent... We all read the book and I think we all read it as a satire on the really well-off people, the ones who own yachts and summer houses, the ones who play golf and drive Bentley's, but I don't think any of us thought about their own 'class', none of us even considered looking at their own situation... At first there was a long silence and then someone just asked another question and the discussion went on, but as for me, I was really taken aback by what had just occured in the 405 classroom in Carr Hall.

After the 3-hour lecture, I went over to Marie's place for pizza, some wine and international company. I didn't stay long, but had some good laughs with Marie, Lena and Bram; the atmosphere was good, the weather was ok (Marie has a roof terrace) and the conversations interesting. Probably the best way to get over a class as stomach punching as that one!

As for today, I just managed to get my first choice topic for my Bachelor paper: 'Jane Austen, critical debates', which I am very thrilled about. I logged on not a minute too early, because by the time I was enrolled all spaces were taken! Crazy system anyway...
Tomorrow, I will have to give on oral presentation on my Swift paper. Hopefully that works out as well. I will actually feel relieved when that's over!