Baking Christmas Cookies!!!

This one song to which yours truly just HAS to sing to. In my pyjamas, jumping on the couch, singing into my hairbrush...

This weekend my bf is here for the last time before I fly back to Canada (Thursday!!!)

And we will be very busy baking Christmas cookies, cuddling and visiting Christmas markets.

Oh , and by the way, today is Saint-Nicholas Day in Germany. Last night, thousands of children brushed one of their shoes clean, and put it outside their door. Saint-Nick came during the night and this morning, if the kids were good during the year, their shoe is filled with chocolates, treats, nuts and fruit. If they were bad, it's filled with coal.

I got nuts and fruit. And a cactus dressed up as Santa Claus.

;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIUS!!!!!

Je te souhaite de l'amour, du bonheur, du plaisir, du succès, et tout ce que ton coeur désire...

If at first you don't succeed

AAliyah, produced by Timbaland a while ago.

Heard this song today, and just like that, I was back in 2000. Young, sweet and 17. That year, I was in the school fashion show, I had a huge crush on an older guy from Guadeloupe, got in trouble week after week, and really had a blast.

In 2000 I failed most of my science classes, found my true self and re-oriented my option classes to film production and drama.

In 2000, on one Friday night in August or September, I was invited to a party at my ex-boyfriend's place. As soon as I walked in, I noticed a really special guy. His blue eyes, the way he looked, everything about him was so special, so... different.

We spent the whole evening talking, and said goodbye. A friend of mine walked me home and asked "so, what's up with that dude and you?" and I answered "I have no idea, but trust me, this guy is so special, he is definitely going to play a big role in my life, I can feel it, my intuition tells me so". To which my friend laughed. He just said something along the lines of "Oh, Françoise, you hopeless romantic, wake up and smell the coffee, the guy is German, leaving town tomorrow morning and you'll never see each other again."

Well, I'll spare you the whole story, but 8 years later, here I am in Berlin...

All I can say is, gut feeling, connection to the universe or plain and simple feminine intuition, I believe in it... and won't forget the year 2000. Millenium.

What a day!!

Today I starred in an educational film for pupils learning french. This is the only type of thing I like getting up at 7:00 for...

We filmed at the skating rink, downtown, in a coffee shop and in my appartment and I had loads of fun and a great day! I met nice people and had forgotten how much fun it is to work on a set (my option classes in school were film production and drama).

The producer picked me up around 8:30 and we filmed until 6:00 pm. The final verison of the short film will be 3 minutes long. Can't wait to see the result!

All in all, I must say that I love working on projects that allow me to be creative, and this one certainly did. I hope more projects like this one come my way!!

Oh, and by the way, it snowed on Friday, Saturday and this morning everything was white! It seems like these days I just get everything I ask for...

This one is definitely for John...

Apparently Germans think rats are sexy. I learned a new word this week: rattenscharf.

Roughly translated, it means "as hot as a rat". And it's meant in a good way...

Snow

Berliners beware: I am so excited about going to Canada for Christmas, I'll do anything and everything in order to conjure up some snow. Eyes to the skies, guys!

The awful German language

Annäherungsleistungszielorientierung.

Yes, it's a word. It is used when talking about a certain type of motivation where the student tries to get good marks or do his schoolwork properly, in order to impress his peers or to make them think that he or she is intelligent, for example. They are motivated by opportunities to show off their specific know-how and competence.

By the way, if you ever get your hands on the book with the same title as this post, written by Mark Twain, it's a very good read, especially if you speak a bit of German...

Vintage Céline!

1993... I loved this song when I was 11 years old.. and still know it by heart! Mario Pelchat and Céline's voices go so well together...

One thing leads to another...

Today I had an email in my inbox from the person who had asked me to do the radio show. He said he was very happy with my interview and was now looking for someone from Québec to do an interview for a movie (some educational video in France). He wanted to know if I'm interested. I love how in life sometimes one thing just leads to another...

Interview

For those of you who would like to hear the sound of my voice, I'll be on

Radio MultiKulti Berlin

Sunday afternoon between 1:30 pm and 3:00 pm. The show is about Québec and Montreal. Looking forward to my second ever live radio experience!!

The Lost Fingers

These guys are funny. Remember this song?

SO WHAT?!

Love Pink's new song. Can't embed it, but please do click on the link to check it out!!

Pink - So What?!

I love artists who can laugh at themselves and not take life so seriously. For this, Pink gets an A+ from me.

MTV Europe Music Awards

It is NOT NORMAL that absolute LEGENDS like TheCure and Metallica get beaten by German teenie boyband/wannaberockgroup Tokio Hotel. In ANY category.

