Crippled in Canada

So, last weekend (27th October) I managed to sprain my ankle.

I was walking with the Scouts from the log cabin to the main part of the scout grounds along a rocky, muddy and wet path in the middle of the forest. I stepped on a rock, slipped to the left and went over on my ankle. Falling down on top of it didn`t help either. At the time, I couldn`t decide whether I was more upset about my mud covered jeans or the searing pain through my ankle and outside of my foot! Luckily I was wearing walking boots, otherwise I`m sure the outcome would have been much worse.

At the time, I was walking alongside one of the scouts called Hugo. When I fell, he called to Aurianne, to tell Samuel, to tell Anna that I`d hurt myself! I decided to cut out the middle man and using all those projection techniques I have acquired through 10 years of singing training, called out to Anna. As Anna recounts, she was walking and suddenly heard an echoing voice through the trees saying “Anna, I`ve hurt my ankle”! Anna and the scouts kindly helped me to my feet and Anna helped me back to the main camp. Luckily the pain subsided after a little while and I was able to walk by myself.

By the time scout camp had finished, I was sat in Eric`s car with a very painful foot, asking Anna to distract me from the pain by talking about random things. I was also feeling sorry for myself that I probably wouldn`t be able to go to the Halloween party that evening. But did that stop me?! In retrospect, I should have stayed in and looked after my ankle, but other assistants from Quebec had come to st Georges for the Canadian Assistant`s party at her house and I decided that I couldn`t just not go. After a glass of port, I could no longer feel the pain and went to the party. This was most definitely not helpful, but I didn`t want to miss out on the fun!

In the morning, my ankle looked like a clubbed foot and many jokes were made about this as the swelling was ridiculous! I spent the day icing and resting but it didn`t make much difference. All of my housemates were nursing hangovers so they weren`t able to go to the shop to get me a bandage. Luckily Pascal popped around and he very kindly went to Dollarama and got bandages, ice packs, heat packs and even a knee support...ominous!

The swelling!

Luckily Monday was my day off, so I called Stephane and warned him that I was going to go to the hospital (as he would have to pay for it). He advised me to go to the Clinique Familial but to get there before 8.30.As none of my housemates could drive me because they had to go to school, I ended up walking to the Clinique only to find out that by the time I got there just before 8.30, there were no appointments left. Definitely unable to walk, I called a taxi and went to the hospital. I arrived at about 9 and didn`t leave until just before 4. As I had been to the hospital with Jen a few weeks before, I knew that I need a hospital card, so I set about sorting that out first. Under Mum`s direction, I had already called the insurance company and had all my papers and passport with me. It was also very fortunate that in the front of my school planner, I had mindlessly written all of my details in the front when I was bored one day, so when it came to giving the secretary all of my details, all she had to do was photocopy my planner. Well done me!

The secretary wanted an upfront payment of $570 for going to A&E. I tried to explain to the lady the instructions of the insurance man, which were that I wasn`t to pay for the treatment, but they were to call the insurance company and they should deal with each other directly. As this was not the norm, the secretary didn`t believe me and things became very stressful, especially as I didn`t want to mess up making an insurance claim later. And so began the long process of trying to get hold of Stephane. He had told me that he would take his phone to class so that if I needed him to pay anything, he would be able to speak to the hospital on the phone. However, Stephane had left his phone in the car. I then called the school office and they took a message for me. I explained to the secretary that Stephane would come and pay for me in his break and that seemed to please the secretary.

 I was then allowed to go to the Emergency Room, where I was checked out by the nurse immediately. She poked and prodded for a little while and decided that it was worth filling out another form on. She asked me to describe my pain as the box has to be ticked on their system. I had no idea what any of the words on her list meant! I kind of tried to explain, but the problem was that my ankle didn`t hurt continuously at this point, it was just really swollen and I couldn`t really move it. I ended up telling her that the pain moved from place to place.

