Back from Billeting!

Hey Sorry about the slow updates but I have been billeting and haven`t been able to get near a computer for two weeks. I billeted at an organic dairy farm. What a blast. The family spoke very little english so there was a lot of `franglish`and of course mis-translations! The work was all very physical. The first three days all we did was stack hay bales. It was boiling hot so I am now totally familiar with the term `soaked with sweat`. And of course the cows have to be milked (all automated of course) every morning and evening. Then there was the Jean Baptiste Day concert which is kind of like a Canada Day for Quebec! Lots of french music and dancing. And then on top of everything I have my regular job which is at St. Joseph hospital which cares for the senior citizens of the community. Whew! It`s an awesome job though. The people for the most part don`t understand me...not even my boss. Its amazing how you take for granted that people will understand what you are saying or assume that they will speak english. But we get by. The work varies from feeding people to visiting with residents to gardening to painting and other outdoor labour which I love. Recently we held a car-wash for a fundraiser. It was very windy that day but we still did very well. Living with a french family for two weeks well going to a french workplace was truly mindbending. You have to think about everything you say and how to translate it. Your brain is constantly working. And of course you get teased for pronouciation but thats all part of the fun! This is the second part I have been the visable minority. In Moosonee there were very few caucasian people and here obviously there are very few english. I will say this though. The seperatists have been greatly steriotyped. Its almost exactly the same thing that happened with feminism in a way. If you ask someone if they are a for Quebecs seperation they will men and haw a bit before saying a very hesitant yes. This is because the image of a seperatist has become so twisted by the media everyone right away thinks that they are a Canadian hating-flag burning fanatic etc and they are trying to pull away from that image. On the flip side though Quebec is slowly becoming assimilated by english culture and language. You hear a lot of english music. The t-shirts have english saying and almost everyone has an `ear`for english because you hear so much of it and see so much of it. This is what has Quebec concerned is because they have so much culture and history and yet they are slowly losing that and they want that protected They do NOT want to become thier own country.....well maybe some do but not the majority. They want the culture protected. In fact Quebec is at its lowest seperatist rating then it has been in a long time. Wiether that means things are changing for the better or wiether people have given up remains to be seen. Its amazing what you can pick out of the media and then once you go and live it you see a whole different side of the story. I guess it`s because the media tends to portray the storys as faceless sensations. Things that will shock you and make you want to read more. Stir up emotions and such. They want you to buy that paper or watch that newscast. And don`t get me wrong. I`m a newspaper junkie myself. It`s important to stay informed, esspecially nowadays when more and more people are saying `The world sucks I don`t care anymore` because we need more people that care because with caring comes change. Its simply that we need to not lose our perspective and stop letting the writers spoonfeed us thier opinions. We need to be able to seperate between what is propaganda and what is an objective news story. But I will get off my soap box now. Its just lately I have been thinking a lot about the power of the media and what hold it has on twisting the truth. Its funny how you see that so clearly after speaking with the people that live it day to day.
Well anyway I have been gone for 7 1/2 months. Can you believe it? Before you know it I`ll be back and we will all be headed for a great big coffee (or tea if you prefer) at Tims!
Well Talk to you all later!
Mel

P.S. Steph I`ll give you a shout as soon as I can get to town to buy a phone card. I haven`t forgotten about you! Really! Miss you tons and talk to you soon.