YES WE CAN!!!!

I'm speechless...

Even better

We all play a "role" in life... to some extent. Some of us even end up believing ourselves. These roles can be influenced culturally, professionally and otherwise.

How far should we go to conform to the society / subculture in which we are living? One extent is "the excentric" (Paradiesvogel) and the other is "the girl next door" (Mauerblümchen)...

Where do you place yourself? Nowadays, are we at all able to be "in touch" with our true selves?

Gut feeling

I hate it when people cancel appointments at the last minute. Today, I had one appointment at 5 pm and one at 6pm. Got an sms at 4:20 that the first person wouldn't make it. Fine, life happens.

It's now 6:21 and I'm still waiting... Somehow the whole afternoon I had the feeling this would happen...

Oh well, it's not like I don't know what to do with my spare time...

Everything zen

The semester has started, classes have been attended, homework has been done, texts have been read... All in all, I must say that I'm very satisfied about my classes up to now, and excited about doing my masters degree.

I have a lot of school work to do, and I'm working alot of hours a week, but somehow I feel productive, active and fulfilled. I'm surprused I'm not panicking, but I guess I'm growing. I actually have the feeling that I can trust my abilities to manage the challenge of mastering my studies.

There's a word in German for that, it's called Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung. And mine is very positive. What a nice feeling.

Quand on cherche l'amour...

Je suis l'exemple de mon ancien collègue de travail et ami Dino, et j'ose écrire en français!

Donc, pour ceux qui s'intéressent à la musique francophone / québécoise, voici une chanteuse qui a une voix extraordinaire. Malheureusement, je ne peux pas afficher le vidéo directement ici, mais cliquez sur le lien, ça vaut la peine!

Natasha St-Pier

Then & Now... Robyn

Here she was in 1997. I LOOOOVED this song and would sing to it, dream to it, fell in love to it...




And here the more recent stuff... 11 years later, she's matured, and I must say that I don't dislike the more electronic direction she's taken... It sounds less mainstream, more individual... Very different, but I also like it.

Elections in Canada

We'll have a new Prime Minister today... I hope!

I wasn't allowed to vote, based on the fact that I do not, for now, have the intention of returning to Canada in the long term, but if I'd have been allowed to, I would have voted for Jack Layton (Leader of the New Democratic Party).

Brain defect

When lost in my own thoughts, I keep thinking to myself, "When I grow up, it would be nice to live in... When I grow up, I'll have a garden... When I grow up, I'll travel with my girlfriends once a year..."

26

It's a beautiful autumn day in Berlin today. As I walked out the door, a bright ray of sun struck my face and a cool breeze carrying the last remnants of the fading summer tickled my skin.

Leaves are falling everywhere and their dark colours pave the sidewalks.

I am 26 years old, starting my Masters degree in Education, in a loving relationship that has been going on for 7 years now and surrounded by honest and caring friends.

Life is good...

Blast from the Past

Carly Simon

Being an Expat

Living abroad is a great experience, no doubt about it. I've learned so much about the world, about people and about myself in the past three years, and I truly believe I would have never gained this knowledge if I'd stayed back home. But beside the great things that have been happening to me (being accepted for my masters programme, mastering in general the german uni systems, finally getting good marks, finding a nice and rewarding job, making good friends on whom I can count, etc, etc, etc) there are also the down sides. Sometimes I have the impression that people back home think it's so glamourous that I live in Europe, but what they (and I) sometimes forget is that:

- I never get to celebrate my birthday with my family
- I hadn't seen my dad in roughly 22 months
- I can't work as much as I would like to - in Montreal as a student I was rich compared to my lifestyle now
- I'm never there for birthdays, weddings, etc.
- I actually miss snow (never thought that would happen!)
- I can't stroll through the streets and remmeber where I used to hang out as a teenager, where I had my first kiss, where I worked for my first job...
- On Facebook's "compare people" I get continously rated as "most absentee" :)

I'm just kind of down now, and really between 2 worlds. I'm thankful for all that I have here, but right now I still dearly miss home.

Seal

Is it me, or was "Crazy" way ahead of its time?

Hola Décadence!

Katy Perry sucked

Last night I went to see Katy Perry live here in Berlin and I was really disappointed.

She can't even sing her own songs (hello computerized album!), started 45 minutes late (um, you're not Madonna!) and the live version of her songs were very disappointing. All in all the background music played while we were waiting for the concert to start was the musical highlight of my evening.

