Mardi - Tuesday

Today, I went to class, as usual...6:45, every morning - same routine.  First alarm, snooze once, second alarm, make the bed, check the weather, look for my clothes in the dark, realize that the light would be helpful, head to the bathroom for a splash of cold water, throw on some makeup,  contend with my hair, and finish packing my backpack.  By 7:05, I'm sitting down to a delicious breakfast with Mme. F, and we commence our quest for new and interesting vocabulary with steaming cups of coffee in hand.   We spend the next 45 minutes flipping through our dictionaries and scribbling in our notebooks in between bites - the topics could range from weather to laundromats, from types of fish to family vacations.  Between 7:50 and 8:00, I excuse myself, throw on my shoes, grab a bottle of water, and head out the door.  I've discovered that it only takes 20-25 minutes to walk to school, so I don't bother with the bus anymore.  Besides, I enjoy the walk.

Anyway, that's my morning - just in case you were curious. (You probably weren't, but...oh well, now you know.)   I had a bit of homework to do this afternoon when I got back, but once I got that taken care of, I was off to a baseball game.  :)  It was beautiful outside when I left, but as soon as I stepped under the pavilion at the University, it started to pour down rain.  I'm telling you, you can not predict the weather here.  

Since we still needed to walk across campus to the bus stop, the animateurs decided that we were going to take the underground tunnels.  I hadn't realized it, but there's evidently a vast network of concrete tunnels connecting various buildings around the campus.  It makes sense, considering that winters here can be brutal.  It was an interesting walk, because the walls are covered with graffiti of all kinds.  Some of it is thought-provoking, some of it is funny, and some of it is just plain bizarre: poetry, quotes, and opinions in several languages, artwork, and of course, a fair amount of vulgarity.  During the walk, Amy and I discussed Major League Baseball as well as we could, considering our limited vocabulary.  (It's all part of the learning process...finding new topics to talk about but not knowing enough words to do it well.)  Turns out that both and she and I have similar backgrounds when it comes to baseball: we both inherited our fondness for the sport from our dads.  Naturally, she's a Reds fan, being from Ohio, but that's ok - we found enough common ground with our mutual hatred of the Yankees.  ;)  

When we arrived at the park, finally, (it's on the other side of the city), we probably looked like lost sheep standing out in the sun.  We couldn't figure out how the concessions worked.  :P  The animateurs had told us that with our tickets, we could have three drinks and all of the food was "a volonte."  It took us a while to figure out that "a volonte" meant, "at will."  In the end, it turned out that three alcoholic drinks and all the food we could eat were included in our ticket price, so since neither of us felt like drinking any beer, we just munched on hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, potato chips, popcorn, and soda...mmm, ballpark junk food!  The concession stands were open for two hours before the ball game, so everyone had their fill, and then we all headed up into the stands to watch the game. 

Pregame excitement

A view of the ballpark - not as nice as Dickey-Stephens, but it had character!  And get this: the Canadian-American League teams have their own dance troupes - kind of like cheerleaders.  I've never seen a baseball team with cheerleaders before...

These guys were die-hard fans.  The guy in the gray shirt walked up and down the bleachers with a CD player trying to lead everyone in a song written especially for Les Capitales.   It was supposed to be sung to a Beatles tune, but since we couldn't really hear it, it was impossible to sing along.  Oh well.  We tried.

I thought this was really cute.

This might have been one of the players the girls behind us were giggling about.  They were cracking me up, because they'd had several beers, of course, and they actually had a notebook and were making a list of players to cheer for based on looks, talent, and overall sexiness.  "Oh, write down #29 - yeah, just for sexiness in general.  And that Jean-Pierre, go ahead and add him.  He's on the Quebecois team, but he's really hot, too!"  

It's interesting how mainstream American music is here, especially dance music.  It makes for a fun game, anyway.  :D

I think they made their point.

The park from the outside, after the game.

Everything's lit up for the big party!

At the bus stop after the game, Amy and I started discussing the safest way to get home.  We both would have had to walk a good distance in the dark, and she didn't feel comfortable with that after having heard about an incident that happened on campus a few weeks ago.  I hadn't heard about it, but evidently, there was a young woman in one of the residence halls who encountered a man in the elevator who tried to steal her purse.  When the elevator stopped, she ran, but the man chased her and backed her up against a wall.  Fortunately, she was alright in the end.  There was also another incident where a man started following a group of girls outside the residence hall.  The campus is rather safe, overall, and the city even more so, but with the influx of foreign language students on campus right now for the immersion program, I can see how the crime rate would increase.  We make really good targets, being generally unfamiliar with both the area and the language.  So, even though those incidences were probably isolated and exceptional, Amy and I decided it would be best to take precautions.  Neither one of us had ever taken a taxi before, but it seemed to be our only option after getting off the bus, and we figured it we might as well try it, since doing it together for the first time wouldn't be as hard as trying it alone.  (It would probably make for a great story later, too.)  After we were finally able to make one cab driver understand what we wanted, he directed us to the cab in front of him, where we had to explain it all over again. (nothing like a little practice)  We determined that he could get us to where we wanted to go, so we hopped in.  It wasn't a long drive, but it was pleasant.  The cabbie, a young guy, wanted to practice his English, and we wanted to practice our French, so we decided that we could have it both ways: he'd speak in English and we'd speak in French.  Btw, French guys who try to speak English are so cute (and I've heard that they feel the same way about English girls who try to speak French).  I suppose the cabbies get paid to flirt a little bit too.  :P  Anyway, we both made it back home safely - and now we can say we've taken a cab.  Yay for us!  lol

Btw, Happy Birthday, Isaac!