I'm Home!

It is nice to be home, especially now that I can hang out with my brother again. I really missed downtown Vancouver when I was in Quebec too... And Vancouver food! I really missed the good Asian food here. XD

What I Miss about the EIF at Trois-Rivières

What I really miss from Trois-Rivères/the EIF (in no particular order) are speaking French, springtime weather in Quebec (the wind!), the animateurs, our activities at school, the Info-Weekends, my top-floor apartment (especially the shower and my dorm room... the bed and the bedsheets as weird as that sounds ...and having nothing but my bare essentials in my room), my roommates and friends, Sarah's cooking, having no TV and just watching movies on a laptop, having a regular sleeping pattern (I always slept at midnight and woke up at 7, in an effort to have a regular body clock upon my return to Vancouver), having motivation to get up in the morning (not wanting to be late for breakfast at the caf & my 8:30 class), eating balanced meals at the caf (though I must admit, the food was not for gourmet tastebuds, I had a way more balanced diet back at the caf than I do now), the hearty breakfasts at the caf (especially the breakfast specials; I hardly eat anything for breakfast here), the UQTR campus, eating with my friends (especially Phil and Clive - you guys are hilarious!), the city of Trois-Rivières, and not having to worry about course registration or money or anything aside from getting my homework done.

Bal Costumé Photos

Christina et moi





Christina et moi encore








Une troisième photo de Christina et moi.






Christina, Sarah et moi.

Les Expressions Idiomatiques

Manger sur le pouce:
Prendre son repas très rapidement.

Avoir un creux à l'estomac/Avoir une faim de loup:
Ressentir une grande faim.

Donner un coup de main:
Aider momentanément.

Être à trois pas d'ici:
Être très proche.

Ne pas être dans son assiette:
Se sentir mal physiquement ou moralement.

Aller comme un gant:
Convenir parfaitement.

Ne pas fiare dans la dentelle:
Manquer de délicatesse, de finesse.

Être au même diapason:
Partager la même idee, la même opinion.

Perdre les pédales:
Être hors de soi, être sans contrôle de soi.

Faire la part des choses:
Juger adéquatement.

Common Slips By Students in the Explore Program at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

"Beparce..."

"Comme like..."

New Vocab:.

Volant: The object that you whack around with the rackets in a game of badminton.

Une Très Ado Blague

«You know... Le bonheur... Le happiness?» - Quelqu'un dans l'histoire de Heather.

Expressions Quebecois

Avoir une crotte sure le coeur:
On a frustration apres il/elle a pardonné quelqu'un.

Passer quelqu'un au cash:
Yelling at someone during an argument and being dead meat after. XD

Mon chien est mort:
«J'ai une bonne idée (quand j'aime quelqu'un) et ce n'est pas possible.»

Tes Bébelles pis ta coeur:
«Je suis occupé, bye!»

L'affaire est ketchup:
Il n'y a pas de probleme.

Avoir du front tout le tour de la tête:
Exagerrer. Depasser la limite.

Chu/Chui:
Je suis.

Pis:
Puis/et ("you know").

Un beau pétard!
un beau garçon.

Ostine moi pas:
«Whoa!» (when you're trying to make someone stop bugging you).

Il est de bonne heure sul piton!
Quand quelqu'un se lever très tot le matin.

Ché pas!
«Je ne sais pas!»




Random themesong for the day: "Escape Through the Asteroid Belt" by John Williams from The Empire Strikes Back soundtrack.

Jeudi

Finalement! J'ai l'Internet à ma résidence!

Lundi

So Christina and I did our grocery shopping at Dollarama yesterday... Just got some cutlery, a new shower curtain, some garbage cans... Dollarama is the East Coast twin of Dollar Giant. Everything's a buck! Wohoo! XD We saw our computer lab buddies Vivian and Jed there at the mall yesterday so we went to Loblaw's with them and bought a bag of apples that will hopefully last us till the end of the program. Christina really wanted parmesan cheese too... There was one kind that was for 14$... Kriffing hell!! It`s quite wierd how Loblaw's is the high-end grocery store in the East, while Superstore is cheap in the West. XD We bought the cheap parmesan. lol. Then we went back to our dorm... We agreed to meet back with Vivian and Jed at the computer lab after dinner... We just checked our email and left right away... We were wondering if our 2 other roommates would show up and lo and behold they arrived last night... Alix is from Saskatoon but goes to McGill & Sarah (Oilers fan... Boo!! j/p) is from Edmonton. Sarah`s engaged to a Flames fan... That should be interesting! XP We were pretty tired last night & slept quite early... I decorated my room last night too. I have pictures. =)