In other news, my dad was here for two weeks and we went to visit Dresden and Prague together. It was great and now I can't wait till Christmas to fly home and see him, my family and friends again. I had forgotten how much fun I have with my dad. I think I just spent the past two weeks laughing non stop.

:)

This is what I listen to...

in the mornings to motivate me to go the daily 20km by bike rather than in the subway....

Great weekend - good music

Saturday - 38.8km bike ride
Sunday - 12km kayak tour

and here some good music:

I'm back!

Sunrise on the lake, seen from our front door...



What a vacation!!

1st day: swam across the lake

2nd day: 25km bike ride through the forest and around 3 lakes

3rd day: 11 km kayak tour on 3 lakes

4th day: relaxing, sunbathing and swimming.

5th day: 18 km, 4-hour kayaking down the Rhin river.

6th day: 14 km hiking through the woods to a charming little town

7th day: 9 km boat tour (rowing) on 3 different lakes.


I feel great, got plenty of fresh air, feel finally relaxed and happy, and most importantly, my body has been reenergised. I can't wait to ride my bike to work again tomorrow.

Oh, and when I came back home, wonderful news was waiting for me: I've been accepted for the Master I had applied for!!!

Vacation!

I'm off to a top secret location where I can go swimming, kayaking and bike riding everyday...

;)

All I need now is good weather!

xx

Katy Perry II

Well, it turns out she's coming to berlin in September, and I just bought a ticket for 11 euros!!

I'm really excited!

Anyone care to join me??

Welcome to the world!

Welcome to the world, Emil Linus!!

A good friend of mine had her baby Wednesday morning and today I had the pleasure, the honour, to be among the first people to see him.

Cutest baby ever! And so sweet and quiet and cuddly and... I almost had to cry when I saw him. It's like I can't even express in words all the emotions I was having.

This tiny being, lying in my arms, sleeping. The happy, ecstatic parents. Perfect.

I felt right away unconditional love for this tiny baby boy.

And I can't wait, when the time is right, not now, but someday, to have my own...

Katy Perry

What a great weekend!

Yesterday I went kayaking with my bf and it was great! the weather was wonderful, and it felt good to be out on the water and still enjoying the sun.

Today, it was sunny and 32 degrees Celsius, so I sat outside did nothing and had a couple of beers... NOT!

No, I didn't sit outside and do nothing, I was inside, doing my cardio, training my muscles and rounding it up with a little yoga.

I'm proud of myself!
:)

The problem with german youth...

is just out of control. Once again today I experienced a crazy situation with teenagers, except this time I was in the middle of it. I left this afternoon to go teach a class, and just as I was waiting to cross the street to get to the tram station, I noticed three teens waiting next to me: a guy, maybe 16, a girl maybe 15, a smaller guy, probably 13 years old. I noticed they were looking in my direction, but I ignored it, thinking they were looking down the street.

When the light turned green, I crossed, and the little guy bumped in to me. I look at him, and just as I was going to say something along the lines of "hey, careful there buddy", he looks at me wth crossed brows and says in German, roughly translated: "hey watch where you're going!". To what I answer "hey, relax, you can't just talk to people like that". Then he answered "shut up, bitch". At this point I looked at the sixteen year old boy, which I assumed was his older brother, thinking he would tell his little brother to be quiet or be polite to strangers or something. But he kept quiet, and looked on, amused. I looked down to the 13 year old and told him "how old are you? I'm sorry we bumped into each other, but you can't go around treating people like that", smiling to try and deescalate the situation. To this, he started getting in my face, bumped me again and told me to wipe that stupid smile off my face!! All the while I'm thinking "this can't be, he's a thirteen-year-old kid!".

Anyways, as we arrived at the tram station and it seemed as though I was going to have to wait for the tram with these devil kids, I decide top go further down and at least get on another wagon than where they're getting on. As I pass in front of the sixteen year old, he looks me straight in the eye and says: "I always wonder how come people as ugly as you dare to come out in public during daytime". What the??

I'm just ignoring them, open a book and try to concentrate on that. The tram finally comes, and they follow me. As I sit down, they pass down the aisle next to me and the thirteen year old hits the book out of my hand. There are 2 other adults who just keep on minding their own business (thanks for the help there) and I just keep on reading. As the kids sit down I think I'm in the clear, and start enjoying reading, and just before they finally get off at the next stop, the thirteen year old creeps up behind me, takes me by the back of my neck and rams my head into the seat in front of me, saying something like "here, have a good look at your stupid book"!!!!!!!!


I really, really, really don't understand what motivates children to think and act like this, but one thing is for sure: their parents should be in jail for creating sociopaths...

