My Experience at the Outlandish Gathering in Quebec City

The Outlandish Gathering in Quebec City was my first one, and I had a great time. I met several pleasant ladies throughout the event, and I never felt out of place due to my younger age. I would like to congratulate and thank everybody who worked hard in organizing this event. Of course, I decided to write down a record of the events and how I experienced them. 

August 4: 

• My husband and I went to Trader Joe’s in the morning to collect some apples and nuts for the trip. Then I told him to take me home since I could not leave without my wedding and engagement rings.
• On the way to Quebec, we had to pass by New Hampshire and Vermont. My husband was so impressed with the nature. However, he could not stop complaining around 10 am about being unable to find a radio station that plays classical music in New Hampshire (in fact, there is one, ClassicalNH).
• A little bit afterwards a deer decides to cross the highway and stops just in the middle. My husband was totally scared about it. I just found the whole thing cute though. I wished I had the camera ready for this event.
• Around 4 pm, we made it to Quebec City but we did not know how to get to Château Frontenac. Of course, my husband’s phone decides to run out of battery at that moment. We had to park in a place close to the hotel and walk with the bags there. It was a 5-minute walk though.

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  Once at the Château we were given some coupons for free drinks since our rooms were not ready. We decided to go to the Gathering Registration. I bought a few items and two raffle tickets to support World Child Cancer, which I believe it was a proper thing for me to do since I lost one of my brothers to cancer. At the same time, I met some pleasant ladies at the different booths. I also received a beautiful dragonfly necklace, a bottle of water, the 5K Walk tee, and other items (love them).

• One of the items I bought for charity was a grab bag which included several tasty items (maple syrup, maple sugar candies, and a little bottle of whisky). I also bought a beautiful coaster.

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  I also met Gillebrìde MacMillan at one of the booths. He signed the CD I bought from him. He surprised me when he spoke Spanish to me with no accent (and his voice sounds beautiful when he speaks it).

• At the Soirée de Bienvenue, I really enjoyed myself. First the hors-d’oeuvre were yummy and I simply forgot about my healthy eating habits. I also drank two glasses of wine and ate a serving of pasta.
• I also met Àdhamh Ó Broin and I learned, if I remember correctly, that he knows three languages fluently and that he is able to speak three more. He surprised me when he spoke Spanish to me with no accent. He also told me that he speaks Slovene. I asked him whether he speaks Italian since it has been a long time since the last time I tried to speak it. He told me he does not, which is good in a way since my Italian is horrible.
• Off topic: Both Gillebrìde and Àdhamh remind me of a Spanish professor many years ago who used to speak Spanish with no accent even though he was Welsh. Other professors, whose first language was English, used to have a strong accent when speaking Spanish (even though I think they sounded cute and funny).
• The Soirée continued with live performances by Gillebrìde, Àdhamh and a very talented young gentleman, Elias Alexander, who plays a variety of instruments (flute, guitar, bagpipes, and fiddle). At the end of this post, there are many video links containing some of the songs that were sang at the Soirée.
• After the Soirée, my husband and I went to the bar in order to use the coupons given to us earlier on. I met two pleasant ladies from the fandom, and we had a little discussion about the books and Game of Thrones (Jon Snow is not dead, he is comatose). I was also recommended to read the Jane Yellowrock series.
• On the way to our room, we met Elias. My husband took a picture of me with him.  He was not wearing the kilt but shorts instead. He was concerned about it but I was not.

August 5: 

• The breakfast at the hotel was simply yummy. I forgot again about my healthy eating habits by eating a croissant and pancakes rolls. My husband ate a bruschetta with an egg on top.
• Afterwards we both went for a stroll outside the hotel.
• At 10 am I joined the 5K Charity Fun Walk around the old town and the Plaines d’Abraham. My husband stayed at the hotel working. I met several lovely ladies and a great friend during this event, who invited me and my husband for dinner.

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  For dinner I met with my new friend plus two other event attendees, her companions. These ladies were pleasant and we talked about the book and also about Game of Thrones. We went to a restaurant. However, I do not remember its name but I loved what I ate, a piece of salmon with some rice.

• After dinner, the New France Festival Opening Parade started just outside of the restaurant.

August 6:

• After breakfast I decided to walk around the town.
• I visited the Notre Dame des Victoires Church. I did not want to miss seeing this place, since my in-laws are always pushing me to see all the old churches in Europe (and they are not very religious). The church overall is beautiful and the artwork is magnificent. Of course, I had to visit the gift shop to get something for my mother.

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  At lunch time, my husband and I went to the Marché Des Saveurs. Of course, we were not the only ones there. We met a few of the Gathering attendees there. We basically tried everything. I tried different types of cheeses, and my favourite one was a cheddar with fine herbs. I also ate a hot dog with a tasty sausage, three small pieces of different sausages with a salad, a vegetarian taco, and three small sips of different wines. Of course, I forgot about my healthy eating habits. My husband, being more adventurous when it comes to food, tried wild boar. Because of my nature of being a picky eater, I refused to share that little dish with my husband. However, he described the taste of the boar similar to beef. He also described the taste of the stew similar to a mushroom soup. A little bit off topic, my husband and I decided that we will go to The Haven in Boston to try some Scottish food once we are back from our European trip. Everything in the menu looks yummy except for one food item that my adventurous husband is not willing to try, the haggis. 

