Rouyn Adventure and Moving on Up!

So much has happened in the last few days!

Carmen and I made the 9+ hour trip to Rouyn in Quebec to take our English Proficiency Exams.  It was kind of a joke because they let us write together in a room alone and away from any official eyes where we could fully cheat (but didn't of course).  The test itself wasn't too difficult, answering a series of questions about an article and then writing a short essay on a specific topic.  It took a couple of hours and my hand was hurting at the end! 

After that we could finally relax and get shopping - oh and shop we did!  I attacked that Dollarama like a hurricane.  They didn't know what hit em.  Carmen's parents drove up on Friday night to celebrate Carmen's 25th birthday which was pretty awesome! They stayed for the rest of the weekend until we left on Sunday morning.

On the way up my windshield sustained a few small chips and a tiny crack which I decided to get fixed since I knew I was taking a pretty rough trip home and didn't want the damage to get worse.  So I got them filled - the end.  Or not.  On the way home, about an hour outside of civilization deep in Frenchyville a huge rock bounced off my windshield and left me with a penny-sized chip that is almost all the way through!! AWESOMMEEEEEE!  So I had no where to get it fixed sadly and made it home without any further chipping or splitting but I am anxious now about the trip home at Goosebreak and I hope I don't do any more damage!!

So I came back to a pretty sweet teaching week this week which made the long trip home a little more bearable.  Monday was a PED day which didn't require much mental commitment and Tuesday through to Thursday which was my class's Easter party and overall quiet day with only 8 kids! Friday and Monday are no school days due to Easter holidays and I have to say I am quite excited to have a long weekend and 2 days off school with no official school duties to attend to!! These 4 days are all mine!! I WILL SLEEP!! I am so excited.  There are a couple of birthday celebrations to attend which will be quite fun and I am looking forward to deep cleaning my home, getting some hardcore planning done and relaxing!

The weather here has slowly been getting warmer which means the incredible mountains of snow are melting and there is slush, then ice, then slush EVERYWHERE.  The one good thing is that this town doesn't use salt to melt ice, just sand.  So while I don't have gross salt stains all over my clothes, I do have sand all over and it is killing me!  Oh well, I shouldn't complain, the sun is shining, I am receiving plenty of natural Vitamin D and I don't have to shovel anymore YAY!!

This week was also our housing meeting where new houses are allocated to teachers!! Since 6 brand-new houses finally became available, 6 teachers moved on up leaving 6 houses around town available!  So I will soon be moving to a really nice 2 bedroom semi-detached home with a large open concept kitchen and living room, huge bathroom, lots of storage and a laundry room and *drumroll* a wood burning stove!! It will be so nice to sit back in the winter with the fire crackling with a good book (who am I kidding I'll probably be cutting out lamination).  The downside is cell phone reception is pretty awful so I will have to get a land line.  I am also going to bite the bullet and arrange to start getting satellite TV.  While I have lived long enough without tv in the past and managed to download everything I needed or wanted to watch, the internet here is so slow, it would actually be faster to watch the shows I like in real time :| Plus I watched 2 episodes of COPS in Rouyn and forgot how much I love that show.  So sign me up!!

Anyways, Easter weekend is upon us now and I plan to do nothing but sleep, clean and plan and hang out.  Goosebreak is 4 weeks away (18 school days but who's counting!?) and I will be driving down to see friends, family, get work done on my car and hopefully relax! OH AND GO TO COSTCO.

Rupert River half frozen

My Comfort Inn haul!

KM 70, a really beautiful view!

Unpacking...

Bridge at the Rupert River

My view for 20+ hours haha

Easter Cupcakes!

How Carmen and I communicated throughout the trip! No cell reception for most of the drive meant if we needed to pull over for gas etc, we could just walkie talkie! It made for some pretty funny conversation.

No comment. I AM SO BUMMED.

Note I did not completely over-pack my car this time! Modest if I do say so myself!

Oh yeah this is KM 381, the only gas station for around 200 KM in one direction and 381 in the other.  Everyone HAS to stop there for gas if you want to finish your trip.  Its pretty fancy..

The grocery store in Matagami.  Carmen and I had a little freak out.

Mecca AKA Wal Mart

Crazy slush-ice on Carmen's car

The end of the Access Road! KM 0! Welcome to/Thanks for visiting Wemindji!

My lopsided cake and Carmen's 2nd 24th birthday...

Carmen's birthday celebration at MIKES delish!

In the lobby of our hotel!! $5 WHAT

FULL OF AMAZING

Hallelujah!

I STILL have not seen any substantial wildlife!

Ommie Nommies!

These are the diamonds I talk about. 1 diamond means "watch out a big bump! 2 means "AYAYAY bigger bump!" 3 means "YOU LOST A TIRE"... Sometimes.  Some of these bumps are filled in but the diamonds have not been removed and some bumps have NO diamonds at all so its a surprise roller coaster ride! 

A bush camp along the way

Happy Easter!