And I'm going to be a teacher. Lucky me.

Barack Superstar!

We were a bit more than 200 000 people this evening at the Siegessäule to listen to Barack Obama's speech, and I didn't regret going! The city had prepared an "Obama-Fan-Mile" complete with sausage stands and beer stands and giant screens for those further away from the stage.

Obama held a great speech, talking about many subjects that are so important and haven't been so much taken into account by the Bush administration in the past seven years, like environnement, nuclear weapons, and TRUST and COOPERATION between America and Europe (and I'm sure somewhere in his heart he was thinking about Canada too, but he just didn't mention it).

I met a lot of nice american people, and all in all, I really had the feeling that I was experiencing history as it unfolded.

Citation of the day (American dude): "It's nice to finally have somebody articulate represent the USA abroad."

Barack in Berlin

Barack Obama will be holding a speech in Berlin on Thursday night... 20 minutes away from my job, and I'm wondering if I should go to see it. On the one hand, experiencing history as it unfolds, actually seeing an american presidential candidate in person and on the other, the (maybe paranoid) possibility of an attack/bombing?

What should I do?

A lesson in life about letting go

I haven't been ok in the last weeks. Driving myself nuts, waking up at night, staring at the ceiling, worrying about the future.

What will happen if? I have to apply now for the Master of Education. I literally made myself sick with worry about what would happen if I wasn't accepted.

Until. I reached a point where I just couldn't do it anymore. Three years ago, when I moved over here, I just sent my applications, quit my job, rented my apartment, gave all my stuff away, not knowing if I would even be accepted in my study field. I couldn't really speak the language, didn't know how uni worked here... I just trusted life and that all would be good. And everything worked out just fine. After three years, my grades are excellent, just as they were in Canada.

And now I'm driving myself crazy worrying about details and being afraid of everything.

Kind of pointless, because up til now, life has taken very well care of me. Everything works out.

Sometimes I have to accept that who I am and what I do is Good Enough.



Shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the stars (Les Brown)

What the hell have you been up to?

I've been working hard on my final paper before I get my bachelor, applying for a Master of Education, and preparing my well earned and long overdue vacation.

I'm leaving for a week in August and going to the "countryside" in Brandenburg - the area around Berlin. We rented a small house on a lake, where you can go swimming, paddling and bike riding. Friends of ours will be visiting for 2 days and I can't wait for the R & R!!! And knowing myself, I will be in the lake about - oh - 8 hours a day!! and the rest barbecueing!!

Then, in September, my Daddy is coming to visit me (yay!) and we'll be visiting Dresden for 2 days and Prague for 3 days. It's been way too long since I last saw him (21 months) and I really can't wait. He loves Berlin, too, and has been dreaming of Prague for years, so it'll be fantastic.

In October, a very good friend of mine and her husband will be in Frankfurt for a couple of days, so I'll be heading down there to meet up with them and visit the city with her (hubby will be working at the bookfair). Right after that, I'll be back in Berlin, where my aunt will visit me for 4 or 5 days - that'll also be great.


And at the begining of December, I'm heading back home (finally!!!) for Christmas. Haven't been there for 2 years and am totally looking forward to catching up with friends and family.

the next months are very promising...

Everything New - Peter Fox

Tori

Sometimes music expresses things better than words...

Home

I'll be going home for Christmas!!! I know this must seem weird and far away for a lot of people, but for me, it's an incredible thing. My ticket is bought, I really will be able see my family and friends. I guess it's an expat thing. I'm so happy I could cry.

Let go - Frou frou

Amazing

really good song! Can anyone guess what it's about?

Old and new

Does a good song stay good when it's covered?

Europe can be weird

This weekend the Eurovision song contest was held, in which european countries send artists who each sing one song and at the end there's a televoting to determine who wins. What I don't understand is that countries like Armenia or Azerbaijan also participate. Furthermore, most votes go to neighbouring countries, to such an extent that it doesn't have much to do with the quality of the performance anymore ( you're not allowed to vote for your own country). Well, this year Russia won, and as expected most ex-USSR countries gave it the most points.

Germany finished last (Ex Aequo with Poland and the UK) and I read in the paper they're thinking of sending Rammstein next year... or Tokio Hotel..whatever.

What I also think is weird, is that the artists don't have to come from the country they are representing, nor sing in the country's language. For example, in 1988 Celine Dion won for Switzerland... Ummm the link between Québec and Switzerland still boggles my mind...

Oh well, here's a girl who sang for Norway and didn't win, but man, what a voice:

Can't wait till summer!!!

Squirrels instead of cats...

more cat pictures

Hot, hot and outshopped!!

