Coming soon... (Week 2)

More notes on things I should really blog about later.... still pressed for time...

• A cathedral heavy with history ;
• Duplicates across the channel ;
• Bright - on or how to be silly ;
• The tower of despair, or... a lesson in history ;
• Up the eye ;
• Flying to the city of romance ;
• Couch-surfing experience n. 2 or how I became friends with an actress ;
• Pilgrimage in Paris ;
• A high-speed transition to the country of banks.

Cricketina, here's a clue, my new love is a city. Hahaha !

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

On lay-over in Paris

I'm on my way home for a week, and have 5 hours to waste at the airport in Paris. In the process, I am experiencing several frustrations:

1. I feel I did not see enough of Burkina. Considering my past history with the country, it is a very real and profound frustration. Despite the advance notice, I failed in seeing our family friends. When the plane took off, I cried.

2. I made some friends in Mali and Burkina and I will miss them. For the first time in a while, I felt a strong connection to these places, and my sadness to leave is very complete.

3. I don't have enough time to go into Paris. BUT I AM SO CLOSE !!!

4. I know I will only have only a week home. It's not enough.

5. I'm sleepy *eyes closing* but I can't lie down.

6. I'm bored (by my own blogging) and there is no-one on MSN !!!

7. I'm lonely.

These frustrations are alleviated by the knowledge that I will soon be enjoying Mum's cooking, my friends' goofy jokes and Montreal's characteristic weather.

Having Internet helps too. I am addicted.

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Introspective Post and Season's wishes

It’s a Tuesday afternoon, and I am not working. I just made eggs and toast for myself, jazz is playing in the kitchen, and the sun room where I am sitting is filled with the Toronto grey skies. It’s the first time I have in about a month to really sit down and reflect. It’s a scary thing. Last time it happened, I wrote a post called Cul-de-sac – and it was so very depressing and somewhat tragic.

This time – I am at peace. So much has happened between Cul de Sac and now. Last time I took the time to write an introspective post, I was in Haiti, sequestered, lonely, bored and depressed. This time, I am in Toronto, in one of my homes away from home, Pgwrox’s lovely townhouse where I have now been enough times to know my way around and feel at home. I am rested, sated, and somewhat content.

Christmas is coming round and I feel no fear, for the first time in a long time. Dad won’t be there, of course. CQFD will not be there either. My mum, PG and I will be celebrating the family thing together, as the tightly knit family that we are, despite distances.

My mum and I will be the 2 widows that we are, her in her own right, me…. in my own way. Last year, at this time, we were decorating the Christmas tree, CQFD and I, at his parents’ house. I was at peace, happy, in love. I felt like it was a day of days. I felt like that moment was immortal.

But all moments are immortal. And so while my 4 years with CQFD are suspended in time, so are my memories of my Yankee lover immortal, his warmth, and how I felt happy and at home in his arms, though I may never see him again.

And so timeless are the memories of my friend Naya, grilling red peppers while chatting with her sister at the other end of the world, and so are those of the Peacekeepers of Haiti, whom I may never see again but carry forever in my heart.

The Belgian crew in Bujumbura and the Philippinos in Aceh, and of course the orphans in Sierra Leone, the staff in Liberia and CMR & Princess, whom I met in Pakistan, now scattered in Zambia and Australia, my family in France and Canada, all of you will stay in my heart for ever.

All of my fellow officers are immortal. They are all unique and special and beautiful in their own way. And I love them all, in a way that is unique to them. I will miss them during this month of rest, and I will miss some of them more until I work with them again, sometimes 6 or 7 months from now.

This year has been a busy and eventful year. I have been ill. I have had my heart broken. I have also learned much and grown in wisdom and confidence through it all. Friends have died, and babies were conceived. Love was lost and friendships were found, built and nourished. Decisions were made, lessons were learned and through it all, the wheel of life kept turning, inexorably and timelessly.





