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Stepping off the greyhound bus into an unknown country, in an unknown province to meet an unknown host was daunting but I took it all in my 22 year old stride. At the fairly grand looking ornate brick bus station I got off at in Quebec City a friendly lady looked at me with all my luggage and asked in a very strange French accent if I was Isabella. It was an easy meet and greet that followed and I was soon settled into my new place of work, a Belgian B&B "Les Douceurs Belges" in Quebec City of all things! Everything was strange and new and exciting. Racoons casually crossed the street in front of me without a care in the world that I had never seen one in the 'wild' before. The place I worked at was old and original, possibly Victorian with a beautiful porch all around the house and a large colourful garden that gleamed in the sun. Gardening was a hot sweaty affair but also satisfying and good for putting some colour into those cheeks. I was introduced to a young girl of a similar age to me who would be my co-worker and we soon hit it off....my French definitely improved as the days passed and we worked and laughed and chatted together. It was an interesting family we worked for with a Belgian connection that meant they had a full selection of all the Belgian beer you could ever want or need across the ocean in Quebec and they specialised in traditional Belgian dishes such as moules frites which meant on delivery days I could be found cleaning huge bags of fresh Prince Edward Island mussels! I never did get to taste those delicious mussels or sample the beers but I have fond memories of all the fresh fruit and vegetables there as well as the huge amounts in freezer storage in the massive basement of the house. As I slowly got to know my host family, their oldest daughter who wasn't around much and the parents who ran the place it became apparent that there were many more interesting things to find out about them. My co-worker friend, Marie-Joelle had invited me to go and stay with her rather than stay in my place of work with my host family and I jumped at the opportunity to get to know her and her family more and have a change of scenery. My host family were happy with the arrangement and provided me with a bike to get to and from work. It was fun going with them on day trips to the local river and waterfall to swim in the crystal clear fast flowing river water... I had never been dragged so far down a river before finding the strength to swim back but it was all a great adventure that I relished just like my first taste of the wonderful Poutine dish Quebec is famous for. One day riding my bike down one of the many hills of the city going into work pretty fast I was multi-tasking on my phone and voila my bike got caught and I fell head first on the ground with the bike rolling over me! Ouch that hurt! I arrived at work and was promptly seen by my host family into the dark seemingly unused front room, it smelled ancient full of dark wooden panels on the wall and they got a pop up medical bed for me to lie on and asked me to lie still and close my eyes. I unwillingly did as I was told and could hear the lady of the house and her daughter chanting strange words in no language I had ever heard that reminded me of American Indian chants sang round a tipi and a fire! Luckily for me I survived the ordeal and eventually my cuts and bruises healed but I will never forget those long eerie ritualistic chants sang by my hosts to presumably help heal my injuries! I made friends and met so many interesting people in my hot fun summer in Canada that I will never forget their hospitality, generosity and interesting quirky ways!