Riverside Regional

Now funny enough, I was born in Chicoutimi. I was raised in Chicoutimi until the age of almost 13. Thus, my language of function should be English, logically speaking. And I'm right.(Right.)

The Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region is world reknown for its isolated French community. Of all the places in Quebec, this region must have one of the densest french-speaking populations. So, strangely enough, I ended up learning and functioning in English. You can thank TV and schooling in English for that fact.

At the time, Riverside Regional schools were known as two separate schools, Saguenay Valley (Elementary/High) School, and St Patrick (etc.) School. The latter was a catholic school, and the former was a protestant school, both built for the English speaking managerials who came to the region to establish the fantastical Alcan plant in Arvida. I went to SVES, and attended SVHS for a year before moving to Quebec City. My sister had graduated from the same school, and headed off to Toronto for a few months, but that's another story.

Anyway, my sister is a brilliant writer, with biting wit and terrifying critique, yet her words brim with candor and I have yet to see anything she writes as being poorly crafted. (Even a biting email or a hasty note.) So naturally, the english teacher at SVHS who taught her for many years admired her works, and encouraged her talents. I, being the younger sibling at the school, would thus be duly known as the younger sister...

Ah, yes, to be known again as the "younger sister" of an infamous student. I think I didn't mind missing that for the rest of my high school years.

Anyway, after my sister's year graduated, our school was in need of a new principal. Principals in this region for an english school changed as frequently as the seasons, and the school needed someone stable, which is something it hadn't had in a long time. After much prompting from the staff and whining from the students, this english teacher became the new principal.

For some strange reason, I didn't register if he recognized the name on my resume, or even recognized who my family was after speaking to him on the phone after some time, in that strange afternoon when I was coincidentally at home in Quebec. Funny. After humbly reporting that I could not accept a position to teach at RRHS at the requested time (namely by September), a surprising reply made me quite pleased with myself for a good, long while. Normally, a job candidate would be told that the company would keep you in mind, indeed? Well, the principal told me to keep them in mind, while applying to teaching jobs in the near future. (And the last bit about how many teachers were retiring over the next few years was not surprising to me, after all this talk at McGill about how there would most likely be a teacher shortage over the next few years for the same reason.)

Anyway, just to say that I feel quite certain about the myriad of opportunities which lie before me in the next few years.

Now, why the bloody crap can't I find a job this summer???

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Just for the amusement of seeing if anyone would come across my weblog and recognize me or remember me, I will list a bunch of people I knew from SVS, with their websites and/or only reference online brought to you by Google (you gotta love that Google). If you want to contact my siblings or myself, just drop me a line. Don't forget to fix the [at].

• G Hernandez, with his brother I Hernandez's last known location, and his youngest brother K Hernandez, of whom my brother was quite fond of reuniting with.


• V T Luu, whom my sister is better known to, who also has a brother VT Luu.


• Mr KAP Arseneault, whom I have not heard from in nearly 8 years


• L Li, who I believe was last known working at Chapters in Montreal, although every time I go there I never seem to find her

Heck. the last person I heard from this school was N Delisle, and that's because he jumped ship to QHS back in 95 and we went to the same cegep afterwards as well.

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On another note, I feel so fulfilled... I finished the Man of His Word series! (TA DA!!!) With the magic of internet, nothing is impossible...