dernier weekend a Montreal! :(

Friday

After finishing up the last day of my internship, James and I got to look forward to a visit from one of James's college friends, Jody. He came in around 8:45 pm on Friday, and we promptly took him to our neighborhood sushi restaurant to enjoy their sushi for the second time. After sushi we stopped by a nearby bar on Avenue du Mont-Royal and had a good time talking and getting some drinks. We got to sit in the outdoor sidewalk seating area, and as a result learned that after midnight you can't consume alcoholic beverages outside in Montreal--who knew?

Saturday

What a day! I started off by picking up breakfast for everyone at our corner bakery, and then James and Jody went to Energie Cardio to work out. Once they got back and showered, we headed out on this HOT day to Schwartz's to introduce Jody to the smoked meat sandwich. We had to wait in line, but it didn't take too long, and the sandwiches were as good as ever. James experienced the pangs of jealousy however when he saw a guy next to us get something called the "Grande Assiette" (Big Plate), which is just a plate full of the sliced smoked meat and a pile of bread so you can make A LOT of sandwiches for yourself. He was upset that I didn't tell him that was available (for the record, I didn't know!), and I'm sure that will be his order if we ever come back.

After Schwartz's we hopped on the metro to visit the Olympic Park and Tower north of the city. We took the funicular up to the top of the tour (which is the highest incline tower in the world) to get some spectacular views of the city. It cost $15.25/person, but I would say it was worth it. We then walked around the stadium for a little while and then hopped back on the metro to go to the Underground City. Jody bought a couple of T-shirts, some popcorn, and some candy, and I took notes for our big shopping day on Monday :).

We then went home where I made burgers and corn on the cob for dinner, and we all enjoyed some much-needed rest from the hot day. We did head back out on the metro to go to Parc Jean Drapeau to see Canada's fireworks display in the International Fireworks Competition. We had never gone out to the island before to watch the show, but MAN was it worth the distance! We were so close, and the fireworks just filled up the sky. Canada had a very impressive show, and I wouldn't be surprised if they won!

Sunday

We all enjoyed a little later wake up times on Sunday after an exhaustive Saturday, and then headed to L'Oeufrier for brunch. After brunch we headed up Mont Royal for the last time, and Jeter once again got to join us. Still an exhausting 3 hour hike, but still so worth it for the views of the city and the beautiful park. Needless to say, a hike up Mont Royal always equals a low-key remainder of the day, which was a nice treat after such a packed weekend.

chad's visit

On Thursday James’s friend Chad flew in a for a long weekend visiting in Montreal. It was quite a godsend, because he planned it so that he could watch Jeter while we were gone for a weekend of baseball games in Toronto. So Thursday night we took him around town and got some burgers and poutine at La Banquise, and stopped by the St. Sulpice Bar in the Latin Quarter. That night I also had a major milestone in my usage of French—I argued myself a discount while buying toothpaste at a pharmacy. They tried to overcharge me 50 cents (outrageous, I know!), but I caught their mistake and was eventually proven to be the victor. James and Chad thought I was pretty ridiculous for causing such a scene over 50 cents, but I was just trying to be treated fairly!

Friday after I got home from work we headed to Percival Molson Stadium at McGill University to catch a CFL game between the Montreal Alouettes and the Toronto Argonauts. It was a packed house for the game, as they were honoring one of their great receivers, BYU grad Ben Cahoon, at halftime, and the Alouettes’ QB was one TD pass away from breaking the CFL career record. He did indeed break the record right in front of us (we sat in the endzone), and it was pretty exciting even though I had never even heard of Victor Calvillo before J. Tickets were pretty reasonably priced ($28 a piece) and although the food was not (typical of stadiums) we still really enjoyed ourselves. (And the Alouettes won, 40-14.)

A story by Mallory and Menno.

So one night last week when Menno and I were really bored, we decided to write a story. It's pretty lame, but holds some good memories of my time in Angers...raccoons, strawberry cookies, Narnia, Estonia, hallucinations, you get the picture :).

Once, once, far away in a country where they wrote in bad English there was a raccoon that was called Ruth. This raccoon took great pleasure in stalking foreign exchange students in his land. For instance, there was an incident with a foreign exchange student from Estonia.

One day, while scurrying along a path, Ruth had the misfortune of being struck in the head by a gross strawberry jelly cookie. The cookie, which was a bit stale, hit her in the head and caused a concussion which caused her to lose her memory. Along with losing her memory, Ruth lost her mind, and believed that she was indeed a LION!The lion is the king of the animal kingdom, but Ruth instead thought that she was the queen of the human world. She proceeded to storm up to the room from which the airborne cookie flew, and attempted to growl and get the unfortunate student to open up his door...unfortunately, all that came out was a little whimper. Ruth stormed into the room and found an Estonian exchange student who was at the moment in the middle of an Estonian ritual dance. This ritual Estonian dance of course involved the use of the Estonian ritual beating stick. The fact that Ruth came in to the room of the Estonian exchange student during the ritual made the student fiercely mad and therefore the Estonian hit her on the head with the Estonian ritual beating stick which caused her to land in a magical kingdom....the kingdom of NARNIA!

finding menno

It has been brought to my attention by a certain Dutchman who will remain nameless (although his name does resemble that of a little fish...), that I have been neglecting to explain fully to all my blog faithfuls who this mysterious and intriguing fellow named Menno really is. You may have noticed his name here and there in my posts, but I have yet to put into words exactly how this tall lad earned himself the honor of being called my friend. So this is the story of a boy named Menno...

