Originally, Hunter and I had made plans to do lunch on Friday but we both had pretty late nights on Thursday so we pushed it to Saturday. Friday was a relaxing day or blogging, grocery shopping, and playing the new guitar Jason got me for Christmas/my birthday. Look at me go!
To make up for a relatively quiet Friday, I stuffed Saturday full of fun with friends: Lunch with Hunter at noon, watching rugby with Guillaume and Ashley at 2:30 followed by dinner at You's place around 5:00 and maybe going out afterward. This would entail a lot of traversing the city but with my TBC tram/bus pass, I can go anywhere! Transit here is really nice and will get you anywhere in the city/surrounding suburbs in a pretty reasonable amount of time. I planned out all my routes the night before and was really excited about a full day of getting out and around.
Hunter and I planned to meet at Auchan in the morning to get some food for our lunch. I had heard stories from all the other Chinese kids about Hunter's amazing cooking, so I was amped. At the last second, some obstacles came up and he decided to change it to dinner. I explained that I was going to You's for dinner and could only come for lunch. He was disappointed, (and so was I! I want some real Chinese food!!) but we still had some tasty sandwiches anyway. I told him I would try to make it over after dinner at You's place since we were supposed to be eating in the early evening.
Around 2:00, I had to head back over west to catch the rugby game. According to my calculations, this trip was supposed to take about 30 minutes. A couple stops on the tram and a short bus ride. NOPE. There was a manifestation downtown and all the trams and buses between Quinconces and Mériadeck were blocked. I love equal rights and whole-heartedly believe that gays should get married, too, but could you maybe just scoot your rally out of the street? Thanks. 25 minutes later, I was able to get on a tram toward Ashley's house. By the time I finally got over her way, though, I had missed the bus that would have saved me from walking the extra 15 minutes to her door. Unanticipated travel time: 40 minutes.
Watching rugby was great fun. Toulouse was playing a team called the Ospreys and I wore one of my Chesapeake T-shirts even though Guillaume was rooting for Toulouse, who later went on to win the match. After the game, Ashley and I were supposed to head over to You's house because her roommate (whose name I can neither spell nor pronounce and who was referred to by You simply as "The Boy") was making dinner for us. She had told him about my love of spicy food and he was very excited to cook for me, apparently. Awesome. We headed out around 5:00 and and Ashley needed to stop at the tabac on the way to the bus stop for cigarette supplies and Coca-Cola. Even though we had checked the sign and it wasn't supposed to be there for another 15 minutes, the 35 bus rolled right by us just as we left the tabac. This is Karma punishing you for smoking, Ashley.We ened up waiting for a solid 45 minutes for the next bus and didn't get to You's place until after 6:00. Unanticipated travel time: 1 hour.
Since we had taken so long, The Boy had already prepared all the food and it was waiting patiently for us on the table. I felt terrible that we didn't help at all in the preparation and the only thing we contributed was a couple liters of knock-off Coke. Ugh again. Both of our Chinese hosts were just glad for our company, though, and I had one of the best meals of my life. Garlic-rubbed baked chicken, some spicy gingery soup with bean sprouts and pork, a traditional egg and tomato dish, seaweed and egg soup... It was outrageous. When I asked The Boy how he learned to cook, his response was a modest, "Well, I was hungry." When I'm hungry, I eat Clif Bars and cry about not having any real food. This guy became a chef. Amazing.
We ended up staying until close to 10:00 (so much for meeting up with Hunter and his crew) and Guillaume was texting to see if we were interested in coming out for a drink with him and Pierre, his friend from Toulouse. I thought Ashley would have had enough of Bodegon after Thursday's adventures, but she was just happy Guillaume was out at a bar. Apparently, he doesn't go out much. The 3 bus was going to take us right downtown so we scurried off to the stop up the street, only to find that it was also running extremely slowly. Seriously? The one day that I need to be somewhere in kind of a hurry just happens to be the day when nothing is running on schedule. Half an hour later, we got on the bus and Made it to Victoire by 11. Unanticipated travel time: 35 minutes
We had a few beers at Bodegon, though Pierre and Guillaume were a few ahead of us, and then went in search of another bar when the very same creepy guys from Thursday came a-lurking. I thought I said no the first time?
Me: "Again? No. Remember? I'm about to get married!"
Creepy guy: "Yes, okay, but until then...?"
Me: "Ew."
We wanted to check out this Australian place that was supposed to be good but couldn't find it, despite extensive searching on Guillaume's smart phone and a ton of wandering around. We eventually landed in an Irish pub on the other side of Ste. Catherine. (Unanticipated travel time: 30 minutes) You had to go home almost immediately because she didn't want to miss her bus and the rest of us hung out for one more beer. Guillaume was fading fast and even though Ashley and I were enjoying our lesson in French curse words from Pierre, we figured it was time to go.
We walked all the way back up to Victoire only to discover that we had missed the last tram of the evening. How did it get to be 1:50 so quickly?? Pierre had his car, and while he wasn't drunk, he thought it best not to drive. We appreciate your interest in our safety, but the only other option is to walk all the way back to Mérignac, which is probably less safe, especially at 2am on a Saturday night. Even though I was stone cold sober, I can't drive stick so we were at an impasse. Ashley offered to drive but Guillaume was (smartly) having none of it. Even though she seemed pretty coherent, if she got pulled over, it's jail/deportation. Pierre conceded and we hopped in his "vintage" Renault.
Since Ashley and I don't drive, and Guillaume never goes downtown, none of us knew how to get home. And all that searching for the Australian bar had drained Guillaume's phone battery so none of us had access to some sort of mapping device. Ugh again again. We made it, though, thanks to my crafty navigating skills and being able to recognize a couple key landmarks in my neighborhood. By the time I got back in the house, it was approaching 3am. Unanticipated travel time: 35 minutes.
Total Unanticipated Travel Time: 3 hours and 20 minutes
As I flopped into bed, utterly exhausted, I couldn't help but think had I not spent so much time trying to get somewhere else, I could have been asleep before midnight...
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