5 Years Nomad - Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Winter 2022
My days are too packed, and I even have to hand shifts in the ER over to Émilie or Claudia so I can keep going with my workdays at the office in the tiny house.
One day when I’m working in the ER, I even leave my cellphone with Émilie at home to give her full control of the agency. I feel completely on vacation from the company by being at work without a cellphone. I call Émilie during my breaks using the break-room phone, and she runs things like a boss.
At the end of the assignment in late February in Gaspésie, I officially make the decision to devote myself 100% to the administration of Agence Nomade. No more hospital shifts until further notice!
I take off for my classic ski trip with my friends in the Saguenay; Émilie saves my behind once again by holding down the fort for the agency with a to-do list from la muerte every single day.
The following week, we head off to Émilie’s aunt’s cottage in Western Canada. We try to make the most of the ski mountain, but the days are still very busy for the agency. The time difference of being 3 hours “behind” isn’t my favorite. We have to get up early so as not to fall behind. We still manage to take the time to ski and explore the surroundings.
That’s also where we adopted our prodigy child Enzo, the little Golden-Irish we fell head over heels in love with from the very first instant.
Spring 2022 - A NOMADE Wedding
We’re proud to say that we attended our first Nomade wedding, that of our BFFs Claudia and Yorick, it was a wonderful day with friends!!
Summer 2022
Our first summer in Gaspésie! We’re back in the Baie des Chaleurs after the trip out West. We hired Kassandra to help us internally at the agency, since we’re swamped with administrative work. Kassandra is a huge help on the marketing side and with administrative tasks. She brings new ideas and is able to get going on ideas we’d had in mind for the agency (but never had the time to make happen).
I complete my first 100 km run with Vincent and Nico in Percé at the event.
We make the most of what the region offers, namely mountains, mountains, and more mountains! Elevation-gain paradise. We explore trails in the Baie des Chaleurs, going through the Vallières in Gaspésie Park, and even a little getaway over to Mont-Saint-Pierre. We forge new friendships by organizing evenings and happy hours with the Nomads. We have a lot of fun!
The phone and emails keep going nonstop. It’s our daily life now and we’re getting used to it, but looking at all of it today, it was definitely way too much for 2 (now 3) humans.
Émilie and I struggle to keep up with demand despite Kassandra coming on board. We eat, drink, dream, and talk Nomade 24/7. Even though we love it, we need help again. We reach back out to Jennifer, who had applied to the first posting. She worked with Émilie at the medical clinic in Québec City several years ago.
Jennifer is very moved to join us (and we are too) and agrees to start in August without hesitation. This will let Kassandra focus on the marketing side, and Jennifer will be a huge help to us on the administrative side
In late August, we can’t resist the temptation to go to the Islands!
Almost a year after we left, it’s our return on vacation to our favorite Islands. We come to meet the Nomads spending the summer season there, who seem to be having a blast! Like every summer on the Islands, by the end of August, the social battery starts running low for our amigos, but nothing unusual, we all do the same thing.
We always have full days on the Nomade job, but we manage to carve out time for sunset dates, restaurants, and even a happy hour for Nomade’s 3rd anniversary!
We’re very glad we stopped by the Islands, anything else would have been surprising!
September 2022
It’s time for my “A” athletic challenge of the year! I’m back at the Ultra Trail Harricana Canada (UTHC) for the 125 km! If you want more details, I invite you to read my full race report !
The race went well; it took 21h47 to make it to the end of the course!
One getaway doesn’t wait for the next: Off to Havre-St-Pierre!
We’d wanted to go to the Côte-Nord for a long time, and we’d received lots of positive comments about Havre-St-Pierre! So Émilie landed a contract of about twenty days in the ER. We take the chance to soak up the beach with Enzo (to his great delight), we do the Parks Canada excursion of the Mingan Islands, and we make the rounds of the village’s good spots! We love the tranquility of Havre and had the chance to meet Chloé, a Nomad, and Rachel (a future Nomad)! Émilie wrote a blog post about her adventure in Havre-St-Pierre if you want more details!
Fall 2022
Havre-St-Pierre - Gaspésie - Japan - Laurentians - Punta Cana - Gaspésie (are you still with us?)
We come back to Gaspésie for a while to enjoy the fall colors and our friends, then to enjoy a lovely gift from a lottery draw at the CHU de Québec that Émilie won before COVID (it was about time to cash it in!).
So we take a vacation at a Club Med on Ishigaki Island in southern Japan. It was heavenly.
We get back on a plane two weeks later for the Nomade trip we organized to Punta Cana with our Nomad friends. ONLY fun! It was really enjoyable, with lots of great anecdotes during our week at the RIU Bambu!
We end the year the way we started it, in Gaspésie with a Nomade Christmas and the Gaspésie mountains!
