Heading off into the horizon of my life without a map or compass. A curse, a blessing? Who knows? We'll see. Bring it on.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Passages, marred by frailty
When I look at the past several weeks of my blogger history, I see nothing but uninspired equivocations and forced ramblings. Hopefully I can change that in the upcoming weeks.
In an effort to live up to my generously bestowed title, here's a picture of my dinner for tonight. Chicken curry (don't ask me what kind, I used garam masala and fenugreek and some other stuff) and garlic naan. No rice since I'm still lacking a rice cooker, and no side dish because I don't need that many leftovers. I bought the naan since I don't have a tandoori oven, but that chicken is all me. It was earth-shatteringly delicious, except for one hiccup. That red chunk you see on the chicken is a piece of tomato. Publix foiled me and carried only stewed tomatoes when the recipe called for pureed tomatoes. Alas. Next time (you better believe there will be a next time), I will do right by Indo-Asia and use the right kind of tomatoes. Additionally, I will also use ground cashews instead of cornstarch.
I'm currently battling the first signs of the flu. Not a good thing, since I'm supposed to be visiting Canada this weekend with these finegentlemen. Wish me luck.
Alas, Canada NLDC 2008. 'Twas a bittersweet experience, and it was all my fault. I came expecting the same great feelings of '07, but it was not to be. Like all AIESEC conferences, a measure of similarity must be maintained, and for me it had ventured into the realm of the redundant. And in my pride, I couldn't reconcile necessity with yearning.
But that was only the "bitter" part. The "sweet" part was in the people, the delegates, the individuals. You kids seriously kick some AIESEC ass, and you're generally ridiculous(in a good way). Maybe there are more Canadian conferences in my future than I thought...
Anyway, post NLDC shenanigans. See below.
Niagara Falls:
Me playing around with the macro function on my camera.
And finally, after we crossed the border, we were right next to Buffalo, so we simply had to visit the birthplace of the chicken wing. Here are the magnificent results: Try to guess which bowl of bones belongs to whom.
After global village, there was a gathering in my room of the LCPs of 6+ Canadian LCs, including Thomas and Kyle. We played Never-Have-I-Ever with amazing results.
Example statements: Angry white dragon Urban dictionary sex terms Sleeping with relatives once removed
Our last day in Canada was Friday. We didn't actually have the hotel room for that night so we woke up REALLY early by our standards (8am) to pack up and check out by 10am. We cleared out of our temporary home, said our goodbyes, drove out, and took to the streets of Laval in record time. To the right you'll see us and our sole trip to Tim Horton's. As far as coffee and donuts go, it can't be beat.
After we made our way into the city, we diverged from each other and split into two groups. Shannon and I preferred to spend the day in a cozy bistro whilst cuddled up with our books/laptops, while Ryan, Thomas, and Masato wanted to wander around and see more of the city. I personally think they were crazy, since that Friday was hands-down the COLDEST day since we arrived in Canada. Plus, it was gusting winds of at least 50MPH. But whatever, I heard they had fun. You can probably read about their exploits at their blogs, linked at the right.
It didn't take long until Shannon got restless and decided she wanted to get her hair cut. So we found some salons online and hit the metro. The first two places ended up being complete duds: the first was in a building that was still being constructed, and the second had no one except for a 60 year-old woman cutting the hair of an 80 year-old woman. Our third and final place ended up being an ultra-chic place inside a mall (the Montreal mall, as it turns out). Girlfriend wanted a bang, so a bang she got!
Here are the before and afters:
The very definition of hot n' sexy.
After that, Shannon needed to accessorize her new 'do so we bought shades and then went to St. Laurent to wait for the boys so we could head to Odaki, where we were meeting AIESEC UQAM for dinner. They finally came, and it was obvious that they were a little tipsy (barhopping will do that to you). We passed this along the way to the restaurant:
Odaki has completely changed my perception of Western Japanese restaurants. It was so amazing I wanted to cry when it was time to leave. Why can't Rusan's be as good as Odaki?
Savanna, the VPER from UQAM, had used her contacts to get us a reservation at this atypical buffet restaurant. We sat at a traditional (sort of) Japanese table, complete with sliding paper panels and everything. The way the food worked was simple: you agreed to a 26.99CDN fee, and then could order anything you wanted at any time from the menu. All you had to do was fill out a paper order sheet, give it to the hostess, and wait for your fresh sushi to come out. You would then be given a fresh paper order to fill out if you wanted. DOES THAT SOUND AWESOME OR WHAT?! And they had more than sushi too. There was tempura, katsu, spring rolls, dumplings, fusion dimsum, and the list goes on. It was an amazing experience for such a cheap price. If you should ever find yourself in Montreal and craving Japanese, there is no better place than Odaki.
As you can see in the video above, a bunch of UQAM kids came out to see us. They were all awesome and really cool. The meaningful conversation didn't really happen though. After a certain point we got kind of inebriated... inebriated on sushi. I don't know how else to describe it. We weren't acting sober, but we definitely were. It was odd.