So on the eve of Christmas 2006, may your time with your loved ones be rich, filled with love and may it remain suspended in time, shimmering and bright for you to remember, should hardship befall you. We are all immortal, timeless, evanescent. And all of you readers, may you find in this holiday season the power to love, forgive and to remember.

The Beaver

How the Beaver went away and back again

Ok, so I've been rather silent recently.

I have an excuse. I was away travelling to see my family.

So anyway, my last weekend in Buja, we celebrated Naya's Birthday by going to dinner, to a fashion show, and watching some traditionnal dancing.

It also involved clubbing until the wee hours of the morning.

The following wednesday, I was flying on Ethiopian Airways through Addis Ababa to France where I was to meet my family. The plane first stopped in Kigali, though, and I had the chance to take some superb airshots of Rwanda, the land of the 1000 hills.

After a long flight in Business class (I never do this - but then I truely needed to splurge), I got to my aunt's house. I want to take 2 seconds and pay hommage to it because it was the last time I saw the house, and though I didn't live there, I feel like part of my roots have gone with it being sold. So here it is, my home away from home:

The following days were spent catching up with the family and hanging out. On Saturday, I took a road trip with my cousins to go the place where the celebrations were held, in Silly-en-Gouffern (I know, it ressembles "Silly, I'm goofing!" - but what can I say, it's the name of the place.) Along the way, I enjoyed some wonderful french landscapes.

Of course, we also had the inevitable "we're lost and we're late moment". Although my cousins were getting all racked up, I though it was really hilarious.

We finally made it and I had the pleasure of spending a night of partying, eating, and singing with my aunts and uncles, most of whom I had not seen in years. This really did me good to feel the family connection. It was nice to see those familiar faces, and to feel that affection. I like my french family. And of course, there was the cake !

Well, more to come soon, but for now... da da da that's all folks !

Full photoset can be viewed here.

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Backlogged in Haiti

I haven't put anything up in a while... I know...

It's just that after the dream week I spend in Paris with CQFD (did you see the pics?), it was... difficult to write again and to get back into the spring of things...

So I left Paris on the wings of British Airways at 7AM on a sunday, to fly to Miami where I would stay one night before I hooked on an the early monday morning flight to Port-au-Prince (PAP for friends).

When I got to Haiti, I made straight for the office where my 4 teammates were waiting for me to start the audit. It was nice to see C. again, a gentleman I worked with in Guinea and who (coincidentally) was my neighbour way back when in Burkina Faso in the early 80's when I was a toddler and he was a little kid...

Getting to Haiti means a lot of hard work, but it also means loads of fun: my team is young, dynamic, eager to go out and do things. I'm sure I won't have to many B.O.R.E.D. moments here.

PAP is a nice city, and slightly messy, but nothing quite as bad as Conakry in Guinea. I am amazed that they have public lighting here.

Our first week here was also the week of the legislative elections in Haiti. Thankfully, it was a peaceful political event and the planned hunker-down week-end turned out to be a weekend of visiting the nearby mountain village of Fermathe, where we had the opportunity of buying and tasting local cakes, of visiting an old fort.


This is just an example of the beauty of Haiti....

Later in the night last saturday, 2 of my teammates and I went to a "concert" with a fellow co-worker who had free tickets from one of her friends. Amazingly, it turned out to be...

STARMANIA (TYCOON) .... an all haitian cast of singers, actors and dancers, on the original text and music of the Plamondon/Berger duet, with bouts in Creole.

I'm very optimistic about my stay in Haiti.

Tonight, our local counterpart is taking us out to play pool, and tomorrow to the Beach. Also,
Haitian art is very colorful and lively. I look forward to digging more on that.

More pics to come !

Cheers !
The Beaver

Thanks, Cindy and Son's in Southern Utah for posting on my guestmap !

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Alive !!!

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know I'm still alive.

I have plenty of pics and stories to share about Paris, and about my present location : Port au Prince, Haiti.

Will put some stuff up as soon as I can !

Salut tout le monde, je voulais juste vous dire que je suis toujours en vie !

