Le weekend!

This weekend has been pretty big. Got lots of things accomplished and checked off a couple of things off my bucket list (sleep with two girls on my bed - more on that later).

So the weekend arrived and with it many new things. I had my first house party. A simple enough affair, nothing too big, mostly invited a lot of anglophones from my program and some new French friends. In the process I think I may have created a new thing: BYOB&S -> bring your own beer and snacks. My friend Kyle and Maryse jammed with their guitar and voice. Maryse is the lead singer of a Vancouver band called "Woodsmen" http://woodsmenband.bandcamp.com/. At one point in the night we all broke into synchronized Backstreet Boys ->






We all headed out to a club downtown afterwards. Personally I am not a big fan of clubs but it wasn't too crowded and they were playing some good music. Unfortunately we had to try to get back soon because the buses run very infrequently here in Quebec city after 1am. Some of the girls from Charlebrough left early to try to catch their bus. I left soon after with my 2 couch surfers (from Mexico) to go back to my apartment. We see the Charlebrough girls heading back to the club. It turns out they missed their bus and didn't want to stand outside for 1 hour. But it seemed they were tired. So I offered them my place to crash and they took me up on that offer. So here we are back at my apartment with 4 singles girls and me (every guy's dream right?). The couch surfers slept on my futon couch and an air matress while Glenna and Rebecca and I shared my Queen size bed. Sleep with two girls on my bed checked off for now. :D

This weekend also marked the opening of the rock climbing gym. I can't tell you how excited I was to finally start rock climbing. I passed my certification course using youtube videos and my previous rock climbing experience at the University of Saskatoon (where I did Explore). The instructor Jean Phillip can speak English and is a really cool guy. The only bad thing about the gym is that it is not open everyday for the hours that I can go. So even though I bought a membership pass I can only really go Thursday-Saturday. But one of my goals this year is to really get decent at rock climbing and use it as an effective upper body workout.

Today, Sunday is also the first time I played in an Ultimate Frisbee league here in Quebec city. My friend Sherry and her boyfriend Joey invited me to join their team the Discopathes, and I took up their offer. We have games every Sunday, so that is also something exciting happening in my life. Unfortunately we got creamed for our first match with a score of 15-4. But I think with time we will be able to really gel as a team.

I love this poster I bought from allposters.ca

The aftermath of the party all cleaned up :D

Bouldering and wall

Kyle - sexy man with a sexy guitar

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Peace from Quebec.

First Couch Surfer at new place!

This weekend I had the opportunity to host my first couch surfer in Quebec city! For those who don't know couchsurfing.org is a really cool website where you can travel the world for free by surfing on people's couches in the city you are visiting. For the people hosting (like me), we get to meet someone new from another culture and show them the local joints and spots that you wouldn't see if you were a tourist. Also most hosters have been a surfer at one point or another so it is also about paying it forward.

I first feel in love with the idea of couch surfing when I was in Korea. One of my well traveled Irish friends told me about it and I hosted a couple of people in Korea. Then when I came back to Canada I had the opportunity to surf in a lot of new places like Montreal, Couberg etc. Every time the experience has been wonderful. So I wanted to pay it forward.

My surfer Chih-Yu is from Taiwan and he came here to attend a world scout jamboree. Which is like a grown up version of boy scouts. There are many countries represented and after the meeting he is now travelling across Canada with the money he has saved up over three years.

We became fast friends and over Saturday and Sunday I took him to many places. Our first stop was the Plains of Abraham where coincidentally there was a historical reenactment going on and we got to see people fire muskets, cannons and a mock duel. Then we walked around old Quebec and splurged on some roast duck, foie gras, and rabbit legs. At night time Yu broke out his analog cameras and taught me a lot about photography. He said he is going to send me some of his pictures - I can't wait!

Peace from Quebec.

My couchsurfer using his analog camera to take some night shots.

My friend Rebecca who seems to loves to climb on top of big black things haha.

Really expensive dinner, first time eating rabbit -  pretty good.

:D

Celtic festival - strongman games

We got to catch an historical reenactment

Inside the fortification walls

Parents visit

My parents came to visit me this past weekend, I took them around the city. We were able to catch the free showing of cirque du solei and afterwards we caught a ferry across the river to Levis side to check out the awesome view.

Oh yea I also bought some rock climbing gear cause I am going to get a membership to the Laval university rock climbing gym :D