Those Autumn Leaves

I have managed to find a few spare minutes at school to update this blog of mine.

I thought I`d do a rundown of all the places I have been since being here, more for my own benefit than anything else. I want to look over this blog when the year is over and see how my opinion of the place has changed.

The region I am in is called Beauce and reminds me of this French film we had to study called Bienvenue chez les Chtis, which is about the stereotypical views that the people in the South of France have about the North of France. I guess there is a parallel there between the image Southerners have of the Northeners in England. Beauce is actually in the South of Quebec and Borders Maine, in the USA. A common phrase used to describe anything peculiar here is "We're in La Beauce" (Said in a kind of Southern States accent).

La Beauce is the Maple Region and the trees are turning absolutely beautiful shades of orange, pink, red and brown. I feel very fortunate to be able to wake up and see how the leaves have changed. I also have a mesmerizing view of these leaves on the way to school

These are the leaves outside my window. It is coming into winter now so the amazing colours have faded a bit now and it's only October!









This is taken looking towards the CEGEP, which is the local sixth form college. Jen actually took this photo! All the colours are incredible. 


This is a panoramic shot that I took this morning (October 14th 2012) purely for the purpose of finally capturing this thick fog that engulfs the valley. There is heavy fog along the river but you can still make out the church just to the right of the big roof in the centre of the shot. If only it wasn't in the way!

Where I live, in Saint-Georges, there are 2 beautiful churches and I have a view from my room which overlooks the River Chaudiere and I can see one of the churches which is on the other side of the river. 

(This is a better picture of the view)

Although the town is fairly urban for Quebec, we definitely are living in a valley. 
There are ridiculously steep hills on either side of the river and my house is on one of them! Luckily Nicole pointed out a way that is less steep to walk, which is useful when we want to walk or cycle to and from town. 


 As my house is on the side of the hill, from my bedroom window, I can see the sunset every evening, which is an absolutely stunning site and yesterday morning when I woke up, there was a really thick layer of fog that looked like clouds hovering above the river! Jen ran to get her camera to photograph it, but she got a splinter on the stairs, so we missed it!

*Note to self, always have camera battery charged!*


The house is a really good size for 4 of us and there are 6 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a basement, a kitchen/living room area and a lovely porch with rocking chairs on it! There is also a little bit of grass surrounding the house, which will be ideal for sunbathing on when the Summer arrives.

At the moment, the temperature has severely dropped and the wind that comes off the river is quite strong and icy. There was lots of frost on the ground today, which signalled to me that I should start investing in some Winter gear. I am definitely thankful that I lugged by black Winter coat over from England, although I am going to have to invest in some kind of gortex/keep me really warm coat as it`s going to reach – 30 in about a month.
I have just received news that there is snow in Vancouver, and it`s only the beginning of Autumn! I`m not ready for the snow to come yet! I have no idea how I am meant to walk to and from the Ecole Lacroix (where the school bus picks me up from) and Polyvalent Saint Georges (where I get dropped off in the evening) because both places require walking / sliding up and down hills!

At the top of the hill I live on, there is a small shop called Metro, which does some fresh fruit and vegetables and really tempting cakes and biscuits that I am trying to stay away from. They had chocolate covered Anzac biscuits, which I managed to resist buying but that`s probably what I will be sending the family for Christmas!

This is the car we brought between the 5 of us.
It now has duct-tape holding the window up and one of the door handles is missing. the breaks were apparently new when we brought it, but every time we go down a hill and have to break softly, the car judders. Definitely getting that looked at! The last three letters of the car's registration plate are DYX, so we have called the car Dyxie!




The gym I go to is called Centre Tonus. I have to wonder if tonus is some kind of Latin word for ‘tone’…let’s hope so! I really enjoy going there as I like the atmosphere and there is a Sauna. I’m not really into saunas at the moment, but I am sure when winter sets in I will be! I bumped into a guy there that  I met at a friend’s party a few evenings before; I am begin to feel more like a local now! Annie has given me some gym chat that I am supposed to pull out when I meet men at the gym. I have had to google the meanings of ‘hip adducter’ and ‘hip abductor’ but according to Annie, I am to tell these men that these exercises are a waste of time. Of course, I really look like the type of person that would be able to tell the difference and advise muscular men on the worth of such exercises…

There is one street in St Georges with 47 bars on it. I can safely say that I think I have only been to 3 of these in my time here. It’s slightly worrying that there is a huge driving culture as well as a massive drinking culture. Whenever we walk anywhere, people stare at us like we are aliens! They genuinely can’t understand why we would want to walk anywhere! I asked Tanya about why these Beaucerons stare at us and she said that they are naturally curious people and that if there was a fire or an accident, these people would pull up a chair and watches the proceedings. She called them “curious” although a few other choice words might be more apt! She also said that the smell of manure is “the smell of Beauce”. Lovely!

Saint-Georges is the biggest town in the Beauce region, so a lot of my students and their families come here to do their food shops/general shopping. I have seen about 4 pupils and their families so far. They are much more polite around their parents that they are in my class. I had to stop myself from talking about how well the “Weed Team” did in their quiz on British Trivia the other day, in front of one boy’s mother. On the other hand, the parents look stunned when they see their children having a conversation in a language other than French as English is so rarely spoken here. I also had the pleasure of being greeted in a clothes shop by a girl called Kim that I had kicked out of my class the day before.

I have offered to help out with the Scouts and I am to have my first meeting tomorrow evening, 9th October.

Tonight I have to do an audition for La Societé Lyrique de Beauce, which shouldn't be a problem. I sang with them last week but didn't audition as the Director wasn't there. He had been in France for some reason. At Christmas time they do a few concerts in Beauce and even go up to Quebec City and join with another choir there for a Christmas concert. I believe there is another concert in May too. Everyone in the choir was so welcoming last week and sorted out someone to take me to and from choir. One lady told me I was very classy, which I was quite pleased with and she liked my accent in English and French. The other ladies in the choir were very helpful in getting me all the music that I would need. The President of the society told me that European French is essentially English because of all the Anglicisms they have adopted. Jen was with me at this point, and pointed out that here they say, “C’est le fun” (it’s fun). And that isn’t an Anglicism?! It was all in good humour and it has become a joke now between the president and I.

I think that is it from Saint-Georges but I will be sure to update this page if any more St-G things come to mind. 

Thanks for reading!
xx