J'ai plein d'histoires et de photos a partager a propos de Paris, et de ma location actuelle : Port au Prince, Haiti.

Je mets tout ca en ligne des que je peux !

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Paris Weekend

Vendredi, j’ai quitte la Guinee. Il commencait a etre temps ! J’ai tellement eu d’embetement logistiques a l’hotel, que je pense que ca commencais serieusement a affecter ma sante mentale. Entre une clim aleatoire, un degat d’eau a l’etage superieur, des bonnes qui m’enlevait mon materiel de cuisine tous les jours, et un chauffe-eau qui a explose (3 minutes apres ma douche!), j’avoue que je commencais a avoir la poisse…

On Friday, I left Guinee. It was about be time! I had so much logistic troubles at the hotel, I think it was literally driving me crazy ! Between random a/c, water flood from the superior floor, a maid which removed my kitchen tools dayly, and a water-heater which exploded (3 minutes after my shower!), I acknowledge that I was starting to be jinxed...

Jusqu'à la derniere minute, la malchance a colle a ma peau. A l’heure ou j’ecris ce message, je n’ai toujours pas mon bagage, reste a Conakry en raison d’un probleme technique de chargement.

Until the last minute, bad luck stuck to my skin. As I write this message, I still do not have my luggage, which remained in Conakry because of a technical loading problem.

Je suis donc arrivee a Paris le samedi matin, a 6h30 (heure o combien barbare!) Je devais contacter ma tante qui vit en banlieue, mais, timide, j’ai attendu 9h pour la contacter. Mal m’en a pris car a cette heure, tous etaient sortis, ne m’attendant pas ailleurs que la semaine suivante. J’ai donc eu tout loisir de m’installer dans ce petit hotel de Montmartre que j’avais reserve (chambre grande comme un mouchoir de poche, mais quel plaisir d’etre a Paris!) et de me promener a Paris avec S., une amie de longue date dont les vacances coincidaient avec mon passage a Paris. Nous avons descendu les Champs Elyses, paresse au Tuileries, et traverse la place de la Concorde. J’ai meme eu l’occasion de revoir la Tour Eiffel. C’est peut-etre un peu stereotype, mais j’etais bien contente de revoir sa silhouette. J’en ai profite, d’ailleurs, pour acheter un appareil photos… Je vais enfin pouvoir vous regaler !

• Au Jardin des Tuileries avec S et son cousin
• (at the Tuileries Gardens, Hanging out with S and her cousin)

I thus arrived in Paris on Saturday morning, at 6:30AM (O barbarian hour!) I was to contact my aunt who lives in the ‘burbs, but, being my usual shy self, I waited for 9AM to contact her. That was a poor calculation on my part, because at this hour, all had left, not awaiting me until the following week. I thus had the leisure to get installed in this small hotel of Montmartre which I had reserved (a room like a pocket handkerchief, but what pleasure to be in Paris!) and to walk around in Paris with S., an old friend whose holidays coincided with my passage in Paris. We walked down the Champs Elyses, loitered at the Tuileries Gardens, and crossed the Place de la Concorde. I also had the occasion to see the Eiffel Tower again. It may be a stereotype, but I was quite satisfied to see her silhouette again. I also took advantage of being in Paris to buy a camera... I’ll finally be able to treat y’all to some Beaver pics !

Ce qui m’a le plus plu, dans tout cela, c’est de marcher librement dans Paris. Un mois encabane, c’est pas tellement drole. Il va falloir que je trouve des solutions a long terme.

• Vue du Jardin des Tuileries
• View in the Tuileries Gardens

What pleased me the most was to be able to walk freely in Paris. Spending a month locked up in a hotel insn’t too much fun. In the long-term, it will be necessary that I find solutions.