I then had to sit in the waiting room along with a crazy guy that tried to engage me in conversation, a woman on an IV drip, a man with a big bandage around his head (a la Mr Bump!) and a woman with a urine sample, waiting to go back in to give it to the Doctor. It was ridiculously overcrowded and there was no phone signal either. When Stephane asked me what it was like going to the hospital here, I told him it was like being in Africa. I guess it made even our NHS look good. Luckily he found this funny as a big topic of conversation here is how bad the hospitals are here, even though people pay lots of tax. My sec 1 class the following day told me that you have to make hospital appointments 4 months in advance. I joked that I`m going to book an appointment for January now, just in case anything happens and they all agreed that it was probably a good idea!

I was seen by the doctor after 4 hours and he gave me crutches and he thought my foot was fractured. This is the logic of people here...I was carrying a bag, a coat and numerous forms...How on earth was I supposed to use crutches?! I then had to go and have 5 x-rays and then wait another hour to get the results of the x-rays from the doctor. I couldn`t understand what he said was wrong, but I understood that it wasn`t fractured or broken, so I guess it`s sprained.

I then had to go back to the secretary with a dozen more forms and I told her that I couldn`t pay yet as Stephane still hadn`t got back to me. I tried calling the school and they said he would call me back when he finished his class. The woman called the school herself and said that she couldn`t let me leave the hospital until the bill was settled, so she took my passport and told me to sit where she could see me. I remembered that a friend from choir worked at the hospital, so I asked the receptionist to call her, and she came and found me. She spoke to the lady that had taken my passport and told her that I wasn`t out to cheat the medical system and I got my passport back. Lousie Rachel also gave me some money to go to the cafeteria to get some lunch as I hadn`t been able to eat since 8am.

Stephane eventually arrived and paid. We had to sort out a medical report that I needed to make the insurance claim. They gave me a receipt, which listed everything that I had had done, but there was no diagnosis on there, so I guess I am going to have to go back. They are so disorganised that I doubt they even have it on file!

That evening my ankle became much more painful and I was at choir at the time. The ladies from choir gave me pain killers and anti-inflammatory pills and then Louise Rachel took me to her house and gave me some prescription drugs, which she had been given samples of because she works in the health clinic!

Luckily my ankle is now on the mend, a week later and hopefully I will be able to walk again in no time!

xx

Thanks Giving in St G.

Thanks Giving in Canada isn’t celebrated like it is in the States. It’s a much more modest affair and most people don’t even celebrate it. It is meant to be a a day of thanking the Lord for the harvest.

I got quite stressed out about Thanks Giving as we were having about 15 people over that weekend and nothing had been organised properly. As per usual, I wanted everything to be perfect! The idea of having everyone trying to cook a separate dish in our tiny kitchen throughout the course of the day caused me a ridiculous amount of stress! Furthermore, no one knew who was bringing what or at what time anyone was arriving. A conversation with Mum and Gilly sorted this of course!

I bet Nigella never had these issues! During the course of the cooking Daisy and I had much fun doing Nigella impersonations and telling each other to “Nigella over it”! We were saddened that we had forgotten our silk dressing gowns which meant that we couldn’t fully capture the Nigella essence (Hopefully someone has picked up on the Vanilla essence pun there!).

 versus

Laughing a lot at the comparison here. How does she never look frazzled?!

Everyone arrived on Saturday and we went out into town. We started off at Dooly’s, which is a pool bar. Annie and I started a game and everyone else got involved, which was good fun. Then we went to La Chambre Noire, which is one of the clubs in St Georges. We ended up dancing on the tables. It was October Fest themed, which explained the lederhosen and green hats! We thought that the tables were deliberately angled with one end broken for ease of access onto the tables, but it turned out that the picnic tables in there were not intended to be danced on, rather for arm wrestling….oops.

Although the dinner turned out to be a scrumptious feast, the day itself was hectic with an early morning trip to the hospital with Jen. She had tooth ache and worried that it was an abscess  so wanted to get it checked out and I offered to keep her company. Luckily Jen already had the hospital card, so we just had to wait for only 4 hours to see the doctor. Public health care...rolls eyes!

After the long wait, we went to the supermarket and brought everything we could think of that we would need for Thanks Giving. Really disgusting moment when perusing the chickens and ended up with chicken blood all over my hands. Hardly a Lady Macbeth moment, but still gross!

