Oh la la la la la and Bonzai!

This week has been off to a very uneventful start. Scratch that. I haven't done a whole lot in the past few days, but the highlights have been rather bright. When I'm at home, some of my favorite fall weekends include one of the following: football and horses. Now, while I don't get to ride as often as I'd like, I do often see my mom on the weekends and a trip to see the horses is usually included. Being in France, you'd think that finding either of these would be impossible, right? Right. No, actually - WRONG! Of all days, on Sunday (the day where nothing much can get done in France), I got to experience both horses and football. Amazing, I know. 

I've seen signs for the Hippodrome de Marcq-en-Baroeul on streets close by to me, but I never realized how close it was to my apartment. And by close, I mean the barn is a block and a half away from me. As in, I walk past it daily and somehow was too blind to see it from my street. On our way back to the apartment on Sunday, Séb asked if I wanted to stop in and see the horses. Did I ever! It made me miss my horses at home! I made friends with Bonzai, Salsa, Duc, Lucky and several others who's names escape me. Bonzai was definitely the coolest - look at his mane and tail! I'll definitely be coming back! There's a dressage event on 7 novembre that I'm hoping to remember to go to! Their competition arena is huge!

My new friend Bonzai

 And then there was this:

Washington Redskins [17] vs Chicago Bears [14]

American football! When I was looking at the TV Guide, I squealed with delight when I saw that American football would be on Sunday night. Granted the game didn't start until 22h00 and I don't have any ties to the Redskins or Bears, I was thrilled! The best part was one of the announcers, who Sébastien tells me is américain. Yeah, I could tell. He speaks French very well, but there were certain words that just gave it away. Yards, touchdown, Super Bowl... definitely not the pronunciation of a Frenchman. But my favorite thing to hear him say was "Oh la la la la! C'est pas vrai! C'est pas vrai!" That's right, four "la's". I'll be honest that it was a little weird watching a football game by myself, but I was expecting to miss the whole season! Now at least, if I miss all other games, I'll at least have seen one this season! Maybe I'll get lucky and catch a Seahawks game?

Now, onto some exciting news... I leave for Stockholm in the morning! I'll start by taking the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) to Brussels where I'll have a few hours to explore before taking our 2-hour flight to Stockholm! My cousin Signe is in Stockholm for work this week and her mom, Liivi, will be visiting her on Saturday. I am REALLY hoping that I'll be able to meet up with them! How cool would that be? Stockholm is supposed to be beautiful but expensive and I'm really looking forward to walking through the old town. Should be fun! I'm not bringing my computer with me, so I'll fill you in when I get back on Sunday. :D

Bisous, 

-kelse

le hippodrome - racetrack

Oh la la la la! C'est pas vrai!  - Oh my! It's can't be true! (*could be translated to many similar phrases)

le train à grande vitesse - the high speed train