Dimanche matin, j’ai ete reveille par un coup de fil de ma tante qui etait finalement rentree chez elle. Heureusement, mon vol vers l’Afrique du Sud etait en fin de soiree. J’ai donc pris le train de banlieue pour rejoindre ma famille. C’est agreable de se retrouver entre personnes familieres, de retrouver la chaleur de nos intimes, quand on est souvent solitaire en pays etranger. J’ai meme eu l’occasion de rencontrer (et dans certains cas, retrouver) des amis de la famille que je n’avais pas revu depuis bien longtemps.

• Ma tante, juste avant de partir de l'aeroport
• My aunt, just before leaving for the airport

Sunday morning, I was woken up by a phone call from my aunt who was finally back home. Fortunately, my flight towards South Africa was at the end of the evening. So I took the suburban train to join my family. It was good to find myself amongst familiar people, to feel the heat of close friends, when one is usually solitary in foreign countries. I also had the occasion to meet (and in certain cases, to meet again) friends of the family, which I had not seen since quite a long time.

Finalement, mon weekend a ete parfaitement equilibre. Sans compter le bien qu’il a fait a mon equilibre mental.

Finally, my weekend was perfectly balanced. Not counting the good it did for my mental balance..

Me voilà arrivee lundi matin saine et sauve (mais sans bagages) a Johannesburg. Une nouvelle aventure commence…

So here I am on Monday morning, safe and sound, (but without luggage) in Johannesburg. A new adventure starts...

==========================

Mise a jour : Mon bagage est arrive (entier et en un seul morceau) hier a l'hotel!

Update : My luggage arrived yesterday at the hotel (complete and in one piece!)

The Beaver


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My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

100 Things about my significant other (Part 2 of 2)

As promised, on the eve of our separation, I write this post, dedicated to the love of my life.

1. David means "loved of God". I feel it's absolutely relevant.
2. When he was a kid, he hid behind a garbage can at recess.
3. He often reminds me that I put someone in a garbage can at recess during our college years. It wasn't him though.
4. When planning his appartment, his main concern was being able to host a D&D game.
5. He claims that from now on, his vacations will be planned around my schedule.
6. He plans on going back to school full time to accelerate the end of his studies.
7. The main reason Dave had failed some classes is his failure turn his papers in on time.
8. When he does turns his papers in, he actually gets good grades.
9. He actually refuses to own an oven.
10. He is able to call friends people that he likes, but doesn't trust.
11. He'd be willing to take a bullet for a friend.
12. Dave loves sleeping.
13. He's been living on 4 hours of sleep a day for the last week.
14. He's never had anyone else then me.
15. He knows everything I did, good and bad, and still accepts me.
16. He's been talking of going to teach English in Thailand for the last 3 years.
17. Dave is the one person I know to have made a friend of his brother.
18. He likes when I read Beaudelaire to him. Or Paulo Coelho. Or other stuff.
19. Dave is a sleepwalker. Runs in the family, I heard.
20. He snores very lightly when he's tired. He denies it thoroughly though.
21. He's been spending every evening with me since we found out I'd be leaving.
22. I've been recording the touch of him in my mind, so I can replay it once I'm gone.
23. He's very patient with me.
24. He keeps on forgetting stuff.
25. Together, we are the 2 most absent-minded people of the universe.
26. He's not ready to be a daddy. Neither am I to be a mummy.
27. He loves cheese. His nickname should be the cheese monster.
28. When Dave was born, his dad got worried that the baby would eat all his ice cream. He was right.
29. Dave is going to become very fat : he lived down the corner from the best cheese shop in Montreal.
30. He is addicted to coffee. He's the official coffee clerk at home.
31. Dave doesn't smoke. He tried and failed miserably in Senegal.
32. When Dave came back from Senegal to Montreal, he tried to negociate his first cab fare.
33. I still have copies of the emails we sent to one another during our initial courtship 3 years ago. He thinks it's creepy.
34. He said his goal was to always had the bed made in his appartment. So far, it's a failure.
35. Recently, Dave learned to do the Demon sign at rock concerts. He looks incredibly funny when he does it.
36. Dave's favorite TV series is Angel.
37. His favorite character is Wesley Wyndham-Pryce.
38. He's shown to me on countless occasions that he is usually not afraid of what he doesn't understand.
39. He's become more practical over the last few weeks.
40. Dave has a thing for Dungeons and Dragons. I like to say that him and his crew suffer from the DOG syndrome : Delusions of Grandeur.
41. He, however, knows the difference between reality and fantasy.
42. The main issue we've had recently has been about too much / not enough D&D.
43. This issue is now self-resolved, since I'm leaving.
44. Next time we will live together, we will hire a maid.
45. David has lived 7 years in Paris. He retains a certain worshipfulness for the City of Light since.
46. I do hope I get to see Paris with him one day.
47. He is 100% french canadian. Yet, most people believe him to be French of France.
48. He speaks French with a French accent. He speaks english with a French Canadian accent.
49. He is sensitive to bad voices, and thus, has had trouble dealing with our former landlady.
50. He hugs me every night, and tells me he will miss me. I will miss him too.