Most people helped out with the dinner. Annie, Jen, Harry and I pretty much blitzed it! So proud of the team work! Curried sweet potatoes were Annie’s recommendation and were actually so good! Harry made the yummiest gravy and Jen and I took control of veg and helping Annie with the chicken. I have learned that the best part of the chicken is the oyster… We attempted to make stuffing but accidentally burned it in the oven!

The end product:

Annie and I relaxing after a few hours of cooking!

For dessert, Harry had made a Maple Syrup tart which was delicious and Daisy had made apple crumble; my favourite!

The night before, I had attempted to make rocky road. In the end I succeeded but had a nightmare trying to melt the darn chocolate. After a disaster at Williamson at Royal Holloway when I tried to melt chocolate in the microwave and ended up smoking out our corridor,  I decided to try and melt the chocolate in a bowl over boiling water. This failed miserably and then I read on the back of the packet that you are meant to microwave it… No comment...

So I had to go to the shop again to buy more! In the end, it was actually really yummy! A bon effort as htey say in franglais!

We then played the “who am I?” game and “ consequences” and went to bed. All of my consequences seemed to start with “My Mum” which was quite amusing!

On Monday, everyone left and we spent the day cleaning. We spotted some people going through our bins and got a bit worried. A woman came and knocked on our door. I opened it cautiously, thinking she was going to reprimand us for all the noise we made the night before. But no! She was wondering if she could have all of our bottles and cans as they can get money back for them by taking them to the Depaneur! They have even given us a special bin to put wine bottles etc in! The man that came to help the lady said that in return he would shovel our drive for us in Winter. Pretty good deal but I hope Pascal doesn’t feel displaced.
So that was my first Thanks Giving and although dramatic, it was a lot of fun and the food was incredible!

Would I do it all again? We'll see!

Happy Thanks Giving from the British Council Language Assistants folks! xx

Lac Mégantic

Hello!

The weekend after we went to Quebec City Jen, Beth and I drove to Lac-Mégantic, which is about an hour South of St Georges.

We couldn’t have picked a worse day to go! It poured with rain! It was definitely worth it just to get out of the house and to go somewhere that we hadn’t been before.

Beth and me at Lac Méganitc

Jen drove there and as we were on one of the main roads, a pick-up truck overtook us. As this truck sidled in front of us, we were presented with the backside of a recently hunted moose. I guess hunting season had started! Something that I haven’t seen yet, as I think St Georges is too “urban” is the customary moose head that people here put on their cars to display their hunting prowess. However, as I was on the bus to Ste Prosper the other day, I did see a dead deer hung up on a child’s play frame in someone’s garden. You have to put it somewhere I suppose!

We parked in the car park at Lac Mégantic but it was far too wet to walk around it. There is a cycle path around the lake, which would be nice to do on a better day. We went and found a little diner where we had free refill coffee. We sat at the counter in true Diner style! We were so close to the American boarder that we got back in the car and headed there. We found the boarder and a little shop there that had a massive bear fur in the middle of the floor, with the bear’s head attached!

After leaving this weird and wonderful shop, we headed back to st Georges via a dodgy looking Motel to use their amenities. On the way to the boarder, I had seen a view point where you could look over Lac Mégantic. We climbed to the top of this wooden tower and took some pictures although they didn’t come out very well due to the rain and fog.

Up the wooden tower over looking Lac Mégantic

The Lac (Photo courtesy of my blographer, Jen Simpson!)

On the way back, it was interesting to notice how the very hilly roads looked a bit like a piece of strewn ribbon! A rather poetic approach to a hilly road, but a simile that I thought worth noting down!

More to come guys!
xx

Pootling around the QC

Hello!

This is the next instalment in the Katy Chronicles.

After Annie posted on Facebook about meeting up in Quebec for a long weekend, the colocs (French for house mates) and I drove up on the 21st September to meet up with various people and to do some sightseeing. This was our second time up to the QC. The first time was to buy mobiles and to have a look at the Mall Laurier. On this trip, we met the Canadian assistants through Daisy. Their names are Caitlyn, Jim, Rebecca (dark hair), Rebecca (Hipster) and Quin. Since this first RDV (French for a meet up), we have met up a few times. These people are so sweet and generous. It’s interesting to find out more about Canada from them. More on these fine fellows later!

