Homes, yo.

This is the first post from my computer in over three months. How exciting. Actually it had a slight malfunction when I tried to turn it on last week and only got it back on Thursday, however now it yet again boasts more harddrive space (not my fault, I didn't ask for it, I swear!). Enough about that...so remember how I busted my camera in Montreal? Well, my folks felt bad for me and offered to buy me a new one (actually, I was going to sell my old one and put that money towards a new camera they were going to buy for me). Anyhoo. Special K also needs a camera but it appears her brother gave her his, which was nice of him, the most my brother ever gave me was a pile of someone else's clothes. I actually appreciated it though. OK back to the camera issue. My family is a Pentax family, just a series of coincidences really. My dad got a Pentax digi, then he got one for my brother too, and I have a Pentax SLR (well, my dad used to have a Pentax SLR)...so naturally I lean towards Pentax vs. Canon. Special K and I have been half-assedly researching digis for months.

This is the best I have come up with. Comments, concerns, suggestions? Post them or email: illustratedhana-chronicles@yahoo.ca or whereever else you want to comment.

Sorry about the boring post. This is the mother of all lamps:

Catching Up

Here are some articles new and old. A lot of you have probably heard about this already. Sorry for the thrown together post but I have new and more entertaining hobbies.

Horribly Offensive.

Functional Art.

Chew on this.

Not so contraversial.

You Can Never Go Back Home

Leaving a place is always hard because you know when you return it will never be the same. It makes me so sad. I hope we meet again.

Having returned to a place once so familiar, I find myself homesick.

Talking about it does not change anything. Does it make me feel better though?

Think about it. Leave for a long time, see what happens.

Possibly Published.

Here is an article I wrote that might be published in September in the local independent newspaper. The English will be followed by the original French, if you want to challenge yourself.

A Maple Flavoured Exchange
An anglophone intern 1200 km from home, how did she end up in Rimouski and what exactly is a rimouskois? The answer, her experiences and opinions after spending two months in Rimouski.
Opening my email that morning, I got two new emails, one rejected me as a peer guide for international students, but the second was a job offer with a language exchange. The irony. I read my job description and googled Rimouski to try and find this unknown city. Then, I opened an atlas of North America. My eyes scanned it towards the east for a while and there it was. Rimouski actually exists. All right. I re-read the job description. Official translator for the Carrousel international du film de Rimouski (a film festival).
A quick call to my dad, “Are you sure that Rimouski is in Canada? It sounds more like Poland to me.” To me, it seemed just as far.
During the following month, I tried not to think about the job. Between the offer and my flight, there were still 3 essays, 4 final exams and a move. Hours and hours of organization later, the big day came. After a night of not-so-light partying, I boarded a plane at 6:00am towards Quebec City. A series of naps brought me to Rimouski.
Two months later, I can tell you that this city is nothing like I could have imagined. From the first day at work, my coworkers reassured me, Rimouski may be small, but it’s cultural and dynamic. I was sure that I was hearing the spiel that they give all the interns. Nope. We (the other interns on exchange and I) are never bored, unlike what happens back home in the lowly suburb of Toronto!
The people of Rimouski are very nice, which I like. Everyone is ready and willing to help me out. My coworkers at the Carrousel are always happy to invite us somewhere to live out Rimouski and the Lower Saint Lawerence any which way, that is, when they are not too busy organizing the Carrousel (September 23-October 1).
In terms of improving my French, I finally got used to the Quebecois accent and I even learned some useful words and expressions, for example, “nodding off” and “happy hour” that have nothing to do with work, I promise. Anyway, I enjoy the work, I get to see movies that I won’t get to see anywhere else and they are great. The film selection this year is, without question, excellent. I advise you to go to the festival and don’t worry about bad subtitling or dubbing, I took care of it and I assure you that it’s great!
Life in Rimouski isn’t like that in Toronto, or London for that matter, where I go to school. My friends ask me lots of questions about this far away city. I tell them stories of lions (a cat that wandered into my room) and incredible parties in the woods (the party for St. Jean Baptiste Day).
I think that the biggest difference that I noticed between Rimouski and home is the population. Sure, it’s smaller here, but people are Canadian, as are their parents, etc. That is something rather foreign to me, a bit of a foreigner myself. Just as foreign is that everything that I could possibly imagine comes maple flavoured, even couscous. My roommate in London has made requests for maplesque products, something somewhat rare at home.
In retrospective, I can say that if I had the choice, I wouldn’t choose another city to spend my summer or another festival for which to work.

