Burning Man(Rimouski XI)

Thursday, June 22
Rania randomly shows up from Mont Joli looking for a place to live in Rimouski. We checked it all out with her and uncovered the slums of Rimouski. Super gross, hostel like places. That night we went to see a Quebecois movie: Duo. Romantic comedies are crap no matter what language, but we went to practice our French, not to enjoy a movie.

Friday, June 23
Day off! It was St. Jean-Baptiste Day, Quebec's national holiday. Yes I understand how ridiculous that all is.

We decided we would kick off this Quebec long weekend with a Quebecois meal. Poutine! We headed to the cantine, the first visit for us all.

The Poutine menu !


Kollene got Poutine with coleslaw dumped on top and Alix and I got sous-marins, err subs.


Me and Kollene enjoying our greeeeasy food.


The ice cream cantine in the distance. This just a popular intersection for us.

Let me explain some things about this day. Things are slightly different...for one thing, it is celebrated with a big bonfire. Another thing, it's legal to drink near the fire, wherever it may be. And drinking age laws become even more laxed, if that's possible.

Ok so after a bunch of shenanigans...we finally headed to Parc Beauséjour (uhh roughly=Pleasant Excursion Park)

(KL) Some shenanigans. This is how we regularly walk...in the middle of the (my) street. We thought it was a cool enough thing that Rania needed to spend 15 minutes taking photos of it, clearly we were mistaken. We just look like asses.

All right so then we eventually got to the park around 10:00 or so...to find that we were beerless and cold. So Kollene, Alix and I headed over to a nearby convienence store and angered all the francophones by blocking all the beer fridges with our English selves. Sorry to ruin your Quebecois holiday! HA!

On the way back, we noticed tons of 14 year old punk kids (literally, they were punks) drinking and being cool...as well as a kid in a stroller with a cooler! Whoa!
We met up with Rania and Kit again, and kept running into then roommate to Alix, Charles (pronounced: Sharl).


Before heading over to the fire...now that's class. Stella out of cans.


To the fire! Fire! Fire!


People and fire. We kept getting hit by ashes because it was such a massive fire. Pink pants and white shirt = Kit and Rania, respectively.


(AP) Rania protecting herself from ashes.


Apparently I am the devil. This photo is only here for the sheer creepiness of it all.

Like everything else in Canada, St. Jean Baptiste Day is sponsered by Labatt Blue, so we couldn't get into the gated off area near the fire because were drinking Stella.

Rania and Kit showing off that they are warm and toasty near the fire.


Pretending that we're friends.


HA! We got in with our beer anyway. Suckers. Mmm.


That's the fire in all her glory.


Me standing awakardly near the fire. My back was burning but my front was frozen.


Us being losers. Notice the blades of grass running up Rania's legs.


(AP) I have a drinking problem.


Group shot.

Saturday, June 24
We just planned the big trip.

Sunday, June 25
The museum.
We headed back to the museum to check out the new exhibit that Kollene helped set up. Thanks to Kollene we got in for free, again.


Heading to the museum.




Kollene on the left, Barbie she dressed on the right.


It was an exhibit on vintage toys and vintage children, mostly from Rimouski.




The whole exhibit.


Some notebook... wait let's take a closer look.


What's this? Catholic school notebook. It's always boy-girl pairs and the boy can hang out with whichever letter he wants, but if the girl letters were to do that they'd be whores.

Onto to other exhibits...I hope this works later because I am at the airport in Quebec City right now and it won't let me go to the photo hosting site I use. Garbage..err national security.


Martyrdom of Captain Canuck, Diana Thorneycroft.


The Stoning of St. Peter the Fat Fan, Diana Thorneycroft.



In this little room.

Kollene checking out a video.

Video clip.


It's about this guy.


There was also a video playing of this:


Some other art.



(clear as daylight).

Dominique Blain.








The rest of our day was spent wandering around and walking, as per usual. That's all for now folks. I will add the video later. Enjoy.

UPDATE: Video added