I went SHOPPING today for summer clothes!

What a perfect day! I found light pants I wanted last summer but couldn't find - and they were 10 euros cheaper. I bought a sexy summer dress in which I look like a million bucks. I bought funky tops to go with a cute skirt I found. All the clothes I found fit me in sizes that made me smile.

And when came the time to pay, I thought I had 3 or 4 euros left on my H & M gift card, but the cashier told me there was actually 35 euros left on it...

What a day!!!!

Tee-hee II

see more crazy cat pics

Tee-hee

see more crazy cat pics

Appalled

Today I was with my bike in the train, on my way to a french lesson I was going to give in the northern part of Berlin. The wagon was pretty full, and I started noticing the different people. Among them, a woman, dressed up for work (skirt and jacket), who seemed to be around 45 years old, and had great legs, which she showed off by wearing a skirt. Now, the skrit wasn't indecent at all, keep this in mind.

A young man, maybe 18 or 19 years old, baggy clothes, huge baseball cap, huge earphones, is standing in front of the woman (who was seated). All of a sudden, he spits (in the train!)on the florr between her feet. She takes no notice of it and then finishes her phone call and resumes to chatting with the woman next to her, completely ignoring the young man. He then tells her loudly to "close her legs, because it stinks in here". (Her legs weren't wide spread or anything!!) She continues to ignore him. As if it wasn't enough, he decides to leave the wagon, or at least walk down further away from the woman, but while doing so, he makes sure to step on her little foot with his huge sneakers. The woman ignored him, and when other passengers finally spoke up, she said :"Don't worry, he's probably psycho, I'm just glad he's gone".

Now, nothing happened, because everybody ignored him, but I really had to question myself. How in the world can there still be misogynists, especially at such a young age? WTF??

Crazy people.

Today

Today I rode my bike through the city, with its parks and streets and bike paths in the sun. 12.5 km.

Tonight I did 90 minutes of Power Yoga.

I feel alive.

Hip Hop

This semester I've signed up for a weekly hip hop class and last night was our first session.

I had forgotten how much I like it, it felt really great! The teacher is nice and funny, although the hip hop teacher I had in Montreal was incredible and irreplaceable...

For those of you who don't know what a hip hop class look like, here's a vid:



This is what a hip hop class looks like ( except that my group is a beginner group and we aren't quite as good as these guys).

But hey, practice makes perfect! Besides, my muscles are so sore and it feels great!

Tonight I'm going to my second power yoga class...

Awwwwwwwwwww

Even though this is bad grammar, I just couldn't resist...

A Day in the Life of Pouki-Helmoutte

I normally clean Pouki-Helmoutte's cage at night, since hamsters are nocturnal animals, but this week it just wasn't possible, so I had to do it during her sleep hours. I thought, no big deal, I'll just move her in the summer residence (small cage), she'll continue to sleep and when I put her back into the big cage, she'll have to rebuild a small nest and continue sleeping... boy was I wrong!

I HAD to throw her nest out, because she wakes up during the day, and used to drag herself to her food, with one eye open, munch a bit and drag herself back to her nest. Lately she discovered that it was way more convenient to store food IN her nest during the night, so when she wakes up for a midday snack, she has it all there. While I don't have a problem with her doing that with dry food, it gets kinda gross when she does it with fresh food (veggies fruit and cheese) but forgets the food somewhere in there.

So off I started with the cleaning...



While I thought Pouki-Baby was quietly dosing off again in her summer residence, little did I know she was wreaking havoc on the other side of the room.




She then realised what I was doing...



"What the... Hey, let me outta here!"





"I said, LET ME OUT!!"

At the same time, in another top secret location, I was cleaning the bottom part of her cage, and quite happy with my work.



Everything had to be squeeky clean.





I was quite satisfied, until I heard a little voice...




"Hey! Down here! There you are. How dare you clean my room!? BAD HAMSTERMAMA!!"




"Ok, ok, I said I'm sorry, can I come out now? Pretty please?"




"Step 1: Pretend to have regrets and apologize. Step 2: Keep quiet. Step 3: ... Step 4: Escape!"


This is what her clean cage looked like: perfect! (I give her 24 hours before it looks just like it did before...)



By that time, she was really pissed off at me.



"I said, I'm not talking to you!"

But then I was able to convince her to give her clean cage a try, even if she was in a cranky mood.



"So clean...but...



...dude, where's my nest?!"



"Excuse me while I comfort myself with food... I am SO going to bring this all back up in therapy in a couple of years, you know that, right?"


Ah, the ups and downs of being a hamstermama...

