A world to discover/ Un monde à découvrir

Chapter 6

"Who knew it was so complicated to talk french an entire day?" wonders Kelsey, on her way to meet her boss, the following Monday morning.

Her host family had been wonderful, talking very slowly for her to understand clearly what they were saying. The mom's name was Stépanie. She was really sweet, and, like Camille, really liked to cook, principally desserts. Her host dad's name was Adam. He did not talk much, and was kind of intimidating. While they had only one boy, who took Kelsey's place in Toronto, they did live with Stéphanie's mom. She completely refused to tell Kelsey her name, and insisted she called her "mamie".  Kelsey did not know if she liked her or not yet.

Standing in front of the school where the day camp was located, she took the time to look to the building. Key word: grey. There was grey everywhere. It was called "Lucille Teasdale". She walked towards the front door, but find it locked. Sighing, she soon noticed two woman, sitting at a picnic table, wearing the shirt of the day camp. She went closer to them, reminding herself she had to speak french only now.

"Bonjour. Je voudrais savoir: où est la porte pour le camp de jour?"

"Salut. On utilise la porte qui est en arrière de l'école, vu qu'elle donne directement sur le gymnase, où on rassemble les enfants le matin. Fais le tour, tu vas la trouver facilement."

"Merci."

Though she did not get all the woman said, she got what she needed: the door was on the other side.

"Bonjour. Comment puis-je vous aider?"

"Salut. Je voudrais voir Catherine." asks Kelsey. She had received the information that Catherine was her new boss.

"Ouais, euh... Cath! Viens ici, s'il-te-plaît!

After they each introduced themselves, they went in the boss' offices. They sat down, and finished to fill all the paperwork needed to allow Kelsey to work with them. Cath, as she asks Kelsey to call her, signed all the forms. She explained how the camp worked:

"On a 10 moniteurs à temps plein, qui ont chacun un groupe de 8 enfants. Ils peuvent faire des activités avec plusieurs groupes ensemble, c'est laissé à leur convenance. Avec les plus vieux, on va à la piscine le mercredi. Tu vas voir, c'est juste à côté. Avec les 5 ans, on ne peut pas aller à la piscine, parce qu'on a pas assez de gilets de sauvetage pour tous, donc on va à la barboteuse."

Barboteuse? What is that, Kelsey wonders. She must have had a weird look on her face, because Cath explained:

"C'est comme une mini piscine, mais avec vraiment pas beaucoup d'eau."

They soon rejoined the rest of the monitors, and the kids. Kelsey met them, and they all seemed nice and sympathic. She stayed with Ketchup, since it was the monitor she would assist this week. All the responsable, except Cath, had camp names, which means they all picked up a name, and it turned out they all chose weird names. So, she stayed with Ketchup, and they talked about the group they were asked to handle for the week.

"Tu sais quel genre de groupe on a?"

"Non..."

"On a le groupe de sport."

When she saw the incomprehension look Kelsey was giving her, she added:

"Ce qui veut dire, bien sûr, qu'on a le groupe de dix gars qui ont trop d'énergie et pas assez de temps dans une journée pour toute la dépenser."

"Oh."

"Oui, exactement: oh."

She laughs.

On the Wednesday night, Kelsey was exhausted. She had ran, jumped and thrown more in the last days than the rest of her life, all combined. But, she was also grateful for that exhaustment, because that way, she did not have the time nor the energy to miss her home.

But this evening had something special. Once in a week, and every weekend, they had an outing with the YMCA group. It was the first one this evening. They were going to something called "Festival de Jazz". She did not know what it was, but was very excited about it. She was going to see her YMCA group again!

"Apparently, it is a wide world known festival that counts on the presence of nearly 30 countries, 3 000 musiciens and have more than 2 millions visitors each year! It is in the Guiness World Records for the most important International Jazz Festival. It's amazing to be here!"**

http://www.montrealjazzfest.com/a-propos-du-festival/default.aspx

shouts Nicholas.

Shouting was the only way they could hear each other. They were right in the middle of a big crowd, in front of an external scene of the jazz festival. It was situated right in the middle of downtown Montreal. It was closed to traffic.

Nicholas, as Kelsey discoverd, was a big fan of jazz music. He was very excited, and was looking at everyone and everything.

"Look at that woman!"half yells Nicholas. "She has blue and pink hair! And nobody is sying nothing! If we were in my town, everyone would judge, starting by my mom. She is one of an Olympic judger."

"Well, it is a good thing we are not in your home town." replies Kelsey.

"Yeah! People here are so open minded, and happy, and proud of who they are, and..."

"Okay, I get it, you are in love with them all! Don't you think it would be more healthy to pick one of them..." taunts Kelsey, a grin scotch-taped on her face.

"Do not laugh at me, Miss I-am taking-pictures-of-everything-I-see. Do you think I did not see you taking all this pictures of those people?" quickly replies Nicholas.

Kelsey blushed hard and looked away. She had taken lots and lots of pictures. Of the place, of the people, of Nicholas. She just found it extraordinary how people would talk to each other without boundaries. They greeted each other, nodding their heads as they pass without knowing the other person. Like she told Mike on the train trip on their way to Montreal, she liked to take photos of handsome things, and all of these people were, in their differences and their togetherness, because, in some way, they were together, even if it was just being at the same place at the same moment.