It all started one day when I was leaving my residence hall to go to the library for an internet date with Megan. I was booking it at my normal furious walking pace, because I wanted to make sure that I made it there on time to catch my lovely roommate before she went off to class! Just as I was about to turn the corner to take my normal shortcut, I see before me a tall, handsome guy that I had never seen before. Thinking he looked too nice to be French, I brushed it off and continued on my way to the library. Then to my surprise, this imposing figure turns to me and asks, "Excusez-moi mademoiselle, est-ce que vous connaissez où se trouve le bureau de CROUS?" Not knowing exactly what he meant by the CROUS office, which is the governing body for the student residence halls, I was somewhat confused, until a girl that was with him, Annemiek, asked if I spoke English, I replied that I did, and they proceeded to explain that they needed to get their rooms quickly before the office closed for the day. I finally realized they need to go to the secretariat, and showed them the way. Little did I know, this would be the beginning of a wonderful friendship between three Dutch kids and myself.

A few days later, I was with Stephanie and saw Menno again with his other Dutch friends at the bus stop, and we got to know each other a little better waiting for the bus to arrive. Then, he made a wonderful second impression by getting on the bus, and promptly smacking his head on the television monitor mounted on the ceiling of the bus. One of the things that makes Menno so special is his height...he measures no less than 2 meters tall, which for us Americans is the equivalent to 6'6". Shortly thereafter, Menno and his two compatriots, Jan-Willem and Annemiek, came by the kitchen while we were finishing up dinner one Saturday night. Somehow the topic of conversation turned to geography, and Menno was able to coolly name half of the U.S. states, and upon discovering our lack of knowledge concerning Dutch provinces, he in turn began instructing us in the geography of the Netherlands. That same evening we uncovered another interesting fact, Menno is crazy about Gilmore Girls! Not like he just watches the show, he's a real fan, and could probably tell you the storyline of every single episode that's ever aired in the Netherlands. The following day we visited the castle with him, and not knowing much about him, our interactions with him usually were sarcastic remarks about his height...but he took them all very well and never crushed us little people standing at his feet.

The next major event of our friendship that I can remember involves crepe night in Brian's kitchen. We were all standing around eating lots and lots of crepes, and I think I said something really sarcastic to Menno about being a giant or something, and he turns to me and says, "Bitch!" I was shocked, and the whole room suddenly got silent. He looked thoroughly confused, and then realized that for Americans, calling someone a female dog is a pretty strong statement, whereas for him it's more like calling someone a jerk. But nonetheless, it was a slip-up that insures that I will always remember Menno, the first person to ever call me that name.

From then on, we kind of had a drought of Menno's presence. He decided that we weren't very cool and starting hanging out with other people, we in turn would gather every night to talk about him and make cruel acronyms for his name. But then the strikes here in France saved our friendship. Because of the strikes we had to take the bus to some of our classes that had been moved to another campus across town, and with the assistance of a little wonder called an iPod, and we began to bond like molecules of sodium and chloride (quick author's note: being able to make that chemistry analogy brought a smile to my face). We'd ride to class and listen to his music, with him painstakingly translating every Dutch song that came up. Music is one of the devices that brought us together, bonding over such songs as "I Try" by Macy Gray, "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey, "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield, anything by Joss Stone, and some Dutch song that talks about flying over land and sea. Then during class we'd sit next to each other and talk about how much we detest Mme. Maillard, and instead of paying attention in class we'd solve Sudoku puzzles.

Sometime in the midst of all of this iPod bonding, we found out Menno's last name...Captein. But for some reason, everytime I saw it I thought "el capitan!", so I decided that that was how I would refer to him. Also, he divulged to us his real name, Menno is just a nickname, his real name is really Dutch and really cool, but due to a vow of silence that I took I can't tell you what it is...or he'll beat me with an Estonian ritual beating stick. Also, one of the most impressive things about Menno...he was able to learn perfectly all the 50 states AND their capitals in less than a week! Seriously, if you ever meet this kid, give him a state, and he'll astound you with his speed in responding. \par\parHowever, one of the greatest surprises that has come with being Menno's friend is discovering his hidden talent for storytelling. One night on a whim, I asked him to read a little from The Chronicles of Narnia, since his English has a slight British accent I thought it would be more authentic to hear him read it. Little did I know, this little taste of Narnia would enchant Menno, and his presence became integral for our storytimes. He developed the best voices for Bree and Shasta in The Horse and his Boy, and is just amazing. So much so that, if I have kids in the future, I may have to call up Menno and spend fortunes on long-distance phone calls so my children can experience his great story-telling.

Now, Menno and us three American girls are tighter than that little screw on my outlet cover (if I haven't ever told you that story, that sucker was TIGHT!) He plays Hot Seat with us, we let him eat our cookies and fruit snacks without making him pay centimes for each one he devours, and we've gotten over the fact that we were his third choice for friends in Angers. But all in all, Menno Captein (CAPITAN!) is my favorite Dutchman, probably even my favorite European. And that is the end...hopefully Menno will stop crying now about me not mentioning him enough on my blog.

After crucifying a chicken, all the children of the world are happy.