the adventures: Hello Spring!

Hi! It has only been a week since my last update but I am trying to be a good blogger woman and update the adventures much more regularly. After ten months in Montreal we are only left with 6 more weeks until tour officially starts! We have started doing exciting things like choosing our hotel to stay in for the 4 weeks and deciding what to do for our one week holiday in between Montreal and Quebec City. All of the hotel and apartment choices are very nice, we have a choice of about 5 different places, with different qualities like closeness to the tent, swimming pools, gym etc. All are very beautiful and I feel a little bit spoilt. However, I feel we all deserve the best after spending nearly a year in this tiny, empty room in the residence. I can't say it has been the most exciting accomodation, but hey! It provided a bed and a roof over our heads and that is all we really needed during creation. I chose a hotel 2.5 km from the tent and in the heart of Quebec City. It is a rustic, homely looking hotel with a nice king size bed, I am very excited! My dear Australian friend Karina and I have decided to stay in Quebec City for our one week break. We were tossing up between a variety of places but it seemed more relaxing to just settle in and enjoy the full 7 days without having to worry about flights and all that! I would really like to find some National Parks or nice walking trails and a lake to get my nature fix though. I miss swimming and being around the purity of nature so much. I got a little today on Isk, Ellen and my adventure to St Helene island. There is some beautiful areas around this island and it was very interesting to visit the Biosphere and learn about the human impact on the environment, water and the efforts some amazing people put in to help sustain our lovely planet :) My favourite part was the fashion exhibition where Canadian artists were given the challenge of creating a garment out of recycled materials. There were some very unique and special pieces on show, including a dress made out of salmon skin! Initially I thought the Biosphere was where all the animals were and this is what I had intended to show my friends, but I mistook the sphere for the dome and took them to the wrong place! but anyway, I took them to the Biodome as well which was also very interesting. It is an animal sanctuary with lots of different 'habitats' set up. There are some very amazing animals on show, my favourite was the otters. I also got the honour of exploring a random mans house today. My friends Isk and Ellen are staying in a room in an art teachers apartment. They found the accomadation on a great website , I think it is a fantastic idea which gives travellers the opportunity to stay and experience civilian life in Montreal. So yes, I loved 'Ian the art teachers' house, it was very quirky, artistic and colourful.

Back to our show,
the intensity of 10 shows a week will begin to simmer down very soon, and our Saturday shows are starting a little earlier soon so we will be able to enjoy a Saturday night. It has been peculiar not having weekends. We finish work on Friday and Saturday night and see so many people out and about while we still have work, but then again, it feels nice to have Monday off while everybody else is having to work! It is really good if you want to go to places that are generally busy on weekend, as they are much more quite on week days. Next week we have a 'double dark' which means we have two days of no shows. This is a great opportunity to fully rejuvenate, as one day off in between ten show weeks goes pretty dam fast! My lovely coach Stacy is beginning to face the challenge of moving out of her apartment and cottage and she invited us to come help her at her cottage. I enthusiastically volunteered and I am really looking forward to spending my double dark away from the city next week!