French tales

Ok, so It’s been a little while since I wrote last. It’s not because it became boring (not even close!), but I think now that we’ve moved closer to home (and familiar landscape) things don’t look as “new” to me.

Since my last entry, we moved through New Brunswick and Quebec. In other words, my French skills were put into play! I had been briefed on how some of the New Brunswick French would be different from the Ottawa area French I was used to. If I can put it into perspective for the Ottawa Valley folks; mix a light Newfoundland accent, with an Ottawa valley twang, and throw some French into the mix – I’m not going to lie, I did resort to the smile and nod a few times!

So a few highlights of New Brunswick:

(Note; I had a new partner, Scott, for NB and QC as Phil was doing advance duties for a while).

We were taken on a very thorough tour of Bathurst by one of the community task force members. While we were in City Hall, our tour guide along with the office director where having the darndest time trying to figure out where (on the large blown up aerial picture of town) the relay started. It went kind of like this:

“I’m pretty sure it goes by Chicken King” (Office Dir.)

“Yes, and Chicken King is on this corner” – pointing on map (Task Force Member)

“Chicken King’s not on this corner, Chicken King is on that corner” (Office Dir.)

“Chicken King? No, it’s here. Chicken King used to be on this corner but it moved” (Task Force Member)

“Chicken King moved?” (Office Dir.)

“Yes, Chicken King moved” (Task Force Member)

Anyhow, you get the idea. After about the 10^th “Chicken King, I was silently giggling thinking if they say Chicken King one more time, crossing my legs would not save me from embarrassing myself. It reminded me of a Kid’s in the Hall skit….played by women of course. So “Chicken King” is now (by Scott and I) used as a mood lightener when things start to get tense.

Speaking of embarrassing moments – this trip wouldn’t be complete without them! For example; while piloting from Bathurst to Edmundston I was trying to deal with some traffic build-up around our convoy. So, sometimes my partner has to drop me off and then move forward so that there’s enough room for all of our vehicles to fit. So I’m doing my thing – waving traffic through, and then I see a break and decide to take advantage of it. Usually it’s a quick 100m sprint to catch up to my car….that is if you don’t run into it after a hard first step on turnaround. Yes, I ran directly into the back of my vehicle – everyone watching; my team, spectators and my driver (who was Scott, at the time). Scott was perplexed by what could have caused the thump and squeek (the sound I made when I hit). We laughed….for a good half hour. Many, many more moments to come.

Back on track here; we made it through Quebec (which is beautiful, by the way!) amazed by the crowds – and not only in the big city centers. I felt like entire towns came out to cheer on the torchbearers. In some instances I couldn’t even hear myself think, the cheering was that loud. It was a riot!

Not surprisingly, we meet a lot of people on our journey. While we’re driving, eating, putzing – it’s pretty hard to miss our rainbowed car (Vancouver 2010 decals), with flashy lights, and uniforms to match. We look very official. Most people want to know when the flame is coming, which is about a minute long conversation. Others want to know the whole back story behind how we came to be in the position that we are currently sitting; that can range between a 10 minute to an hour long conversation. Inevitably, people want to know where we started; where we’re from. Of course the big assumption is that the whole relay team is from Vancouver. Most people are pleasantly surprised to find out that our team is national…and international. Now my story line here is that whether this conversation is 5 minutes or an hour, people want to make a connection with you and the easiest way to do that is by trying to link someone they know to your hometown. Now, being from small town Almonte, I generally say that I’m from outside of Ottawa. But that’s not specific enough for most. When I mention more specifically that I’m from Almonte, you can see people racking their brains – or their faces light up because they know someone from there, or they’ve been there! I have met people in every province who have either spent time in Almonte, or have relatives there. One torchbearer in Edmunston NB, Jean-Guy, actually guessed where I was from – first try! I couldn’t stop laughing! Who guesses a small town of 4,000!

Speaking of my hometown, the torch did go through little Almonte on December 13^th. I am SO proud of our community – as it left quite an impression on our Torch Relay team. I, unfortunately, was not piloting that day (I was marking a day ahead), but received all the details from my co-workers – way to go Almontonians!!

So even though I didn’t pilot through Almonte, I was lucky enough to have a day off while the flame was in the Ottawa area. It was absolutely amazing to recharge myself with familiar energies - my boyfriend, all my gals, my mom, and Tim & Cathy. I wish I could have stayed up 24 hours just to spend more time with everyone. This visit came close to the halfway point in the flames’ journey…perfect timing. As lucky as I was to have this “half-time break”, a lot of my teammates will not be seeing their family or significant others until the end of the relay, as they reside in the west. I only hope that those of us who were able to “re-charge” can be adequate family substitutes!

I have to give “props” to my amazing boyfriend who made a trip to Montreal to visit me on my day off – regardless of the fact that I would be home in two days. Needless to say, I spend the better part of the evening blubbering like an idiot. He then drove back to Ottawa at 5am (in a snowstorm) to work for 8am. How did I get so lucky?

And the luck continues….Olympic Flame style!