Yup, Canada. I am here, since the 25th July. Sometimes, I cannot believe that a month has gone by already. Where the heck did August go, anyway? Probably into the jaws of work.
I am now a Swedish linguistic tester at Enzyme labs in Ste-Adele. That means, I play video games on different consoles, and test them for bugs in Swedish. Like...wrong translations, inappropriate language, overlapping text...and so on. And when I am not assigned to a Swedish project (which will happen in the low season, noone apparently wants to release games in Sweden), I am doing functionality testing. That means, I am checking for everything that will make the game crash, freeze, not work, looks funny and so on. You get the idea, I am sure.
It is an interesting job, that I will gladly admit. You get to see a lot of different things, you are certainly stimulated when trying to get to the next task/level and so on - and the people you work with are great. We are linguistic testers from all over the world - Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark), Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Holland, Japan...and I am pretty sure I might have missed some countries. So, it is so awesome to get to meet all these people - and to hear all the languages.
Language, yes. I am a non-French speaker in freaking Quebec - that's one tough thing, Internet. Mostly, I can get around it with an "English, please?" - but not all people in Ste-Adele do speak English (did I mention that Ste-Adele is a small countryside town?) so you have to be good at coming up with solutions. Yeah, and I am already learning the useful stuff like "Bon jour/Bon soir", "Comment ca va?" and "Do you want to eat it here or bring it with you?" (well, the last one I understand, but I certainly cannot spell it in French).
So, the job is good, the pay is less good. I suppose I can survive on it, but it will be a little tougher when the low season comes (that's when you do functionality testing, and just work 35 hours a week). Less work, a lot colder - yes... I do come from a cold country, but it does not get that cold. And Halland - not so much snow there, either. So, this is going to be...interesting, to say the very least.
Ste-Adele, yes. Small town, and for rich people, I would think. There are tons of hairdressers, art galleries and cafes/restaurants - and that is about it. Then there is one or two boutiques with expensive clothing...and um. Yeah, that is pretty much it. And considering that I do not have a car, it is slightly more difficult to go to the other towns around here to get some shopping done. And to go to Montreal, which is an hour away. I will have to go there by bus some weekend, I think.
Well, I will keep you posted on this adventure. Sometimes, it does feel like Wonderland to me...but eh, that's Quebec for ya.
