Meh it was bound to happen..

Yep, all of a sudden it was Autumn. And just as suddenly I found myself sick with a cold. Coincidence? Perhaps. Actually I think I know the moment when the cold infiltrated my cell walls. I was on a late night walk around the streets of Montreal last Wednesday, and it was quite a cold night. We walked into a jazz bar to check it out (it was really cool, I think I've found my local jazz hangout of choice) and it was about 20 degrees warmer inside. The sudden change of temperature coupled with the distraction of the music tricked my immune system just long enough to let the virus inside, and the next morning all was confirmed.

Luckily I didn't have to go through the same experience here as I did when I first got sick in Sweden, and had to ride my bike through the icy autumn wind to the hospital as it had the only pharmacy open on a Sunday, only to find that their arsenal of cold & flu medication consisted of some lame herbal tablets. Getting the good stuff is easy here and I was soon filled with pseudoephedrine and painkillers and some echinacea for good measure.

I have started ausifying everyone at uni by making anzac biccies (with macadamia nuts) for them last week. Finding golden syrup in the supermarket took me a while - it wasn't in the same place as the honey, it was in the syrup section! I'm glad I at least figured that out eventually without having to ask someone. I've also sussed out the ingredients for vanilla slice so I'll be busting some of those out soon too. I didn't go poking through the cupboards of my soon-to-be-apartment when I checked it out, so I'm curious (and a little apprehensive) about the kitchen supplies. I did at least notice that it had an oven and fridge so that's a start I guess.

Oh I forgot to talk about the Tam Tams last time. They are held in the Parc du Mont-Royal (at the mountain that gives Montreal it's name) every Sunday during summer, and beyond, if the weather is good. It's not actually organised by anyone in particular, everyone just rocks up and has a good time. Tam-tams is the word for hand drums like djembes, and basically it's just lots of people playing drums and dancing and relaxing. We need something like this in Perth.

Wanted: Star proposal writer

Actually instead of getting someone to write my proposal for me, which would actually be completely useless, I really just want that ability that Kim Basinger's character had in "My Stepmother is an Alien" and be able to read things super fast.

I've found an apartment! It wasn't the one that I had pinned my hopes on in my last post, but I think it's actually better than that one. I'll be subletting it from a guy who is going to Vancouver for a few months, and he'll be leaving all his furniture for me to use. The timing works out almost perfectly, and the fact that it is fully furnished saves me a lot of messing around with getting dodgy secondhand stuff. The room is gigantic, plus I get an office. The place has a few typical rental property weird things going on with it, for instance there is no basin in the bathroom. Very strange. But it's on "Avenue de l'Hotel-de-Ville". That's way cooler than Osborne Street.

I forgot to mention in my previous posts that I have driven on the wrong side of the road!! I did quite a lot of driving in Ontario actually. It took a bit of getting used to, particularly as I was driving a massive van, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly. Always had to keep alert though, not like at home when I find myself suddenly at work or at home with no real recollection of having driven there.

Another girl from UWA is in Montreal at the moment, working in the same lab as me at the university, and it's been great having her here and imparting all my knowledge about Montreal, ho ho. I think in the 4 days she's been here she's seen twice as much of the place as I have. I must make sure I get off my arse and do the tourist things before I suddenly have no time left. Plus I haven't managed to hunt down a cheesy tourist shop to get some postcards, so forgive me if you've been eagerly waiting for a RCMP postcard from me, it may well be coming some time in the next 4 months..

I've started turning my thoughts to Halloween. Yes, already. It's not my fault, they've been selling Halloween crap in the shops for ages now! I just can't decide on who to dress up as though, it's a tough decision! And quite important. I mean, who knows how many more years I'll have to wait to celebrate it properly again? I've narrowed my choice down to either Carmen Sandiego, Birdgirl from Harvey Birdman or Superted. Do I want to wear a hat, a mask or a cape?

I registered for the Lake Louise conference and bought my flights for it yesterday. Over $1000 later (with accommodation still to be paid) and I'm set to go. I also signed up for the "Clean Lakes Classic 5km Run/Walk/Snowshoe Shuffle" which is held during the conference, but think my esteemed SESE colleagues may not be joining me on this. Wimps. Though I am slightly concerned about running a route that can also be snowshoed. Perhaps I will need some cleats. Or chains.

Things I'm learning about Canada

Entrees here are called appetisers ("appies", if you will, ugh) or starters, and mains are called entrees. The first menu I looked at caused me great confusion... where were the mains?

The 10 cent piece is smaller than the 5 cent piece. This is just silly.

Sultanas are called raisins. Sultana is a brand of raisin here apparently.

You can turn right when you have a red light, except when you are in the city of Montreal.

A biscuit is a cookie and scone is a biscuit.

If you say "seeya later" here apparently people take you literally.

Before you get too excited about the price of food on any menu, add on tax and a tip.

They are behind us with the Doctor! Sucked in Canada.

There is lots of awesome food here, much to my joy and dismay. Self control, where are you?

You can't escape Aussies anywhere. They have spread the length and breadth of the globe.

Three weeks of madness

My field work in Ontario is over and I am now beginning to feel human and awake again after a few days of recovery back in Montreal. It was a crazy few weeks, consisting primarily of either preparing for, doing, or recovering from the field. It all came to a head during the 24 hour sampling period, which began at 8:15am last Wednesday, and finished at 8:00am Thursday. We were lucky enough to have quite mild weather for the whole period, but I still managed to wear 7 layers of clothing at night (singlet, two shirts, three jackets and a rain coat). I wasn't cold :)

To give you an idea of what we were doing, here's a movie showing what needed to be done every 15 minutes (actually it's just a bit of what needed to be done, but a movie showing the whole process would be even less exciting):


The mosquitoes were out in force for a couple of hours in the evening but amazingly I didn't get bitten. I suspect it was due to the thick layer of sunscreen and dirt covering my exposed skin. Bats also made an appearance later in the night, but I only managed to catch a glimpse of one. I also managed to catch a glimpse of this strange monster (I have to mention this was at something like hour 20 of 24).

We were well looked after in the food department, with a huge cooler bag of sandwiches/fruit/cookies/muesli bars etc packed by yours truly. The highlight however was getting pizza and a thermos of hot coffee delivered by Jen during the night. The thermos was new, and has a little compartment where you can put milk in case one person wants milk and the other doesn't. The compartment seemed a bit dodgy however, and the milk spilt out a little if you weren't careful at keeping the thermos upright (hard to do in a a crowded boat). I eventually got sick of this so decided to just drink some coffee and use up the milk, but when I opened up the compartment there was no milk left, it had all spilt out. Typical.

So now the field work is over and I am back in Montreal, searching for somewhere to live and trying to finish writing my proposal. I'm not sure which is the more difficult or annoying task. Have looked at a few apartments now. The first one was really nice but too expensive, the second was a bit of a dive and the guy kept talking to my chest, the third was a dump but in a cool area (and Leonard Cohen would be my neighbour!!) but the fourth actually was great and the people seem really nice and I'm crossing my fingers and hoping to hear from them.