Un exchange à l’erable

Une stagiaire anglophone est 1200 kilomètres de chez elle, comment est-ce qu’elle s’est retrouvée à Rimouski, et qu’est-ce que c’est un rimouskois exactement ? La réponse, ses expériences et opinions après passer deux mois à Rimouski.
En ouvrant mes couriel ce matin là, j’ai reçu 2 nouvelles, on me refusait comme accueillante d’étudiants étrangers, mais on m’envoyait occuper un emploi dans le cadre d’un échange linguistique. C’était plutôt ironique. J’ai d’abord lu la description de mon poste, puis j’ai tapé Rimouski sur google pour essayer de découvrir cette ville inconnue. J’ai ensuite ouvert un atlas de l’Amérique du nord. Mes yeux ont balayé l’Est quelques instants et puis voilà. Rimouski existait bel et bien. Bon. J’ai relu la description du poste. Traductrice officielle du Carrousel international du film de Rimouski. Ça souvenait bien.
Un coup de fil à mon père : « T’es sûre que Rimouski c’est au Canada ? Ça ne serait pas plutôt en Pologne ? » D’après moi, ça semblait m’en aussi loin.
Pendant le mois qui suivait, j’essayai de ne pas penser à ce job. Entre la nouvelle de mon départ et mon avion, il me restait 3 dissertations, 4 examens finaux et un déménagement. Des heures et des heures d’organisation plus tard, le grand jour est arrivé. Après une nuit d’adieux bien arrosée, je me suis embarquée à 6h00 du matin dans un avion en direction de Québec. Une succession de siestes m’a emmenée à Rimouski.
Deux mois plus tard, je peux vous dire que cette ville ne ressemble en rien à tout ce que j’avais pu imaginer. Dès le premier jour au travail, mes collègues ont tenu à me rassurer. Rimouski, ce n’est peut être pas gros, mais c’est culturel et dynamique. J’étais sûre d’entendre le baratin de service offert à tous les stagiaires. Faux. Nous (les autres stagiaires du programme et moi) ne nous ennuyons jamais, contrairement à ce que je vis chez moi en banlieue de Toronto !
Les rimouskois sont très gentils, ce qui me plaît. Tout le monde est prêt à m’aider. Mes collègues au Carrousel sont toujours contents de nous inviter quelque part pour vivre Rimouski et le Bas St.-Laurent n’importe comment, c’est-à-dire, quand ils ne sont pas trop occupés par le travail d’organisation du Carrousel (de 23^e septembre au 1^er octobre) jusqu’à présent.
Au niveau de l’amélioration de mon français, je me suis finalement habituée à l’accent québécois et j’ai même appris quelques mots et expressions utiles, par exemple, «cogner des clous » et «5 à 7 », qui n’ont rien à voir avec le travail, je vous promets. De toute façon, le travail me plaît bien, j’écoute des films que je ne pourrais pas voir autrement, et ils sont géniaux. La sélection cette année est, sans questions, excellente. Je vous conseille de passer au festival et ne vous inquiétez pas du problème de mauvais sous-titrage/doublage, je m’en suis occupée et je vous assure qu’il est excellent !
La vie à Rimouski n’est pas pareille de celle que j’ai à Toronto ni même à London, où j’étudie. Mes amis me posent plein des questions à propos de cette ville lointaine. Je leurs raconte de grosses histoires des lions (un chat qui est entré dans ma chambre par hasard) et des fêtes incroyables dans la forêt (la fête au parc pour la St.-Jean-Baptiste).
Je pense que la différence la plus grande que j’ai remarqué entre Rimouski et chez moi, c’est la population. Oui elle est plus petite ici, mais des gens sont canadiens et pur laine. C’est quelque chose complètement étrange pour moi, un peu étrangère moi-même. Autant étrange est que tout que j’imagine arrive avec un petit goût d’érable, même le couscous. Ma colocataire à London, m’a fait plusieurs demandes pour les produits érablesques, quelque chose assez rare chez nous.
En rétrospective, je peux dire que si j’avais le choix, je ne choisirais aucune autre ville pour passer mon été et aucun autre festival du film pour travailler.

Movie Stars

Most of you have heard me say random things about movies I've watched and translated at work, so this entry is to tell you about some of them...

The other day I noticed that two characters looked rather similar and hey both are Swedish, check it out.

Graveyard Island (Kyrkogårdsön) - Sweden, 2004
This is an action movie set in the 80s and these kids try to figure out what is going on the island, in the abandoned fort across the lake. There's Russians, spies and secrets...


This is Henrik and Oskar. Sorry it's so small, it's the biggest photo I could find. Visit their website and watch the trailer and look at photos, you might need to learn some Swedish first though.

Franz and the Maestro (BLAND TISTLAR) - Sweden, 2006
Not one of my favourite movies, watching it, I almost fell asleep...at work.. Anyway, the animation is hilarious and it's in Swedish, which automatically makes it funny. It's about Franz who wants to play an instrument but his dad, the Maestro at a band camp. Things sort of happen.
This is Franz.

Doesn't he look like Oskar?

And just for the sake of animation:


Other movies...Der Raeuber Hotzenplotz



Just finished this one this morning. It's about 2 kids getting back Grandmother's coffee grinder.

That's all for now. When I remember some more movies I'll share them with you. Perhaps next week will feature some Danish movies.