When it was time to go, it was too late to make it to AIESEC HEC's metro party (sadface). But we could still make it to Club 737 that Savanna had gotten us VIP access to (have I mentioned yet that this girl is awesome?), and we thought we should retrieve Ryan's car from the parking lot of Canadian Tire, just in case they didn't take kindly to overnight parking.
Savanna (there on the right) went with Ryan and I so we wouldn't wander around in downtown Montreal looking for parking. As soon as we got to the car and started our usual hapless search for a good radio station, she took control of the dial and immediately found two stations that blared out slick house tunes. Thank god for locals.
We got into the city and immediately found parking right outside the club building. The club itself is at the highest point in Montreal. The views were amazing.
No, my camera did not put on beer goggles after third picture. That effect is from the condensation that formed on the windows due to the body heat of the kids that were dancing nearby. Yes, I said kids. It seemed like everyone else there was on the lower end of 17-19, which was kind of awkward because we're all 22. Savanna swore that the place usually shows an average age of 21. Maybe everyone just looked young that night. Either way, the place was exquisitely awesome, and I'm already jealous of the AIESEC Canada 50th Anniversary Gala that will take place there later this year.
Drinks.
Our gracious hosts.
And then it was time to leave. We bid a fond farewell to Montreal, and took off into that good night for the USA.
We got to New Haven at midmorning on Saturday, and after a tour of Yale campus, recorded this final hurrah from Team Awesome.
We said goodbye to Shannon and continued on our weary way. Behold, car karaoke, courtesy of Thomas and Ryan:
Oh, those silly kids. We got into Atlanta at 2am on Sunday morning. And the rest is history.
If anyone from Montreal is reading, we cannot thank you enough for the hospitality and courtesy that you've shown us. This includes both random people and the AIESEC LCs. If you have the chance to visit New Haven or Atlanta, you should know that we will do everything in our power to make your trip as amazing as ours. And to you crazy AIESECers, I expect to see you at NDLC in Toronto. We all do.
Montreal, you treated us well, and we will miss you. This is Team Awesome for the final time... signing off.
So our excursion into Montreal was interesting to say the least. We went into the city with the intention of parking at the furthest Metro stop from downtown (the closest to us), and didn't realize that we were going in on a Monday when people would be working. Hence, the commuters would have jammed up all parking spots within miles of the Metro station. After a series of unfortunate events, we ended up parking at Canadienne Tire and trekking over.
Voila notre experience dans la Metro. (It's Franglish already, I'm not going to bother with accents)
Afterwards, we grabbed lunch at a shawarma place. We all agreed that it is still a shame that the Tech campus is without a similar place (Ray's does not count).
Just for you, Kyle. YES THAT'S MAYONNAISE.
Then we took off for Old Montreal.
Then we went to the marina?/shore?/park? to play in the snow. Oh man.
There are five of us, and five silhouettes in the snow. Coincidence? I think not.
Thomas has more pictures than I do, and they're currently sitting on his memory card back in our room. I shall succeed in snatching them off that card to post here, though. Just be patient.
We were feeling the afternoon drowse so we slipped into delightful little café to receive a caffeine/sugar infusion. Below is my selection.
Hot chocolate and baklava. Both homemade by a deliciously homey Turkish grandmother and served by her showboating husband. He chatted us up about AIESEC, Turkey, and his experiences in Quebec. Thomas and Ryan got Turkish coffee:
They got their fortunes read from the remnant coffee grinds in the bottom of their cups, a tradition that we successfully pantomimed to the couple. While Ryan's reading included a "girl made for dancing" and a big heart, Thomas' was basically "... you, not so good." Ouch!
Afterwards we headed to the LC in the University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM). We got to see their office (bigger than ours, wtf!) and had a beer with two of their newies at their campus bar (wtf!!).
We taught them the cup game. Ha.
Conclusion for the day:
We're going back to UQAM tonight to watch their hockey game and partake in more beverages. It shall be glorious.
So, the four of us took off for New Haven, and ultimately Montreal, two days ago on Friday. We sentimentally named ourselves after the Fantastic Four (dibs on the Thing) and hightailed it out of the perimeter and up I-85 to get Shannon.
A special guest came along for the ride.
The trip along the eastern seaboard was marked with spotty performance. Ryan started driving first, as is obvious by the fact that we went in his car and from the pictures above. We made it through South and North Carolina, stopping only to visit Taco Bell for a quick beef injection. Oh yes, I went there. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures of it. But it was pretty standard Taco Bell fare. Oh, the Hot Sauce packets they had there were purple instead of the standard red; correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought the Hot Sauces were red and the Fire Sauces were purple. In any case, each and every one of the Hot Sauce packets also had the following text on them: “DirectDaniella.com”. Just a tad bit awkward.