Power Yoga A1

Tonight I had my first power yoga class. Part of me was a bit scared, part of me was curious. The description of the course said it's the most physically demanding type of yoga.

I'd been thinking about it all day, and was frankly quite nervous. I walked to the studio, and had butterflies in my stomach. I kept asking myself if I could really do it and what the other participants would be like. I really felt like a first grader on the first day of school.

Finally, the class went really well and I was able to do all the different exercises - I'm really proud of myself!

90 minutes of discovering muscles you never knew you had was amazing! I can't wait until next week...

Fine Young Cannibals

This song used to be my favorite song when I was 6 years old. And I still think it's prettty good, too!

You know it's SPRING when...

I choose to skip the subway and take my bike instead.

It did rain a bit on the way home, but the ride was wonderful, and having those little interludes of "fresh" air and physical activity between the various stuff I have to do during the day.

So, I rode my bike from home to uni, from uni to work (other uni), from work to back home, then from home to tutoring (I was giving french lessons today) and then back home again.

Total today: 26,9 km (16,7 miles)

Not a bad start...

All night

In my top five all time favorites...

Thanks

Thanks for the great phone call, it was nice talking to you after all this blogging. Can't wait to have a few beers with you in Berlin!

Deichkind - Looooove it!!

Remmidemmi

Vacation pics!!

Finally here are some pics from my France vacation - after my exam on Monday I was feeling pretty shitty on Tuesday and Wednesday - sick, sore throat, the works...

But now I'm better :)

So, here goes nothin'

We started out in Cologne and spent the first weekend in Vichy, where Carsten had spent 2 vacations, trying to learn French before he met me :)

I got to meet the family where he lived back then and we also visited the town, including its springs, where you could test different spring waters...









Here's the street where we stayed... Needless to say, your driving skills here have to be really good, since many streets are pretty narrow.



We then drove down to Millau, and saw the bridge that has been constructed.


After Millau, we headed towards Provence, and the route was beautiful. We took a little road through the Gorges du Tarn, the Tarn being a river. We had lunch in this awesome medieval village, and everywhere there were flowers in the trees - spring starts earlier in France...



and here is the Tarn:


We then drove on to the village of Uzès, where we spent a wonderful evening in a small Creperie, eating amazing galettes and drinking rosé wine.

The next days, we drove to visit the Pont du Gard, which was built by the Romans and was part of the roman Aqueduct:




By the vegetation, you can tell that we were getting closer and closer to the Mediterranean area: here's a cypress tree.




After the Pont du Gard, we headed down south to the Camargue region, and were rewarded with this beautiful sunset on the beach:




We had finally arrived in Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, which is an amazing village on the Mediterranean sea. We had once again a scrumptious evening meal in a restaurant, great wine and all in all a very romantic evening.

During the day, it was pretty hot in the sun, I even got sunburn! But the Mistral was blowing very strong, so it felt around 10 degrees...



We wanted to go horse-riding, but it was too cold, so we opted for a Camargue-safari instead...



where we saw typical Camargue landscapes, horses, flamingos and bulls.












Oh yeah, and we also saw this really cute stork!




NO, I'm NOT pregnant! ;)

Keep tuned for hte other half of our vacation...

Love it!

Just because

This is what I am listening to and doing my victory dance to:

1,3

Veni, vidi, vici

The exam was pretty hard, but apparently I made a good impression and managed to answer the questions in a satisfying way: I got a 1,3 (A for the north americans)!!

I am so proud of myself! (And SOOO grateful for the help I received in preparing)

Showdown in 90 minutes

In 90 minutes, I will enter the professor's office. He will be sitting there, with one other examiner, whom I don't know.

He'll ask me some questions and we'll discuss semantics and morphology.

20 minutes later, I'll get my mark. And be so relieved...

Exhausted

I'm exhausted. My brain is on overdrive. I've spent most of the day and evening studying, and my brain refuses to do anything more.

Thank god my friend Julius came over this morning to help me prepare for the exam, it really clarified it all up, I don't know what I would have done without him! :)

Thanks Julius!

And the rest of you, you better think of me tomorrow at 3:35 pm (9:35 am in Montreal and I guess somewhere around 6:35 am in L.A./ Vancouver)... please?

I'll let you know tomorrow when I get home ;)

Exam on Monday

I've been back but studying hard for an important exam on Monday!

Wish me luck!

ps. the vacation was awesome!

Vacation!

I'll be spending the next 10 days in Provence with my boyfriend! After these last 4 weeks of internship, working and writing papers for uni, I really need it!

I can already smell the lavender fields...