I had my induction for the gym that morning. Feeling incredibly optimistic and ready to embrace fitness, I cycled down to the gym. This part was fine as it was all downhill and faster than walking! However, the problem occurred after a 90 minute work out and about a thousand squats! In that British way, I decided that wearing jeans over the top of my sports trousers would eradicate that awkward moment where you have to strip off in the changing rooms in front of all the other gymmers, whose eyes you would subsequently try not to meet whilst on the treadmill. The mission back to the house in the same attire, pushing a bike, was an unwelcome one in itself, without the added burden of 20 degrees and 2 pairs of trousers. When I turned up at the house, I was more than slightly out of puff and worried Anna, who wondered what I had been up to!

About an hour later, we all squeezed into the car and headed off to Quebec City. The route to QC is fairly simple as all the main roads here are straight. We got into a spot of bother when a signalled detour became more of a venture into the housing estates of Quebec. This trip was supposed to take 1hr 30 mins. It ended up taking us 3 hours. We ended up driving in a circle in rush hour traffic around the old part of Quebec trying in vain to find a right turn. However, we did have some great entertainment in the form of a male model, whose weekend job was evidently to stand on the balcony of a shop in underpants and do an awkward dance. This provided much amusement, as did the tramp who wondered down the middle of the road directing traffic!

Once we found a right turn, we headed immediately to Starbucks  This was my first time using my newly acquired debit card and even though I knew my pin, the card wouldn't work. This was incredibly worrying as I had no idea how I was going to finance my weekend in Quebec without this card. In the end, it turned out that on this super-efficient and technologically modern touch screen card reader, when I pressed ‘Ok’, it hit the ‘9’ key at the same time…useful.
After a hot choc and a muffin, we all headed our separate ways: Anna to Daisy’s flat, Beth and Eilidh to Caitlyn and Jim’s and Jen and I to a Hostel. Yes, I Katy Wareham, stayed in a Hostel. I even have evidence to prove it! Jen and I were going to meet Annie there as she was joining us after she finished work. 

The hostel was called La Belle Planete Backpacker Hostel on Rue du pont. It was very colourful and possibly the least secure building in Quebec with the doors straight up to the bedrooms being left wide open for anyone to walk in! Luckily Jen had brought a padlock with her. 

 *Note to self – If you ever stay in a Hostel again, don’t forget a padlock!*

We were in a dorm (do you call it a dorm in a hostel or just at boarding school?!), with the potential for 8 people. There were bunk beds with metal frames and plastic mattresses. I was a bit confused when I saw that the sheets weren’t on the beds, you only got one pillow and no cushions, and a blanket rather than a duvet. Literally thought I was in Africaaaahhhhhh (Joke for anyone that has seen Gap Yah!).

Once Jen and I had made our beds, we went into the living room that was there. There was also a kitchen, which I refused to use on the basis of not wanting to catch Hep C and after watching the owner brush his teeth there, over all the dishes left in the sink. In the living room, there were flags that had been painted from various countries. While Jen and I were debating why on a map on the wall, someone had painted a massive lake in the middle of China, an Aussie guy called Matt joined our 
conversation. We got on well and he told us about the travelling that he had been doing. He was in Quebec for a week, which he found too long as the city isn’t huge and without friends there, he was pretty bored. He had been working at Camp America in Michigan and then travelled around the States and Montreal. He was also very grateful to meet people that spoke English! He joined our group for the rest of the weekend.


Annie eventually arrived at around 7pm and we headed to a restaurant called Le Cercle on Saint-Joseph East Street. We enjoyed a bottle of Argentinian red and caught up over dinner. After this, we walked to Sacrilege which is a Hipster bar that Annie recommended. On the way there we had to walk up lots of stairs as apparently Quebec is the city of stairs! Annie also mentioned a tower which has a restaurant at the top of it, so you can eat and have a view over the whole city as the tower rotates. We eventually found Matt at the bar. I had only seen him earlier in the day wearing different clothes and with a cap on. I knew that he was meant to be meeting us at this bar but couldn’t really remember what he looked like. Luckily I realised that the guy smiling at us from the bar wasn't a complete randomer so we all got a drink together. Caitlyn and Jim came to join us, along with Beth and Eilidh. Eilidh caught the attention of a man at the bar, but he was weird. We moved onto another bar/club for some dancing. The music started with a melange of 90’s music and moved on to Gangnam Style. At this point, my head hadn’t quite got itself around this fine array of polyphony and so we called it a night and went to St Hubert so that Matt and Jen could get some Poutine.