Afterwards, Masato took over driving until about 100 miles into Virginia, at which point I took over. At this point it was about 10:00PM. This exchange occurred after fuel retrieval and a trip into Subway, which is deemed worthy of a story. As you should remember, our hobohookah Jean-Pierre Laurent-Michel Delacroix was with us. At this time of night it had been going for almost six hours and needed a nice cleaning. So Ryan removed Dela and brought it into the Subway restroom to clean out while the rest of us ordered food (driving is hungry work). The workers inside the Subway completely freaked out and thought we were bringing marijuana into the store. They managed to explain it away to them (I think I was peeing at the time), but in hindsight (apparently) the stuff could be considered to be drug paraphernalia and thus a legitimate legal concern. But fie on all that. They threw our food at us and all but kicked us out of Subway so they wouldn’t be implicated in our possession (because that makes sense).
I drove through the rest of Virginia and West Virginia and into Maryland, where at 2:00AM we stopped at an auspicious landing that contained a closed Wendy’s (!), a closed McDonald’s (!!), a closed K-Mart (?), and no sign of a Wal-Mart despite the fact that there was a Sam’s Club right in the vicinity. However, there was this wondrous store called Martin’s with freshly baked goods in the early morning and bins of dried goods and candies that you were able to mix and match with. Thomas ended up with some German fruit candies and some sesame candies, and I ended up coming away with a pound of banana chips and a half bound of honey roasted cashews. TAKE NOTE, PLANTERS. IF YOU MAKE IT, I WILL BUY IT. Do not pass up the opportunity to cash in on this… cash cow.
Ryan took over again, and at this point both Thomas and I were dead tired and passed out in the backseat while Ryan and Masato commanded the car. Apparently Pennsylvania and New Jersey have SHIT for roads and the car was bumping and crashing up and down with a hurricane force. But I was able to sleep through it somehow. I don’t believe it, but whatever. When I woke up, we were already in Connecticut and Ryan was bitching about the New York/New Jersey toll road systems. Typical. We missed our FIRST OFF-RAMP FOR THE ENTIRE TRIP because the ramp was off of the left side of the road. I personally don’t see how that happened because I specifically wrote in the directions, EXIT OFF THE LEFT SIDE. Oh well.
We finally got to Shannon! The Fantastic Four has become the Planeteers! I know it’s a stretch, but hey, there aren’t many other famous fivesomes. No, I am not saying the Power Rangers.
Thomas took over driving upon leaving New Haven. And over the hills and through the woods to grandmother’s house we go… in Quebec.
We finally saw snow in Massachusetts (yay!) whilst plugging along on a toll road (boo!). I've seen snow before, but never draped on mountainous peaks like the ones in upstate New England.
Speaking of tolls, this is one of the booths from the toll in New York. You know you're nearing Canada when...
The border! Yay we made it! From here it was a quick trip into Montreal (with a very tired and very obnoxious Ryan in the back seat) for a lunch at local feeding hole where we had poutine. Poutine poutine poutine. Deliciousness. There will be more of it in our future.
Then it was just a short trip to our hotel, or auberge. This place is a freakin' resort. More pictures of the surroundings later.
And now, the week has just begun!
Thomas is sitting there in the back of the sled thing. More about Vince and his kids tomorrow.
Huckabee pulled ahead in the Iowa caucus. Gag me with a chainsaw.
Resolutions:
1. Less red meat. Less salt. Less sugar. 2. Sleep normally. 3. Express appreciation more frequently. And more ardently. 4. Shake off all forms of codependence. and 5. Love openly.
Just came back from Canada's NC 2008! AWESOMENESS! More to come later, I promise. But right now I have a mountain of laundry to tackle.
So I realized that I'm probably going to be doing a lot of crossposting of pictures. Between this blog, the LC blog, and facebook, my pictures will probably get uploaded at a minimum of two times. I personally don't give a damn, but some people might deem it fit to label me as redundant. Oh well.
Tuesday evening marked the very last meeting with our Board of Advisors for the year. Below is the end of the evening, minus Bryan and Sean, our photographers.
What a snazzy crowd. It's almost hard to believe that I was a part of this for a year.
You might notice Missy in the crowd. The rest of the LC is having a dinner meeting with her and Andrew Martin later tonight, location to be announced. That should be nice.
This banquet video is going to kill me. I've gone to the library every day this week to try to get my hands on those multimedia computers. Every single time, they've been occupied. I'm going back on Saturday with Sean, and if they're still as occupied as ever, I may have to choke a bitch. No joke.
I tried again last night, hoping there'd be less of a crowd late at night. No such luck, Katie came along and we resigned ourselves to the office.
This was taken at 3am. Katie had failed to be productive with her studying, thanks to our call with Sean about random banquet items, but luckily I had managed to get a bunch of finance work out of the way despite my inability to be productive on the video. Give and take, I suppose. But all in all, it was good times.
I booked my tickets to Canada! On December 30th, I shall be in Montreal celebrating Canada's 50th anniversary with Emily and Johanna!
