Working far far away

Well, I've just started my job in a small town far away from Montréal, where I used to live. I'll keep the name of the town quiet, so that none of my students could accidentally google my blog. (Let's call it Neicilef-tnais).

I've been here three days now, and I'm adapting slowly. My stress level is slowly going down after arriving here. I was quite anxious about the new job and all, but now that I'm starting to figure my way around things, my blood pressure seems to have dropped a bit. My collegues are very nice to me, my courses' outlines are almost done, my books are ordered (except for one) and I can already start working on my actual classes (and it's only my second day here!). I've come to the conclusion that I should be able to survive through the year here.

I'm still not completely comfortable. I haven't taken all the stuff out of my bags yet, and I haven't had the courage to make myself a complete meal. I haven't exercised much either... even though I have enough time to do it, my will power isn't there. I can see I'm losing weight though... but I wouldn't be happy to lose all my muscle strength over being lazy. I'll get on that tomorrow. Things should get in order after a while.

I will still miss my girlfriend though... :( My heart aches real bad when I go to sleep alone... and it's even worst when I get up in the morning to find myself all alone in my single bed. Though it is a wonderful-stressful thing to start life in a better paid job, it can't compare to the joy of having your loved one near.

I do hope that my loneliness here will bring in some ulterior reward... but I guess only time will tell.

La tortue happante

J'avais déjà entendu dire qu'il y avait des tortues au Québec, mais je n'en avait jamais vue une. C'est hier, en revenant du village de Disraeli pour retourner au chalet de ma copine que nous sommes tombés sur un magnifique spécimen de tortue happante proche du chemin de fer. Je ne m'attendait pas à trouver un jour au Québec un reptile aussi gros. Sa carapace devait bien avoir un bon 30 centimètres de long, et la tortue, de la tête à la queue, devait bien mesurer 45-50 centimètres. La jolie bestiole avait un air de dinosaure avec son bec, les pics sur sa queue et ses griffes.

Je n'avais pas mon appareil photo sur moi, vous devrez donc vous contentez de ces images trouvées sur internet:
Même si elle semblait tolérer notre présence, nous avons bien fait de ne pas trop nous en approcher: cette tortue est réputée pour son agressivité (on l'appelle souvent la tortue argneuse) et elle a une tendance à mordre tout ce qui la dérange (d'où son nom).