Previous: June

French at Laval University
Our course finished on 17 July. We completed the 5th level, the last one, and took exams, similar to those we had at the end of the 4th level in May. In total, our group studied two levels over a period of 3.5 months.

As I said before, the course wasn’t very efficient, because of the group was large and the teaching wasn’t very systematic. There was not enough training of vocabulary. However, we did cover well the main grammar areas, read a few texts about Québec's history and traditions, and got some idea about writing a resume and applying for a job.

As for the integration classes, the excursions were very informative and interesting, but we spent a disproportionate amount of time on making presentations about Quebec’s regions and prominent personalities.

The course was also helpful financially: during our studies we got an allowance of about 500 CAD per month.

When the course finished, the access to the University pool expired as well (the last two weeks I went to the pool almost every day), but we can borrow books and videos from library and use the computers with the Internet at the University until 2 September (the expiration date of our student cards).

Sara
Since June I have a girlfriend, Sara. I wrote a few lines about her in my diary for the previous month (she lives in the same apartment with me). I am very fond of her and very happy about this relationship.

In June Sara decided to learn Russian. Even through her job takes a lot of time, and she has other regular leasure activities, such as playing the violin and working in the student garden, she’s been studying Russian almost every day. I’ve helping her, of course. She is making a good progress and we now speak partially in Russian.

We’re using a self-study book Le nouveau russe sans peigne with audiocassettes published by Assimil (France). The grammar is not very clearly explained, but this is the best manual for French-speakers that I’ve seen here.

In July we went in Sara’s car to the countryside to pick up the strawberries. We went twice: the first time we were accompanied by Sara’s acquaintances from the student garden and we went to the southern bank of St. Laurence River. A week later Sara and I went on the Island of Orleans. This island on the St. Laurence River is very picturesque; we made a tour over it on that day.

I’ve been getting to know Sara’s numerous relatives. Most of them, including Sara’s mother, live in the Beauce region, which is about 70 km to the south of Québec City, close to the US state of Maine. The region’s principal activites are are agriculture (raising cows, pigs, and chicken) as well as small and middle-size enterprises (PME in French); some people also commute to Maine and work there as woodcutters.

In July I met Sara’s mother and father who came to visit us in Québec City on different occasions (Sara’s parents are divorced). Also in July I accompanied Sara and her young uncle Martin to the Beauce region to when they went to attend two-year’s birthday of their goddaughter, Elian.

Summer festival
From 3 to 13 of July the city held the annual summer festival - Festival d’été de Québec. It consisted mainly of concerts (songs, pop and some classical music) as well as circus and theatrical performances. The participants came from Québec, other French-speaking regions of Canada, France, USA, Bulgaria and a few other countries.

Sara and I went to listen to Bolero de Ravel and to a concert devoted to the memory of Jacques Brel (this one we especially liked).

Holidays
Our biggest mutual enterprise in July was the holidays (23 July – 1 August). We visited Gaspésie, New Brunswick, and went along the St. Laurence.

We went in Sara's car. Sara owns a small two-door Geo Metro, and she is an excellent driver. For sleeping we used Sara’s tent, which is very quick to install, and we prepared our meals on a petrol cooker.

Montmorency Waterfalls (Photo: Wikipedia)

We left home in the morning of 23 July and, after stopping over briefly to look at the Montmorency Falls, went along the northern bank of the St. Laurence River as far as Baie-Cameau, where Sara’s father lives. The most interesting place along this leg was the ferry crossing of the Saguenay fjord. The views were marvellous.

In Baie-Cameau we stayed a couple of days at the house of Sara’s father and visited the local attractions: l'église Sainte-Amélie with its superb frescos by an Italian artist Guido Nincheri, the city's museum, etc.

Then we crossed the river by ferry and, after spending the night in the beautiful country-side near the city of Matan, we made a trip over the Gaspésie peninsula.

The biggest experience in Gaspésie was climbing up and down the Mount Albert, which took an entire day. I'd never walked so much during one day, and besides the largest strech of the decent path was covered with large stones (one had to watch the step all the time) and it was raining too. We were wet, tired, my sports shoes were ruined, but we were glad about having acomplished it and about having seen so many marvellous views. Because it was raining, for the night we stayed in one of the dorms near the mountain.

Next day we went to the south of the peninsula to visit Sara’s old place of work, tomato greenhouses, in St-Alphonse. Then we entered the province of New Brunswick.

In New Brunswick we visited the Acadian Village, where country houses of 18 - 20 centures are carefully preserved and one can observe old-fashionedly clad "villagers" practising various crafts (barrel making, baking bread, printing on antique presses, etc).

Acadian Village (Photo: www.extravacancesetescapadesnb.ca)

The Acadians is the second largest and the oldest French-speaking people in Canada. Their dialect differs from Québécois.

After driving some more to the West, we arrived to Caraquet, the capital of the Acadian people, and here we put up our tent for the night -- right on the embankment.

Our next stop was La Dune de Bouctouche on the Eastern seacoast of the province. The dune that stretches 12 km. across the Bouctouche Bay is a result of the constant action of wind, tides and sea current. After every major storm its shape changes. The dune is the habitat for a rich variety of marine and aquatic plants and animals, especially birds.

We walked along the wooden pathways for a while and in the afternoon we sunbathed on the marvellous beach of the dune and swam in the ocean.

Dune of Bouctouche (Photo: www.extravacancesetescapadesnb.ca)

We continued our trip southward planning to see the Bay of Fundy with its world’s largest tides, but went we arrived to the place, Hopewell, we were short of time and the entrance fee was high.

We went on to the West and the evening we arrived to the home of Sara’s friends, Rod and Danielle who live in Upper Kent, close to the US state of Maine. We had a pleasant evening of talking and listening to music, and the next day Rod showed me educational software for the Canadian French, which he is developing.

From Rod and Danielle’s home we drove directly to Québec City: to the St. Laurence River and along its southern bank. After 6 hours of driving we arrived home.

Next: August