That night at the hostel there were some people from Paris staying in our room that woke us up in the morning as they had early flights. This is the down side to staying in a hostel, as I now know. It was actually really refreshing to hear the Parisian accent after becoming used to the Beauce accent. 

Once awake, Jen and I headed to Brulerie St Roche, which has become our meeting point whenever we go to Quebec. We waited for everyone to gather and Annie went off climbing with James.

Jam at the market

Daisy showed us down to the Port and to a fresh food market. I was looking at some interesting sauces and I asked the lady what they were. Not really understanding, she passed me a paper cup of liquid, which I presumed I should drink. It was the most disgusting taste and it turned out that you were meant to put it with bread and Paté…Nothing quite like a pre-lunch aperitif!

Me, Daisy, Anna and Jen by the port

We all headed to the café and sat by the water to have our lunch. It was the most beautiful day! I was very pleased to be back beside the water! There were some lovely boats there that we observed as we walked along the water. During this walk, one of the birds that Anna had been feeding came and left a little parcel on her jacket. Oh the irony!

After we had done damage control on Anna’s jacket, we walked up a long and winding path which followed the city wall. The wall was lined with cannons, which we of course jumped on! 

There was a great view over the St Laurence River 
from up there. 








At the top of this hill was the Chateau Frontenac.

This Chateau was originally built for wealthy travellers and pretty much has remained so! It was here that in 1942, Churchill and Roosevelt stayed at the hotel for the Quebec Conference before WW2. 

Jen and I outside the Chateau

The horses for the horse and carriage rides

Jen, Isabel, Anna and Daisy

When we entered the extensive decking around the Chateau, there were some people playing and singing jazz which created a lovely atmosphere. We took lots of photos and looked out at the view. We saw some amazing sights, such as a man wearing very tall socks and a baby in a push chair wearing a helmet! Maybe the helmet is the new beret and no one told me…? We then walked around the back of the Chateau through a park and saw where the horses that do the carriage rides around the city were kept during the day. After this, we met up with Caitlyn, Jim, Eilidh and Beth (they decided to different things that day) and we went for dinner at Chez Victor which was very pleasant.

These pictures are of the main tent and stage of a film festival that had been going on in Quebec that week


When we got back to the hostel, we found Matt in the living room and we watched The 5 Year Engagement on his laptop. When we finally went to bed, I assumed that it was only Jen in the room as everyone else staying in our dorm was in the kitchen. So, I unconcernedly undressed, only to hear some movement from the bed next to Jen’s. It turned out that there was a guy there. I only hope that he was asleep and that he didn’t witness the Full Monty.

Day three of the trip began with Jen, Matt and I sat in the Brulerie having breakfast in the art gallery upstairs, as there was an advert being shot downstairs. The girls working in the café didn’t seem to know what the advert was for. It was interesting to watch the filming though! 

We met everyone there again and all headed off on the bus to the Chute Montmorency, which is a waterfall that is taller than Niagara Falls.

There was There was a suspension bridge built across the top that we walked over and then we went on a bit of a walk where we found a playground with swings! We continued to march on down about 500 stairs to the bottom of the waterfall. 

There was a little rainbow to one side of the waterfall, but no pot of gold unfortunately! You could feel the water from the waterfall splashing your face! After we had observed the waterfall from all angles, we walked back up said stairs.

Eilidh and I went together and took the stairs 2 flights at a time. Matt, Daisy and Jen zoomed on up but Anna and Isabel took it easy too!









After this we caught the bus back to the city centre and found an English pub where we all grabbed a bite and some beer. Then we went to the hostel and picked up our bags. We said goodbye to Matt and headed on back to St George, singing along to a cassette of the Backstreet Boys!

So that concludes my second trip to Quebec City. It was over a month ago now, so I hope I haven’t skimped on any important details/funny stories! If I remember, I’ll be sure to add them!

I will leave you with a few photos of the street art I found. One particularly reminds me of Paris! I wonder if you can guess which!

xx