The Beaver


My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

100 Things about The Beaver

I wrote 100 things about myself three years ago - and most of them are still true. I thought this would be a perfect introduction.

I have updated the list on July 1st, 2007.

1. The Beaver is the official Canadian mascot. I got my nickname the Beaver Hare when I got baptized by the Senegal Sunday Hash House Harriers.
2. My true name will never be published on this blog, but you can call me Marie.
3. Before the movie came out, I was a huge Tolkien fan. I read The Lords of the Rings in a week.
4. My Hobbit name is Tigerlily Sandydowns.
5. I'm 6 feet tall, so I don't look like a hobbit, though my feet are hairy.
6. My Elven name is Tári Eärfalas.
7. I weigh more than I should, so I'm definitely not an elf.
8. I play Dungeons and Dragons. And no, I do not take myself for Tári Eärfalas, the 16th level elven mage/warrior.
9. I started going out to clubs at 16, stopped at 23 and started again at 27.
10. I hate drinking beer.
11. I love wine.
12. I do not use drugs.
13. I'm addicted to Ice Cream.
14. I stole an ashtray at a hotel when I was 16.
15. I was born one hour too late to be born on the first day of spring.
16. I've been 25 years old for the last 4 years.
17. I'm older then I look.
18. I was born in Montreal. The doctor who supervised my birth was Congolese (RDC).
19. My eyes are blue when I cry, grey when I'm bored, and green when I'm in love.
20. My hair used to be platine blond as a baby. Now it's venitian blond.
21. I have no tatoos or piercings. I'd love to develop the nerve to get a tatoo though.
22. I own 5 pairs of shoes and always wear the same pair.
23. I died my hair red once. Nobody noticed.
24. I would never shave my head.
25. I own 2 pairs of jeans and 1 cargo. I never wear anything else, except for work.
26. My worst fear is to loose everything.
27. When I'm home alone and it's dark outside, I get paranoid that a stalker will come and stare through my windows.
28. If I could, I'd go into space. And be afraid.
29. I wouldn't bungee jump even if you paid me to.
30. I'm very loyal to my friends.
31. If I could choose my own death, I'd die for love.
32. Last time I thought of committing suicide, the thought of causing pain to my loved ones was enough to stop me.
33. I'm jealous of those who manage to lead fulfilling lives. I try to let them inspire me.
34. I'm a very carnal person. I love to touch and be touched. But not by just anyone !
35. When new people come in my life, I get all happy and excited.
36. I studied the piano for 10 years and professional singing for 3 years. I've done a few shows but was never in a band.
37. I never had a favorite band because I got introduced to pop culture only at the age of 18. Really like Pink Floyd though.
38. I kill plants. Don't give me something in a pot, because despite my best efforts, in a few weeks it'll be dead.
39. I'm obsessive compulsive about ice cream, sci-fi series, and blogging. My short attention span usually saves me from being truly addicted, though.
40. I like to read thrillers that are well built and correspond a a political reality. Like Robert Ludlum's for example.
41. Horror movies freak me out.
42. I've never hurt somebody with intent.
43. If evil means Every Violet Instantly Lives, then I'm evil. If it means Every Villain Is a Loser, I want to join the club too.
44. I have a tendency to go skinny-dipping when ever possible.
45. I only go to McDonald's to use the toilets.
46. I've been doing my laundry by hand by choice for 2 years. It doesn't bother me.
47. If I were to belong to a subculture, I'd say I'm a hippie, man.
48. I want the war in Iraq to stop.
49. I beleive in reincarnation. I'm sure that every person that's meaningful in my life today, I met in a previous life.
50. I want war not to exist altogether, but at the same time I know it can't happen.
51. am not fundamentally a violent person.
