Montreal in pictures

I am procrastinating...

1. School trip to the beach an hour outside of montreal - I love blue sky!
2. Just for Laughs festival - a festival of "funny" performances. Floats and confetti! it's Mr. Bean!


3. The biodome/ olympic - a zoo and the olympic thing... from 1967 - basically - a momento with a good view...
4. Notre Dam Basilica
5. The police concert
6. The Gay Pride Parade.
7. Picnic Electronic - a sunday rave in the park :)
8. Montreal Graffiti

Je suis contente

Bonsour!

Shall we backtrack? The last days in Beijing were spent sight seeing on a tight budget (I spent all my money and was unable to get my hands on more -eek!) BUT - that did not prevent me from hitting sanlitun one last time and somehow loosing my cellphone on my last night in Beijing - honestly - I was able to last two months without that happening! Good news is someone found it - bad news is the pricetag associated with mailing that baby back to Canada.

So begins my Montreal trip. Yes, I flew straight from Beijing to Montreal - I landed on the night of Sunday July 8 and started classes the following morning (I am learning french through the Je Explore program). The week was filled with jet-leg and shock as I met a pinch of the 400 other Canadians who were participating in the program. By July 12 however, I was fed up with my jetleg and googled Indie concerts to catch - amazingly I found one by Built to Spill (said to have influenced Death Cab for Cutie and Modest mouse)- and so I set forth with a new found newfie friend.

The arrival of the weekend: Sigh - three simple words - I LOVE MONTREAL. The weekend was amazing!
Friday: FREE Reggae fest featuring Kymoni Marley (son of Bob Marley).
Saturday: St. Catherine Street's big street sale that happens once a year - people from the states and ontario drive up for this event... I buy lots including winter boots (I realize I will not be able to use them this season but winter will creep up soon enough), but only spend $170; I also caught David Usher performing for free at this street sale :) The street sale is followed by a Creole festival and the International Fireworks festival - US was presenting that night and did an excellent montage of Elvis songs and fireworks.
Sunday Tam Tam - Every sunday people get together to play drums and dance in the park - enough said. Oh - while this is happening, grownups dress up in mid-evil clothes and battle each other in another side of the park... this event is for those who never want to grow up or who enjoy fighting...

And pray tell how is my week shaping up compared to my weekend? I have visited the Just for laugh festival, had the best yoga class I ever had - for free, had a visit from my parents, aunt, cousin, and uncle, visited the complimentary hot tub and sauna on campus, saw the Canadian fireworks, went cyclo-ballade...yes, je suis contente.

This weekend? African festival, probably fireworks once more, electronic picnic "festival," a visit to the beach, maybe a visit to Laronde - the amusement park, and possibly a visit to Just for Laughs once more.

Until next time, a bientot!

Long awaited update

It's been a while - I see that someone commented on the last post but I can't open it to view it!!! For all I know you are probably swearing at me - no worries I'll soon be in Canada and will have full access.

Over the week in Wuhan I got to know the 18 interns pretty well - it is incredible - the aiesec chapter only is 9 months old and they have 18 interns with two more in interviews!! I was there training members on how to do aiesec and absolutely enjoyed my time there.

Wuhan enjoyable moments:
- hanging with the interns and eating with four of them at a hole in the wall place - literally. quite the culture shock for them - and when i announced that I've eaten at worse, including one where - I ate at it and the following week it disappeared - after hearing that they were more shocked
- touring around wuhan without the locals as a tourguide - lots of questions asked on directions but the feeling of triumph once reaching your destination is awesome!
- feeling like I was in Cuba - let's face it - this China trip has become known as the Remnants of Cuba trip.

From Wuhan I rushed off to Qingdao - a beach city that once was owned by a Kaiser - if I thought I was in Cuba before - hello! This would remind me even more of it. Highlights included:
-trying to sleep on the train ride down on hard seats - at one point Steph (US) was sleeping on two of us
-getting a tan and seeing everyone ELSE but me get sun burnt
-the seafood hotpot and rediscovering my love for clams and mussels
-a climb through a damp, dark, cool mountain
-parachute surfing or whatever you call it

A random from the trip:
-discovering at the train station that we got tickets for the wrong day and the train was sold out - people have to work the following day and so we need to leave tonight - after about an hour of research/negotiations, we are able to find a bus home to Beijing - arrival time? 8am - people were late for work but hey the made it. This is a nightmare from the book for travelers - but it was fun to deal with.

Until next time (probably Montreal), zaijian!