My new toy!!

I've discovered something new that I reaaaaaaaaaally love! It's like your own little portable internet forum / comment section - without the censorship of the website you're commenting on. You just have to install it, and you can comment on any given website - news articles, company websites, you name it! Here it is, so check it out and have fun "frosping"!

Freedom of Speech

aaaaaaaaah

I stayed home today, slept a lot and am already feeling a bit better. I've had a lot of stress lately, I've been working in school for the past three weeks. This internship is a part of my studies, and it's absolutely wonderful and absolutely exhausting...

Sometimes my body shuts down when I get stressed out... Good to know!

Blehhhh

I feel like my body is breaking down. The whole week I've been feeling week, having to lie down, hot flashes, blurry vision.

This morning I woke up with swollen lymph nodes and a sore throat...

I'm sick.

Wednesday evening

After a looong day of hard work and coming home somewhat late, there's nothing more relaxing than Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy - aaaaaaaaaaah, wonderful. There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home...

Love it!

Deepest blue - deepest blue

Even more Silverchair

More Silverchair

Silverchair

I'm a groupie of one single band in the whole world, and that would be Silverchair, the australian alternative band.



I flew to Toronto to see their concert in Edgefest, in 1997, when I was 15, cause they cancelled their date for Montreal...



This song, Shade, was the first song I ever heard from them. I still remember their first concert in Montreal, I waited 8 hours in line and was 1st row in the pit...

It's crazy how I now realize they were so young, and so was I (13 or 14... it was 1995 or 1996)...

Pouki-Baby!!!

It's crazy to think how such a small animal is able to bring so much joy to my life... I'm really happy I went through with it and got her.

I always have stupid nicknames for my pets, but I can't help it!

When I was younger, I would call my dog (Elvisse) Elvipou, Babypou, Tichien (Lildog)

I would call my cat (Pantoufle) Minou, Namou, Namouchat

And now I can't refrain from calling Pouki-Helmut Cocotte and Toute Petite...

Oh well... As long as I don't do that to my kids later...

Yay!

Friends of mine came over on Monday night to "celebrate" the arrival of Pouki-Helmutte. We christened her with sparkling wine and Julius, Pouki's Godfather, had even baked a cake with her initials on it!!

You can see pictures and the christening video on Julius' blog

Chez Nous

Daniel Boucher is a "chansonnier" from Québec. I really like this song, which is about Québec and the québécois spirit. Enjoy, and try to understand the general mood which the song has, even if you don't get what he's singing...

Get your own glitter and more at BlingyBlob.com

I'm a Hamster Mama!!

Pouki-Helmut is here!!

I've had her since Friday. Yes, it's a girl, and I'm thinking about calling her only Pouki, but at the same time, my dog was also a girl and her name was Elvisse, so it would be in line with the family tradition...

She is the cutest little thing I've ever set eyes on, it was really love at first sight. She already climbs into my hand as soon as I open her cage. I built a playground for her out of carboard boxes and toilet paper rolls. I'm sorry, I know for most of you this sounds pretty crazy, but I'm really in love with my pet, so please have patience and put up with the hamster pics that will surely come inthe next days...

She's 5 weeks old, my bf loves her, even my mom, who hasn't too much experience with rodents saw this pic and told me to "give her a kiss from grandma"...

Aww!!!

Isn't she cute? Tomorrow I'm going to buy her a new wheel (the one I had doesn't work properly) and we can do our exercise together...

Hehehe

Happy Happy!

I just found out I can listen to radio from Montreal on the net:

ckoi

yay!!

Back to Quebec!

How could anyone talk about music in Quebec in the nineties without talking about Jean Leloup?

Coeur de loup

I knew this song by heart when I was about seven years old... It's not from Quebec, though.



On another subject, Claudine mentionned to me in a comment on the last post that comparing Mitsou to Madonna isn't exactly accurate... and I totally agree. All apologies!

The nineties...

We also had our own french canadian Madonna in the nineties, Mitsou.

This video was banned from Much Music and various north american stations for being too erotic, but not from musique plus or french canadian television:




Celine in the nineties!

Eighties Music from Québec

Our "Céline nationale"! in 1984... she was sixteen.



and here she is again in a video full of 80's flair!!

Anyone remember this one??

Québec - I am not canadian!

Beau Dommage

Another "classic" from Québec in the seventies. The percussionist of the band was one of my neighbours where I grew up + dad of a childhood friend of mine. (Yeah, Québec is small like that)

23 décembre

Québecois Christmas song from the seventies...