52. My favorite movie of all times is La Belle Histoire. It tells the great adventure and examines with a magnifying glass the love at first sight that happened between two individuals who met and loved two thousand years ago. Now in comtemporary times, their love remained intact. Two thousand years of hardship for one second of eternity. The director is a frenchman called Claude Lelouch. He's a genius.
53. I understood I truely loved Dave while watching this particular movie with him 10 years ago.
54. I beleive in soul mates. I found mine and live with him.
55. I beleive in love at first sight. However, I don't beleive it lasts forever.
56. The longest relationship I've been in lasted 4 years. I'd know him since I was 17.
57. My favorite song is "Come what may" from the movie Moulin Rouge. I like it because it speaks of unconditionnal love.
58. I secretly watch reality shows. And actually shed a tear. And actually feel shame for the whole thing.
59. My favorite food is Chicken French Guyana - style. It involved bamboo sprouts, onion, and a molasses-based sauce which my mother buys in France. The only 2 people that I know who can make it are my mum and my cousin. I haven't had it in 5 years and now i'm a vegetarian so....
60. My favorite cocktail is the hard-on, a shooter that the barman at Ozio could make : it involved bailey's, kalua and tia maria.
61. My favorite smell is the smell of humid moss in the North of France. Shorltly behind is the smell of bakery cooking.
62. My favorite color is blue. I think it's because I love blue skies and water. Or maybe I love them because they're blue.
63. My favorite moment in the day is sunset.
64. My least favorite moments in the day are going to bed and waking up.
65. I'm hyperactive.
66. The most broke I've ever been was when I had lemons and water for dinner. I never asked anyone for money though.
67. I used to own a 1991 Corolla. She's had everything redone, so I expected her to last at least another 5 years. My plan was to drive her until she fell apart on the road - but now that i travel 100% I managed to sell it.
68. I've never been to jail and don't plan to, being an attorney and all...
69. The shortest period of employment was a receptionist gig when I was 16. The standard was receiving 500 calls a day. I quit after the first 2 hours.
70. My dream job would be to be a private detective and wear a trenchcoat a la Dick Tracy. My other dream jobs would be to represent Canada at the UN general assembly, to be a chocolate-taster at Godiva, or an Ice-Cream-taster at Haagen Dasz.
71. The worst job I could ever get would be President of the United States. (ohhh the responsibility...) It would be worst then picking up garbage.
72. I hate selling stuff. I once begged someone not to buy something I was selling. It really was a crappy product.
73. (yes, that's me, chewing on a pipe!) When I was a little girl in Burkina faso, I had a pet chimp called Cheetah, how original! She was kinda sweet and very bent on trying to remove stuff from our hair. Anyway, it's cool to say I had a monkey as a kid, but my mum would tell you it was a whole lot of work keeping the garden clean. Eventually she became nuts and was taken away (not my mum, the monkey).
74. When I was 7, I used to play-pretend star wars (as in episodes 4-5-6) and I always was Leia and Nick and Nico (my neighbors in DKR) would be like Han Solo and Luke Skywalker and double casted as the Emperor and Darth Vador.
75. I used to dream that Peter Pan came to take me with him. I still do sometimes.
76. I never had any brothers and sisters. So I'm very close to my parents.
77. When my dad died 3 years ago, most of my friends didn't know what to do with it, so they just didn't react. I don't blame them, but would have loved to have someone who would just come by and hang out with me, even in silence... This taught me that when we lose someone we love, it takes a lot of time to grieve and accept the loss. And that no matter how horrible it is at first, it turns out fine in the end...
78. I still miss my dad.
79. I consider myself lucky to have had the parents I had. They taught me about honor, justice and loyalty.
80. I talk to my mum every two weeks. I see her twice a year. It's not enough.
    