Today we got to the caf for breakfast at 7:45, just when they told us to come, but we waited in line until 8:40... What the kriff...  I saw Kathryn in line! But she was way ahead of me! We didn`t get to talk much, since I was walking to the back of the line with my roommates. XD Then we went to our welcome assembly... And we had our entrance test in this huge exam room with swivvely chairs. Sarah, Christina and I sat with the guys we met in line for breakfast, Joel and Mike... Alix woke up late, so we just saw her when we were walking to our seats in the exam hall. The first part of the exam was guided by this tape recording with a Texan accent. >.< Then it was written... I barely finished... I still had pretty much the whole vocab section left when the prof said «one minute left», so I just randomly pencilled in scantron circles and handed the test in to the teachers who were collecting them. There are so many people here! I've just stuck with my roommates and Vivian and Jed... Everyone's really nice here, though. We still haven't been busted for speaking English... Everyone's still speaking English here... Supposedly there`s a countdown then we'll start speaking French en tout temps (all the time).

My dormmates and I managed to avoid a long food lineup at lunch... We lined up with Kathryn and ate with her and the girls from her dorm. Kathryn arrived here yesterday afternoon and said she went to some place where you can get good sandwiches for dinner last night. I wonder where that is... *scratches head* Christina and I met up with Sarah and Lara, her friend from another dorm, by the entrance of the Albert-Tessier building (the equivalent of the SUB) after we had a snack at the caf. Then the 4 of us went to the mall together... I bought cough drops at Zellers and I got placemats for Sarah and Alix at Dollarama. Ooh we had ice cream from La Crémière (Did you go there, Tita Cyn?), since Christina kept mentioning it when we passed it in the mall... She and her Mom had ice cream there when they first arrived in Trois-Rivières and she said it was really good ice cream. I ordered Cabane a Sucre. It was delishy. La Crémière has frozen yogurt the same as Yogen Früz and fruit smoothies with jelly in them, almost like bubble tea, aside from ice cream. On our walk back to the dorm, Lara got a cart from one of these huge stores that we passed and used it to help carry her 2 heavy shopping bags and the huge pack of water that she bought at Zellers. We have pictures! Bwahaha! («I'm not stealing it yet!» - Lara upon acquiring the cart). We have an assembly tonight, where we`ll have a countdown to the time when we'll have to speak en français en tout temps. I envy the kids who I saw at the mall... They have such lovely accents. Lara, Christina, Sarah and I all have costumes ready for le bal costumé (the costume ball) on Friday. Sarah`s gonna dress as Pippi Longstockings. That suits her coz she has lovely strawberry blonde hair. Christina's gonna dress like in 70s-inspired clothing. I brought my little black dress and heels of doom so I suppose I'll be Dana Tan (Terry/the new Batman's girlfriend) from Batman Beyond (That's right, Kat! Cosplay! Bwahaha! XD) or Lana Lang from Smallville... I prefer being Dana though... She could be Filipina. (You can see her picture here: http://www.mindeclipse.com/batmanbeyond/char/dana.htm ). Ooh at the mall I was delighted to hear Roch Voisine's «Delivre-Moi» («Deliver Me» in French! Bwahaha!). People here listen to the same music as we do in Vancouver, except for the French songs. XD I feel like listening to more Roch Voisine when I get back to the dorm. Bwahaha (That's right, Marz! I bought myself the good ol' CD with «La Bas Du L'hombre» on it)! >=)