F'd up biological clock

I admit it, in the past months I have been increasingly often having dreams about being pregnant / having a baby. It's only gotten real worse since a friend of mine is pregnant (3rd month). Sometimes I'm in the hospital ans am holding my babies in my arms (that time it was twins), or I just learned I am pregnant, or like I dreamt last night, I'm in the hospital about to give birth.

The thing is, when I dream I'm pregnant, it often comes with this incredible feeling of unconditional love, and when I wake up I'm really sad to find a flat tummy...

I'm 25, and haven't finished my studies yet. I want to work a bit before getting pregnant, and have money and be older...

I really don't get it. Stupid biological clock.

My man is a mean man...

She looks kinda like a nerd, but man can she sing!!!

R.I.P. Elvisse

Our family dog died today. We got her just before my 12th birthday. I still remember how cute and cudly she was. She was a really good dog. She always knew when we were sad or hurt and would instictively come up to us to cheer us up. In my teen years, she made sure I got up in the morning if my mom was working. She was a real part of our family. She was a companion to me when my parents divorced and was there to support me throughout my teenaged sorrows. When I moved out, she came to visit my new appartment and seemed so curious about it. Even though my boyfriend didn't really like her, she would just wag her tail and be all over him whenever he came over to my mom's place.

I know this probably sounds stupid, but frankly I don't care. Last year, when I was home for the holidays, as I was leaving she sat down in front of the door. I bent down to give her a hug and she just put her head in my neck and was really quiet for the longest time. It's like she knew it was the last time I would see her.

She had a tumor in her lungs and had been having a hard time breathing for the past couple of days. She was put to sleep this afternoon.

Now I really regret not having been home over the holidays.

Got hamsters on my mind...

I can't stop thinking about Pouki-Helmut...

I WANT A PET!!!

I'm feeling pretty lonely since the bf is away in Cologne during the week, and have been thinking about getting a pet. Last night I had a dream in which I had bought a really cute hamster and had named him Pouki. He was really cute!

I WANT ONE OF THESE!

Happy New Year!

I came back last night and was so exhausted that I slept 12 hours in a row!

My holidays were a bit stressful. My boyfriend was ill from December 25th to January 31st, which really drove me crazy ( he had a really high fever and nothing would lower it). The first night he was sick I didn't sleep, taking his temperature every hour, waking him up to give him aspirin or a cold bath... Nothing was helping.

The following days weren't so bad, but he was really weak and couldn't eat anything. Then his mom was totally stressing us out because we missed the family dinner at her place on the 26th. When my boyfriend was finally better, she suggested friday evening, that we should come over and sleep theree and stay until saturday. The thing is, I was leaving on Sunday and because my bpyfriend was sick, there were a lot of stuff we wanted to do we hadn't done, and would probably do on friday night, like go out, or to the theater, or meat up with friends we had cancelled before... On top of that, sleeping there on Friday would have meant losing half of saturday (she lives outside of cologne). On top of that, we know she hates cooking for people and having guests, so we thought she would be happy if we invited her here instead, I would cook for her, and she didn't need to pay for wine. We told her she could chose any other evening, we would love to have her over, and she could see where her son is living know. Well, she got insulted that we didn't want to come over on the date she chose, under the conditions she chose, she got pissed off and called it all off.

We then got presents through the mail with a card saying " if you don't want to come to the presents, at least the presents come to you". How mature. And she made sure to leave the price on my present. I don't know if it's the same here, but back home this is really impolite.

Besides that, we had a great time at the boyfriend's dad's and stepmom's place. We had a great Christmas evening there the 24th. As usual, I was showered wth gifts and love. These people are so generous. We also went with the whole family to a spanish restaurant, which was really nice.

On the 31st we had a beautiful view on the Dome of Cologne and watched the fireworks on the shores of the Rhine. We visited my boyfriend's Granny on the first and she told us funny stories of when he was little. On my last day in Cologne, I was really spoiled by my boyfriend: we went shopping the whole day, got new shoes, clothes, a necklace and in the evening we went to this great italian restaurant, and then came home and watched a movie with a good bottle of wine. Needless to say, it was difficult leaving yesterday...

On the other hand, I was happy to be in my lovely little nest here in Berlin today. The boyfriend will be here on Friday night for the weekend.

What are your new year's resolutions? Mine are simple: write a good bachelor paper, live in a more healthy way, and I mean that physically and spiritually: more exercise, better quality foods, less stress, less work, less worrying, more yoga and meditation :)

I am going to start my meditating by meditating on my vacation in march :) We're probably flying to marocco for 10 days, but still looking around for other good last minute deals.

2008, here I come!!