81. When I was 10, I witnessed a coup and political instability. My reaction was to keep busy and do stuff at home.
82. My mother tongue is French. I learned English at age 10 through immersion at an american high school in Burkina Faso that lasted 3 years.
83. Racism and sterotypes make me angry.
84. My temper got me in trouble more then once.
85. My temper got me out of trouble more then once.
86. My father was adopted. He was beleived to be of Irish descent. My mother is French of France. Her family is beleived to be of Viking descent.
87. I love learning new languages. I wish I could learn Gallic, or Breton, or Ancient Egyptian, and not have to tell people why I'm studying a language deemed dead or useless.
88. That makes me 50% Celt and 50% Viking. Which means in pre-medieval times I would have fought naked and covered in ritual tatoos, but weilding a huge battle-axe. It explains a lot about my temper.
89. I cuss when I'm angry.
90. Though I may feel the urge once in a while, I could never bring myself to bring an end to one's life of my own initiative. If I killed someone accidently, I don't know how I'd deal with the guilt. I might kill to protect my loved ones though. It might kill me, too, in the process.
91. I don't respond well to threats. I deal well with constructive criticism.
92. My weapon of choice when fighting is biting.
93. I'm a hot-head ascendant travel freak.
94. The list of places I'd like to visit is very long, but amongst others : Thailand, Australia, New-Zealand, Guadeloupe, Scotland, the Czech Republic, Russia, Singapour, California, Barcelona, Mexico, the Grand Canyon...
95. I went to Paris over 10 times and never went to the third floor of the Eiffel Tower.
96. I've lived in Canada 12 years and the furthest East I went is Miscou Island (New-Brunswick) - Furthest east is Toronto.
97. I went to London twice and never saw Buckingham Palace.
98. Now I live nowhere - I am a NOMAD - and I am desperate to settle down - but WHERE? The world is SO great !
99. If I had to pick a place and a time to live, I'd be a 19th-century poet. (This one's Nelligan, a French Canadian poet of the golden era of poetry.)
100. Every word I put down here is meant to be read by the world.

The Beaver

Places I've been

It dawned on me that for new readers, this blog is not an easy one to follow... So here's a little guidance...

I started blogging in September 2004 when I was in Senegal where I was an intern at a local lawfirm. In the process, I made friends with whom I still keep in touch : 007, Adeline.

I eventually went back to Montreal in April 2005, where I got my attorney license and tried to find a job (and failed.) I was nevertheless very happy to be back with my significant other and to hang out with my friends, among other JP, Mymy and Krishna. During that time, I also made my first blog friends such as Salt Water, Xolo, Victoria, Amias, Tina, Kate and Lewis (these two stopped blogging, unfortunately). This is when I truely got addicted to blogging.

At long last, in September 2005, I was hired by an international agency for a position that requires intensive travel. Since then, I have been on the road and went to, (in that order):
- Guinea
- Paris
- South Africa
- Lesotho
- Montreal
- Pakistan (where I met my friends Chris and Michelle)
- Ghana
- Sierra Leone
- Liberia
- Benin
- Paris
- Haiti (current location)

My next destinations until the end of 2006 are:
- Montreal
- Kenya
- Indonesia
- Burundi
- Baltimore
- Montreal (where I will finish the year.)

What's next? I don't know... stay tuned !!!

The Beaver


Thanks, DCver in Portugal and John Fiorenza for posting on my guest map! My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !