Chapter 93 – And they’re off!

October 23, 2004
Mulhouse sports update…FCM Basket (Football Club de Mulhouse Basket(ball)) go figure: In fifth place after an entertaining win last night over Nanterre. I’m happy to report that Rouen is no longer on top of the league, but they’re in third, so above Mulhouse. I didn’t like this idea of Rouen being at the top of hockey and of basketball! Speaking of hockey, we’re down to fourth place, but Rouen is still on top. We play them tonight…in Mulhouse! I, however, will be in London. They’re actually playing three Saturdays in a row in Mulhouse, which is sort of annoying since I’ll be in London for the one tonight, and Edinburgh for the one next week…but who’s complaining; I’m on my way to Britain!

A plan long in the works, Lynn and I (with Nico and Tim tagging along) are heading up to Scotland. Since we have to stop in London anyway (discount airline…then again, even without being on a discount airline, there probably aren’t many direct Mulhouse/Basel – Aberdeen flights!) we decided to take advantage of it, and we’ll be there for a day (arriving this evening, leaving absolutely first thing Monday from the airport at the other end of London) meeting up with Lianne tomorrow. Monday we fly to Aberdeen, and spend the work week in Aberchirder (near Aberdeen, even nearer to Banff…hmmm…I wonder if they stole that from Alberta…okay, I’m totally joking for those that think I might just be that dense…) checking out what we can in the area; Loch Ness, Inverness, Aberdeen. I’m also planning to meet up with Dave (who was working in Prague, and is now in school in Aberdeen). Once again, phone numbers have been exchanged, so no repeat of Zurich on this one! Then we head to Edinburgh Saturday morning to check things out and meet more of Lynn’s friends before flying out of Edinburgh Monday morning and heading back (aahhhhh French holidays…I’m just lucky I’m not working at all the faculties I was last year / will be next semester, or I wouldn’t have had this week off!) on November 1 (Toussaint; a national holiday). So, that’s the news from abroad…leaving in 20 minutes! Happy All Saints Day / Week!

Chapter 92 – Thanksgiving at the Chateau

October 16, 2004
So I’m a little late writing about it, but it’s been a busy week. Months ago, I had said that I wanted to have a Canadian Thanksgiving, complete with turkey. When, last week, Lynn asked when Thanksgiving was, and I realized that it was less than a week away, I lost interest in trying to pull off anything at all (I’ve also been anywhere between mildly and quite sick with a cold / sore throat for the past couple of weeks). By the weekend, we weren’t sure who we’d invited, other than Lynda, and although Lynn had pushed me to still go ahead with it, I wasn’t particularly thrilled about it. Nonetheless, on Sunday I called Shawn (the Canadian basketball player), having got his number from Flin for that, and to try to help Shell(e?)y find some work. I invited Flin too, but in regular Flin style I never got an answer. Shawn had practice at 6:00 (probably why I never heard from Flin, in retrospect), but Shelley said she might come with a salad.
Monday I was still pretty unmotivated…until I actually got the grocery shopping done, shortly after inviting Tim, Nate and Liz (who we had somehow managed to forget to invite). I then finally got in touch with Holly and Josh, who bowed out with something else planned for their evening. The next bit was the cooking. I had been unable (not surprisingly) to find a turkey (much less one that would fit in my oven) so I had opted for a couple of chickens, but enough bread for a recipe and a half to two recipes worth of stuffing (who’s kidding who, stuff is the most important part of the meal, as far as I’m concerned). I looked up recipes online for both turkey and chicken to get the method turkey-like and the cooking times appropriate for chickens. I got things prepared, and decided to stick the first chicken in when the first person arrived (since it would only take an hour) and the second when the first was done (with stuffing cooking off to the side it was sort of the only option to do one at a time). For the stuffing (which was clearly not going to fit inside the chickens) I debated ways to cook it (even though I’m just as happy eating it uncooked if I can’t stuff it) and finally came up with a bain-marie style of cooking. I found a foil pound-cake pan, and an earthenware oven dish, stuffed as much stuffing as I could by warping the cake pan, set it in the oven dish, and poured some chicken broth around in the dish (not in the pan). Incidentally, this worked really really well! The only thing I would change next time is maybe part way through cooking adding broth to the stuffing itself. It didn’t get to crispy, but it was nice and warm, and was popular enough that that same recipe will probably be used at American Thanksgiving if Nate and Tim decide to host one.
I called Lynda shortly before 7:00 (who, the poor dear, lives in Batiment A…remember hearing about that?…and has access only to the incoming-only phone on her floor), hoping that she hadn’t left, but would be soon (it was almost time). I also made sure that the anglo crew was invited (which they hadn’t been…apparently Lynda had been the only person that we’d invited at all).

Shelley arrived almost exactly at 7:00, apologising for the lateness as a result of taking the bus. I laughed and told her not to worry; she was the first to arrive, which was clearly because she hasn’t been in France long enough to be late for everything (that unfortunate habit seems to sink in quickly even with those that are normally on time for things…it drives me crazy!). It was a little awkward at first, since I’d only spoken with her briefly, and Lynn had never met her at all, but it soon became more comfortable; particularly as people arrived. Liz arrived next, followed by the Batiment A folk: Lynda, Kyle and Michael showed up with Zouhair, the Belgian who speaks English as if it were his native language, and could easily fool someone into thinking he’s North American, and has become an adopted Anglo. Tim and Nate showed just in time for the first chicken to be ready (I had put the second in halfway through cooking the first to cut time, and since the stuffing didn’t need to be cooked for an hour) which also meant just in time for Tim to be volunteered to carve the chicken, which was juicy enough to make me worry that it was a tad undercooked, but it turns out it was just right! Not bad for my first time! Salad, desserts and more wine were provided by the others, but the chicken and stuffing were both cleaned out in no time; I was thrilled! At one point started going through the rounds of “what I’m thankful for,” and most were happy to be there with friends and stuff (at least after Lynn said that we couldn’t say we were thankful for batteries), so it was really cool.

So there we were; 3 Canadians, 3 Americans, 3 Brits and a Belgian (Zouhair’s other name; “the Belgian”). Definitely a Thanksgiving to remember (especially since I wasn’t even really excited about it until the shopping was done, and the cooking half done…and I did it all by my lonesome, cause Lynn was at work).

Chapter 91 – Mulhouse Superfan #1

October 10, 2004
While I couldn’t go to the hockey game (it was in Briançon, which is not even remotely near here) it seems appropriate to start my sportscast with the latest from the Scorpions; a 5-3 win over the Diables Rouges de Briançon. We’re still second behind Rouen, who have only wins to match our all-wins-except-for-one-tie.

Now let me talk about how I tie in to all this…first there was the call on Friday from my friend, Thibault, who wanted to know who the Scorpions had played on Wednesday, who won etc. He is a pharmaceutical sales rep, and had a meeting with the Scorpions’ doctor, so he wanted to know a thing or two. Two hours later, he called to tell me that he was eating lunch with two Canadians; Steve Montador, and Steven Reichprecht (who had just arrived that morning), along with staff and whatnot from the team. Of course, Thibault could not actually talk to them (perhaps that’s better for all of us; the English sentences he likes to use aren’t exactly the impression you want shown) since, as far as I know, they don’t speak any more French than he speaks English, but he was happy to throw it in my face that he was eating lunch with them (defending himself by saying that he was trying to get me free tickets). Man, Mulhouse is a small world, and always getting smaller.

Yesterday; Saturday, I had made plans with Lynn, Liz, Nate and Nico to head over to Basel to an English pub where we could watch some soccer; Scotland was playing Norway, then England versus Wales, followed by another 2 or 3 matches. The first turn of events came when Flin (the American basketball player that I think I mentioned a while back), who I hadn’t heard from in a couple of weeks, called to say that they had a game on that night. I had always been intending to go, but had been convinced the game was today (Sunday). I told him that I really wanted to go, but wasn’t sure when I could get back from Basel (we were leaving at 2:00, but I had never had any intention of staying all evening). He told me he’d leave me his two free tickets at the door, and I said that I’d do what I could.

We arrived at Pickwick, and got decent seats near the projections screen, about 45 minutes before the start of the first match, but unfortunately found ourselves seated in front of a rowdy Englishman who had once-before insulted Lynn after a game in which Scotland lost. The guy did not hesitate to show what an ass he was, just generally insulting all things not English (the way I see it, if the only country worth watching is yours, and you’re going to be a jerk about, maybe you’re not an ideal candidate to live in another country). Unfortunately though, the England and Scotland matches were actually being broadcast at the same time, and, being an English pub, England got priority (which was okay by Liz, who is English). So we had to put up with dumbass through the match. We had already decided to take the train after 7:00 so that I could try and make the basketball game, and because nobody wanted to spend a fortune on drinks all night, but after the game ended, since we weren’t going to get to see Scotland anyway, we decided to all head back on the 6:30 train. We were back by 7:00, but by the time we got Nate home, and Lynn and Liz to my apartment, Nico (who decided to come to the basketball game with me) and I barely had time to choke down a meal at McDonalds before meeting Hervé (who had also decided to join us) who was already in line at the ticket booths by the time we got there. I told him to let me do the talking, since I needed to get my reserved tickets. I told the lady that Flinder (his actual first name) had left me two tickets, and she said that I needed to go to a different window, we asked her if she knew where the seats were, because we needed a third (I was going to get it, since I would get a student discount, then the 3 of us were going to split the cost) at which point she just printed one off complete with “acces cocktail” and handed it to me. I was more than a little surprised. We went to the other window, where the reserved tickets were, and where a man was complaining about not being able to get free tickets for something or other. I told them that there was supposed to be two tickets for “Force” and one of the girls (the people working at this window were quite young) told me that she had definitely seen that name. Wow. Talk about the VIP feeling (having a cool last name helps too!).

We found our section (E), and came out in the stands around row D, so I was looking upwards to find our row (K; Hervé’s ticket was in row H, and I was a little disappointed that he had a better ticket). Nico asked if I saw row K, and then pointed it out; right behind the Mulhouse bench. It was a great game (first game of the season, and they won 86-78) and the half-time show was a group of kids break-dancing; it was quite impressive! There were even cheerleaders (a tradition that I must say I was disappointed to see French teams copy). I was most excited by the fact that Shawn Swords (the Canadian on the team) played amazingly, and was one of the, if not the, best in the game. Rob (the friend of Flin that I’d already met, is injured and out until at least February, and Mario; the American brought in to replace him broke his foot during the first quarter, so the number of Americans in Mulhouse might go up yet again). Besides Flin, Rob, and Mario there are two Americans; Geoff and A.D. The coach is also American, but has been in France 20 years, so while he coaches bilingually, I was amused to see him swear in French at a bad call.

Anyway, after the game, Nico and Hervé headed off to a going-away party for a friend of theirs, and I waited around for Flin and company. The plan was to head into town, but first Flin wanted to go up to the VIP lounge and mingle (which I could, thanks to my “acces cocktail”). So I met the other Americans, one of the French players, and Shawn, before most of us (and their girlfriends / wives) went down to Murphy’s for a drink. A couple of them have asked for help learning French, and Flin has left me a standing offer for tickets…the only thing that worries me is that they, and the Scorpions, play on the same night. Ah well. I talked for a bit with Shawn and Shelley (his wife) whose distinctly French Canadian French was my first clue that she was the Canadian in the group (although we mostly spoke only English). I also found out that Shawn used to play hockey with one of the Canadians on the Scorpions. I was more than a little surprised when he named I guy that I didn’t even know was Canadian (the Scorpions magazine had listed only birth places, and this guy: Olivier Coqueux, was born in France, and is a dual citizen). Yay! There’s even more of us! So voila. My status as Mulhouse Superfan (rugby, hockey, basketball…) continues to grow; as do my meetings with the anglos of Mulhouse.

Chapter 90 – This puck’s for you

October 6, 2004
As you all wait excitedly for the results…Mulhouse won 4-1, the first goal being scored by none other than a Canadian! Greg Day opened the scoring in the first period. Anglet soon tied it up, but Mulhouse came back (despite some not so great penalty calls against Mulhouse) scoring 3 goals in the second. Ryan Christie (another of the Canadians) got at least 3 or 4 penalties (more, I think) and may be going for most minutes in the box this season. Steve Montador (Calgary Flame) didn’t score, but did take a penalty or two, and was undoubtedly a key player, while Steven Reinprecht did not appear (I’m guess he hasn’t had enough time to practice with the team, since he just arrived last week). I cheered louder than I ever have at any kind of game, and we had fantastic seats, right behind the Scorpions bench, and I was right next to the space between panes. In a burst of confidence, after Montador had noticed my Canadian flag draped across Nico (French), Lynda (Canadian), and Zohail (Belgian), I leaned forward and said through the glass “Welcome to Mulhouse Montador!” He heard, but didn’t catch what I’d said, and without taking his eyes off the ice, was clearly looking for repetition. I said it again, and he nodded, but his shift was soon after. The next time he was back at the bench, he flipped a puck up, but missed getting it over the glass. At the end of the game, however, he flipped another one over; straight at Lynda (unfortunately for me). After the game, I debated waiting around to meet them afterwards. Not wanting to feel like a groupie (who’s kidding who, I’d never heard of any of them before, I just wanted to meet the few Canadians living in Mulhouse) I followed my friends down the driveway. There seemed to be a few people hanging around the doors that the guys would be coming out. I made a final decision to hang around and see, although my friends stayed a distance away, embarrassed (almost as much as I was) by the idea of waiting around like silly fans. Lynda, Kyle (American) and Zohail headed home, leaving Lynn (Scottish), Liz (English), Nico, and Tim (American) in the group at the end of the path, while I waited by the door. I saw Montador walk by, and even asked a guy that had just been speaking to him if he might tell him that the Canadians were outside. The guy feigned ignorance, and I waited. He finally came out a few minutes later. As he passed, I (feeling sillier than ever) said “Steve!” He said “oui, bonjour” or something to that effect and kept walking. With yet another burst of confidence I followed him a couple of steps, and said his name again. He looked somewhat unsure of himself, so I quickly introduced myself as “one of the Canadians.” Greg soon came out, and I congratulated them on the game and, at Lynn’s suggestion, invited them to the apartment for a drink (I’d really been planning on getting some sleep; Thursday is my looooong day of the week). Steve said something about having to stop by a sponsor, and maybe later, but asked for the phone number. I left both numbers with him, and felt fairly brushed off. I tried to look like less of a silly groupie by pointing out that it was really cool to meet other Canadians here (after he’d asked how long I’ve been in Mulhouse). He actually seemed a little uncomfortable (which raised my discomfort). I made the major faux-pas of asking them to congratulate Ryan on his first goal of the game (yeah, oops; it was Greg that did that). I wished them a good night, and we were off. (Not before a confused Steve didn’t catch Lynn’s accent, and thought that she was Canadian). The five of us headed back to the apartment, where we had a glass of Baileys. I felt even sillier. I headed for bed after a bit, and was happy to see Columbo on (ahhhhh distraction). I vaguely heard the phone ring though, and couldn’t resist getting up (who else would be calling at 12:30 at night). I came into the kitchen as I heard Lynn say “oh, she’s just in the toilet…oh, here she is!” It was, in fact, Steve Montador. He politely declined the offer to come over for a drink (thankfully!) since their Thursday would be busy and offered to call next week to stop by the campus for lunch, or let me know next time they’d be heading out to O’Bryans (or some other such place). He said it was cool to meet other Canadians, especially that know the city a bit. I was so relieved that I hadn’t come across as a silly groupie, and that I’d actually had the guts to approach them. A quick glance at the Scorpions website after the phone call showed that they play again Saturday, so I can see why he wasn’t figuring on calling before next week! He also mentioned that their cell phones were American and Canadian, so they’d call so it wouldn’t cost a fortune. He also said that anytime he didn’t have visitors from Canada to give his two free tickets per game too, I could have them. Unfortunately, I’ll be out of town for the next two home games, but hey; the next game I will be in town for is 3 days before my birthday, and whether I have to pay 8 euros, or go in free, I’ll be honest; I’m really not worried about it. So, I’m really tired and rambling now…and this is your third email in what…4 days? So I’ll cut off and try to get some sleep…I have a lot to survive tomorrow; teaching 8-12, german class 2-6, yoga (something I’ve been thinking about trying for a while) 6:30-8, and off to a colleague’s after (I just can’t weasel out of it this time). It’s now after 1:00, and between the cold that’s been creeping up, and the yelling tonight, I’ll be lucky if I have a voice at all tomorrow! G’nite and Go Scorps Go!

Chapter 89 – The Storks win, and so do I!

October 3, 2004
Mulhouse reserve 30-something – the other reserve team 10-something
Mulhouse 59 – the other team 0 (rugby scores October 3rd)
Heather 1 – the world 0 (okay, so nobody loses in this one); I got 2 free tickets to see the Scorpions play! A guy at rugby, who has seen me around (and vice versa) asked if I was English today. I told him that I was Canadian, at which time he pointed out that there were 3 Canadians on the hockey team. In the conversation in which I told him about the fourth addition, it came up that he knew some people at the hockey club, and had some free tickets in his car! So there ya go; it pays to be a superfan! I was also invited (by another player) to come out more often to rugby; ie to come to away games. I found that sort of an odd suggestion, especially when he compared me to Aurore (the girlfriend of a player, as well as one of the team’s medics (or whatever you call them)) since she (of course) goes to away games as well. I got a little confused too when he referred to my participation in the club (because I’m also the English tutor on call for the kids on the younger teams) and I thought initially that that was what he had been referring too. It’s cool to be noticed though; people know (sort of) who I am, even if I’ve never talked to them. The fact that I have an accent and that I come to just about every home game (but am not dating any of the players) makes me stand out a little, I’ll grant you. So anyway, if I had any doubts about going to the hockey game on Wednesday (which I didn’t) it’s definitely been decided now!

By the way, I’m sure you’ve guessed that the Storks (or more specifically “les Storks”) is the name of the rugby team, so I should explain; the cigogne (stork) is the symbol of Alsace. Why the rugby team has the English word as their name (I’d say mascot, but that’s absolutely not common to have mascots for sports here) is beyond me.

October 5, 2004
Today started rough(ish)ly because for some bizarre reason I was completely incapable of getting to sleep last night. I finally drifted off around 5:00 or 5:30, only to wake up again at 7:30 (half an hour before my alarm). I got moving, and got to the school early in an attempt to be more organised for the rest of the week. In the end, I did get a few things done, but not as much as I would have liked, before class time. Classes went okay, and could be considered even better in some ways, since stuff that I thought would take only one class wasn’t close to being finished, which means next week’s Tuesday classes will need no prep (yay!).

At lunch I headed off to the arena to get tickets for everyone else that wanted to come out to the game tomorrow, and got a pleasant surprise; only 8 euros instead of 10! Is there anything a student card can’t do here???

Exceptionally, I had to get back to the school for a make-up class I arranged with one of my Monday classes to make up for the fact that November 1st is a national holiday here, which would have left our last class of the semester (also the last class of the class) on January 3rd, instead of before Christmas. This would have been less of an issue had I not also decided to sign up for a CAF (cuisses – abdos – fessiers; thighs – abs – ahem…bottoms) class starting at 4:00 (the class was ending at 4:00).. I was also meeting Liz and Lynn there though, and through luck (and let’s face it; the fact that I’m in France) the class still hadn’t started by the time I arrived, over 5 minutes late. After an hour of that; which was a good workout in itself, we took an hour break before heading back into the gym for a 2-hour dance class. Liz bowed out after an hour, and Lynn and I slipped out about 40 minutes later. I was (am) both exhausted and starving, but dinner has just been served, so I’d better not keep the roomie waiting!

Chapter 88 – Boy Scouts and Girl Guides and Hockey (oh my)

October 3, 2004
Yesterday my (very tired after a late night and early morning) spirits were boosted by a crowd of Scouts and Guides of France out selling calendars as I walked home from the grocery store. It must have been within minutes of them starting their tour (the calendars were 5 euros, but they couldn’t break a 10) and when they saw me coming, they all came out from the various doorways they were working on to swarm me and make their first sale. It was so cute. So I’m the proud new owner of a 2005 Scouts and Guides Calendar. Ahhhh the memories of Brownies and Guides.

In other news: vier Kanadiens auf die Hockeymannschaft von Mulhausen!!! Which hopefully means that there are now 4 Canadians on the Mulhouse Scorpions (hockey team)!!! This includes 2 NHL’ers that would be playing for the Calgary Flames if they weren’t currently locked out (Steven Reinprecht and Steve Montador are the NHLers, Greg Day and Ryan Christie are the other two, if those names ring any bells for anyone). I still haven’t met them (they’re like the polkaroo; every time I go to O’Bryans, they’ve been there the night before) but I’m really really really hoping to get to the game on Wednesday. Mulhouse is currently 2nd in the league (no losses, but the one tie-game with Grenoble set Rouen ahead by one point) which is the most prestigious hockey league in France. So, while the lock-out isn’t so good for your hockey fans back home, it has great potential to give hockey in Europe (and elsewhere) a fantastic boost (especially for us ex-pats that are even more willing to dish out for tickets when there are fellow Canadians on the teams!).

Chapter 87 – Back to bureaucracy

September, 2004
My next challenge was my new carte de séjour. After all, I was no longer actually legally allowed to live in France, except as a tourist, since my old one had expired August 31, and I didn’t have a visa. I went to the sous-préfecture to get the list of documents I would need (already having been told that they ask for the same stuff every year, but I couldn’t remember exactly what that was). I got the list, and while I was there, asked if the list would be the same for the Americans and Brits. They told me that they would have to come in individually, so I asked what the list was roughly, so they could prepare as much as possible beforehand, but they refused to answer (apparently they wanted to make people have to come in more than once). Anyway, my list ended up being shorter than last year; I didn’t have to provide any of the stuff that I had provided last year, just the changes and stuff. Wow…logic at the sous-préfecture? Unbelievable! I got what I needed, and went back a week or so later, got my temporary card, and now it’s just a matter of time before I get the letter saying that I need to go back to get the permanent one put in. Lynn also came with me, on that second trip, to see about getting her carte de séjour, which she didn’t need to live in France, but did to be eligible for rent assistance…only they told us that British citizens no longer need them at all, as of last May; more good news from the government!

Over time we met more Anglos; exchange students (Michael, from England, Selena, from Ireland) and even a couple of Americans playing for the Mulhouse basketball team (altogether there are 4 Americans and 1 Canadian, of which we’ve met two of the Americans). There are also 3 Canadians (including Steve Montador from the Calgary Flames) playing for the Mulhouse Scorpions; and they’re working on getting a fourth. I haven’t met any of them yet, but I certainly plan to! The season started at the beginning of September, but I have yet to make it out to a game. Apparently the Canadian on the basketball team has met at least one of the hockey players, according to Flynn / Flin? from the basketball team, but it’ll take some time for me to work through my connections to meet them. It’s funny actually, because I was in O’Bryans recently (as I often am) with a friend, and started talking to our server about hockey, and mentioned that I’d heard that there were Canadians. He told me that they’d been in the night before!

The first week of school (and now the second for that matter) have gone by well. Although I’m not nearly as organized as I had planned, I’m definitely a million times better off than this time last year! Even my administrative stuff is going pretty well…in one day I managed to get my student card, additional health insurance, and a dentist appointment (still two weeks away).

And the most recent news (this one’s for you Oma and Opa) I’ve started 2 German classes! They are both intro to German, but in one of them, most of the students (or at least the ones that were there for the first class) have already taken the other. So one is quite basic, and the other is basic, but moves more quickly, so it should give me a good balance of repetitive and intensity. I’m excited! So, it’s not a lot, but here goes:

Ich heiße Heather. Mein Nachname ist Force.
Ich wohne in Mulhouse
Ich komme aus Kanada
Meine Teleon-nummer ist null, drei, acht, neun, drei, fünf, eins, zwei, sieben, null

What’s kinda funny about the number thing is that I learned to count to 10 in German when I was kid, but I’d never seen the numbers spelled out. That was kinda strange! Anyway, we did get beyond those details in class, but it’s a start anyway! Yay!