<3 carmela="" p="">

Dimanche

hello everybody! the plane ride was great. this nice guy sitting next to me said he did the Explore program to learn English and that his daughter was gonna learn English through the Explore program in Nova Scotia this summer. =) He said he'd give me my first French lesson and told me what CEGEP meant. XD I locked myself out of my room this morning but I knew that I should call Security since that happens to Claire all the time. Then I had to explain my predicament to the guy who answered the phone in French. Now I know how ESL students feel. >.< They sent this nice lady to unlock the door for me and she spoke English! (Cue «Water Music» by Handel). My dear roommate Christina and i discovered that there`s no wireless internet at our dorm. *-_- i'm in the computer lab at UQTR now. there are many computer labs on campus, and they`re open 24 hours a day, so we're fortunate in that regard. we can still speak English here until tomorrow, then the Hitler/Stalin-esque Je parle français en tout temps et en tout lieu (I speak French at all times and in all places) rule is in effect. If you get caught speaking French, you get a carte rouge (red card) and have to memorize a French poem to get it taken back. XD Christina and I have are going to a tour of the campus at 13:00 (since in Quebecois French, you use army time), then we are gonna get our ID pictures taken & go grocery shopping. XD Fortunately, Christina knows Trois-Rivieres quite well, and there's supposedly a Looney/Tooney store nearby. =D Hopefully I'll be able to go to Mass today too... Christina's from Sudbury, so she drove in on Friday & got to go on a wee tour of the old churches around here. I haven`t gotten to call Fr. Bruyere yet, though I really do want to visit the shrine for Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. Christina brought a plushie raccoon and a My Little Pony doll! ^^ *lightbulb* You can find pictures of our dorm on the UQTR website (http://www.uqtr.ca). They`re the kind of pinky-red buildings with a payphone in front of them. XD

<3 br="" carmela="">
PS. Dad, I tried to call you just before I went to sleep last night & followed the instructions for making a call from my room phone using a calling card & the calling card number was busy.

My celebrity smile style is Demure Like Charlize


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The Five Love Languages

My primary love language is probably
Physical Touch
with a secondary love language being
Words of Affirmation.

Complete set of results

Physical Touch:		11
Words of Affirmation:		8
Acts of Service:		5
Quality Time:		3
Receiving Gifts:		3

Information

Unhappiness in relationships, according to Dr. Gary Chapman, is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. Sometimes we don't understand our partner's requirements, or even our own. We all have a "love tank" that needs to be filled in order for us to express love to others, but there are different means by which our tank can be filled, and there are different ways that we can express love to others.

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Prayer Before Studying ~ from Lifeteen.com

Holy Spirit, come. Lead me into your presence and into a greater understanding of this material I'm about to study. Please help me to comprehend concepts the first time through, and remember details with minimal effort. Help to see what I am supposed to see and not get bogged down by distracting thoughts. Help me to stay focused so I can get through quickly, but thoroughly.

Jesuit Prayer

My Lord, teach me to be generous!
Teach me to serve You as You deserve:
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not ask for reward,
save that of knowing that I am doing Your Will. Amen.

*sigh*

I wonder when I'll be able to visit the Philippines again.

CCC Open House! =)

Today was our open house. Yay, I didn't get bad allergies today even though I forgot to take my allergy medicine. *blushes* It was such a great experience volunteering for the event, and meeting all the prospective students. It was strange, realizing that I would be a Second Year student before long, that Stash & some of the current Second Years wouldn't be coming back to school next year, and that a whole new bunch of students would be going to school at CCC next year. We're supposedly going to expand to 200 students next year. We only have 80 students right now. I wonder how it'll be next year with so many students around the school. I only hope that the spirit of community in our school will never be lost. I hope that the students coming next year will be really nice. And I hope that I do not lose touch with all those CCC students who will not be returning next semester.

Argh

Bipolar, I seem.

Ou peut-être c'est SPM.

Heh.

Another Friday...

No classes today, just Newman Club. :) I was late for our weekly Newman Club meeting, though that seemed to be another thread of God's lovely Plan. I got to bus to school with someone who graduated the year before me from my high school. =) The topic of the Newman Club meeting was Love and Relationships. =) I then heated up my food, played Settlers of Catan, then took a nap and went out for dinner. After dinner, I went to the library. Highlight of the day (aside from dinner): helping 2 people find their way around campus. 0 = )

Yay!

Thank You God for letting me have just enough money for dinner today. LOL, I had to pay $5.90 & all I had left in my wallet was $5 and 95 cents in coins! LOL!

Fr. Hughes' Homily =)

What really struck me about Fr. Hughes' homily at Guardian Angels today:

* The story about the devout Catholic wife out in the Canadian prairies whose husband was not religious. She had to raise their children as Catholics herself, without her husband's help, and her husband didn't want to go to Mass with her and the kids. The husband's efforts to save some stubborn geese from a blizzard taught him that his wife and kids were showing him the way to Heaven the whole time. Jesus came to live with us and to show us the way.
* Being happy is to have had good days and bad days, but no regrets.
* Happy is different from joyful (feeling like everything's wonderful, nice and rosy). XD