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  Back in the hotel I took an afternoon nap. It seems that I forgot to go to the gym in the hotel to have a little workout.

• In the evening my husband and I went to see the 78th Fraser Highlanders Performance. The music was beautiful and loved the shooting at the end. A lady also sang the Skye Boat Song. Afterwards we went to the Ghost Tour. We decided to skip the 18th Century Costumed Nobility Ball since we are not into dressing up. However, several ladies who attended really enjoyed themselves.

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  My two favourite stories at the Ghost Tour were the ones about the Empress of Ireland and “la Corriveau.” The first one is the worst maritime disaster in Canada in peacetime. The second one is a basically a classic Canadian ghost story. Was Marie Corriveau innocent? I tend to think she was. Her story has been sensationalized a lot to the point in which she is described as a witch who killed not only two but seven husbands. Her story does have a resemblance to Geillis’ story in the Outlander series. If you are interested to learn more about “la Corriveau,” I found this history book at Amazon: Uncertain Justice: Canadian Women and Capital Punishment, 1754-1953

August 7:

The day started with the Speak Outlander Breakfast followed by a session of Q&A with Àdhamh Ó Broin. It took place at the Hilton Hotel so I headed there accompanied by my three new friends from the Château. Overall the breakfast was very yummy and I spoiled myself by eating tasty pancake rolls with maple syrup. Àdhamh told us many anecdotes in regards to the challenges of teaching the actors to speak Scot Gaelic. However, he did mention few interesting points in regards to Scot Gaelic (and other languages overall).

• It is possible to learn to speak a language perfectly as long as you are good mimic. This is interesting because I was taught that you will have an accent when speaking a second language if you start learning it and fluently speaking it after the age of 14.
• Scottish Gaelic makes use of a prefix that alters the meaning of the word. I found the use of prefixes interesting because I am familiar with the declension common in Classic Latin, and also in the Slavic languages. Declension is also present in most Germanic languages with the exception of English. However, the declension in these languages are in fact suffixes as opposed to prefixes. Nouns in these languages are inflected making it possible to eliminate the use of prepositions. I guess a good example of declension in English would be the formation of the superlative adjective: pretty, prettier, prettiest. Please note how the meaning of the word “pretty” changes with the suffix.
• In many countries of Europe, children learn a language at home which is different than the language of instruction. This is the case of native speakers of Scottish Gaelic. The same is applicable to other areas of Europe, especially where the Romance languages are spoken. For example, somebody from Asturias, Spain, might tell you that they speak Bable, a Romance language, in their family as opposed to Spanish. Similarly the Scottish Gaelic spoken by a minority of people in Nova Scotia is disappearing because the language of instruction at schools for centuries has been English. At least Bable is taught at schools in Asturias. 
• Scottish Gaelic (or its ancestral form) is probably older than Latin. This is something tricky since everything has to be based on surviving inscriptions, and the hard work of recognizing the language (is it a Celtic language or its precursor?). The Hallstatt Culture, considered the first one to exhibit Celtic characteristics, is dated to be around 800-450 BC. The Roman Kingdom, which predates the Roman Republic and used Old Latin, was founded in 753 B.C. They both are contemporary. Furthermore, it is likely to find Latin in all its forms because of the complex social and political organization of the people who spoke it. One is most likely to find writing records of kingdoms and empires. In regards to the Celtic people, they used to live in tribes (I guess very similar to the clan system that was present in the Scottish Highlands before Culloden but probably without a Latin alphabet and probably more nomadic). It is very hard to find and read inscriptions of tribal societies.
• At the end of the event I bought a music CD from Elias. He warned me that the music might not be something that I might like since there is nothing Celtic in it. It was a CD of American Folk music instead. My husband and I played it on the way back and it was very enjoyable. My husband said that it was the perfect music for driving.

  

• We decided to skip the trip to Montmorency Falls since we wanted to be back home as soon as possible in order to pack for our next trip which is actually this weekend.

For those interested in my Outlander posts, I will be writing about Arch Bug, Tom Christie and Malva Christie once I get back from Europe in September.

Songs Sang at the Soirée

This song is a little bit bawdy, but extremely hilarious. I could not stop giggling throughout the whole song. I usually avoid posting things like this but I will make an exception for this song. 

This is one of my favourite songs from the Outlander Soundtrack sang by Gillebrìde MacMillan.

The closing song of the Soirèe.

Here is a nice song in Scottish Gaelic. It has nice beat to it, and it is probably the one that I like most. I wish I understand what they are singing about. I love seeing Àdhamh dance or jump to it.

I apologize for the quality of this video since my camera took a little bit of time to start recording the song. There is another better video in youtube. The performer was great.

Songs performed by the 78th Fraser Highlanders

There is a bunch of bagpipes and drums in this song. It is very pleasant to my ears. However, I learned while recording this song that I should keep my mouth shut.

I do not know the name of this song but I love the sound of the harp. 

The Skye Boat Song has to be always the closing theme.