Alas, I Digress…

Andrew & I had a few chill nights in Fredericton. We didn’t do much touristy stuff there because mostly, we wanted to decompress. We spent our nights at Jay’s Fredericton apartment (because he’s a rich lawyer and has TWO apartments) ((not really, he’s a law student and is subletting in Halifax this summer)). Our first night was spent struggling with how to put in a window air conditioner. It was broiling in Fredericton. We got there, it must have been 95°F (that’s 35°C for my Canadian readers) and 99% humidity. You know, right below where the air itself is made of water.

I’ve had experience putting in a window air conditioner. Two summers ago, our central air decided to not work anymore, so we stuck a few window units in the house and it made life better. That was the one summer of my life where my room was actually the temperature I wanted it to be at night. I have the worst room in the house for temperature control. It’s small, but has two windows that don’t shut properly, so the heat escapes in the winter and the heat gets in in the summer. It was fine this summer though, because it was gorgeous.

…I digress. My point is that I have experience with putting in a window unit. But I have no experience with a window that’s above waist-height. This window was about chest-height, and I have no upper body strength. Poor Andrew was very patient with me as we struggled to heave this thing up and install it. It took us about an hour. But it was worth it, because that was a powerful air conditioner and the apartment – not just the bedroom, but the whole apartment – became instantly cooler.

That night I didn’t sleep.

I told Andrew I just wanted to sleep under a sheet because I was so hot, and we installed the AC right before we went to bed. We also cranked the AC down because it was so hot and closed the door and I insisted because I do like sleeping in cold rooms when I go to bed.

I forgot that I like to sleep in cold rooms under thick blankets.

I ended up nearly pushing Andrew off the bed in the middle of the night. I kept snuggling closer and closer to him because I was so cold and he was warm. He crankily told me at about 2:00AM that I was cramping his style. And pushing him off the bed.

At around 5:00AM I gave up on the bedroom and went back to the living room to crash on the couch. It was much warmer in the living room because we had shut the door to the bedroom and I slept the rest of the night in there.

Needless to say, Andrew was very confused when he woke up.

That pretty much was our adventure in Fredericton. We also went to a really, really cool art museum, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. They had a few Dalis and a few Bottecellis. The coolest thing, however, was the docent who practically followed us around. The docents I usually come across in art galleries answer questions, but this guy was amazing. He made us lay on the floor to view the giant Dali masterwork they had, to see the 3-D effect Dali had painted into it. It was supposed to be an alter piece of St. James and the ascension, intended to be hung farther above the ground than it was in the museum. He also quizzed us in the Medieval room after studying the Dali for a while, to have us find St. James in the tapestry we were contemplating. We found him – he was riding a wooden horse and carrying a shell. Apparently, all the saints had symbols associated with them so that the common people could pick them out of the tapestries & statues and paintings, and Dali incorporated these traditional symbols into his work. (I spent an hour later that day looking up saints & symbols and it’s very creepy. Apparently, most male Saints are pictured with symbols that are used for what they did in their life, and women are pictured how they died. One of the St. Catherines the docent showed us had a sword piercing her neck in the Medieval painting, and St. Anne had pliers in her hand that pulled out her eye. Creepy!)

There was also a painting by Lucian Freud, a grandson of our buddy Sigmund. He’s a very popular British painter, and recently, one of his works went for £16M which is about CAD$35M. This Freud that they have is a self portrait and depicts his ex-wife in bed. The docent thought that the painting they have might be the most expensive painting in the gallery because of those particular aspects.

So that was Fredericton.

We headed to Halifax, where we met up with Jay and his girlfriend Lisa in his second apartment. Psh, rich law students. (Speaking of, Andrew might take the LSATs.) Anyway, we got there and happened to be driving through Truro, NS where Jay works around the same time he left work, so the two of us met up with him at a Tim Horton’s outside of Truro and we followed him back to his place. Lisa had the MCATs the next day, so Jay, Andrew & I went to a “patio” – basically outdoor eating. Very popular in Halifax. Every place to eat had some place to eat outside, and they were all jam packed. We went to the rooftop patio of a place called Your Father’s Mustache, which I thought was ridiculously amusing, because my father definitely has a mustache. The three of us had some good food there, then went to a microbrewery in the basement of the same place, where Jay and I spent 20 minutes playing no-think speed chess, where you make moves without thinking. He won, but I took his queen. Thus, my chess record stands at 0-13-1. (I am awful at that game, but I did stalemate with a Russian freshman on a bus trip to a marching band competition in 11th grade once.)

Friday, while Lisa was out celebrating her MCAT triumph, Andrew & I went to see the Citadel of Halifax. We got the official tour this time, and I have some cool pictures of and from the Citadel. It’s at the highest point in Halifax. There’s no way that anyone would have been able to penetrate it when it was built, so it was never attacked. Smart Canadians.

Friday night, we went out to help Lisa celebrate. We got together with Jay & Lisa’s friends Liz & Dave and they made a delicious curry for us. I love Indian food, even when made by non-Indians. After a few sheets of Naan, we decided to go out to a membership-only bar. It used to be a place for old men to hang out, when a few college students found a way to become members it filled up with college kids & grad students and became a popular place to be. That being said, the college students didn’t scare off the old men, who were abundant and whom I’m sure were trying to scare off ME. Scary, scary old men.

It was Open Mic night, which in Halifax means a bunch of really talented people play together for an hour and then hand over the mic to another bunch of really talented people. Really, this was no Open Mic night like I’ve ever seen. For one, everyone could actually play their instruments and sing, and for two, there was a fiddler. An actual fiddle player who was awesome and improvised and yeah. I love the Atlantic provinces (this happens in Newfoundland too).

Saturday night, we boarded the ferry for Newfoundland, followed closely by “Hurricane” Bill. Apparently, Hurricane Bill was really just small, gusty, rainstorm Bill. That being said, the captain of the ferry said they were going to book it and arrive in Newfoundland ASAP to make sure we were ahead of the “hurricane.” So a boat that was supposed to arrive at 7:00AM arrived two hours ahead of schedule. What the heck! If they can get the boat across that fast, why not just advertise that? Andrew & I slept in a cabin for the night, and by slept I mean Andrew slept and I tried to not notice the constant motion of the boat up and down and up and down… I could never be a pirate.

We arrived in Newfoundland at around 5:00 and were deboarded by 5:30. Pretty impressive and efficient. I was on moose watch because it was dark, but as soon as the sun crested and Garmina Burana went back into daytime mode, I napped. I needed it because I was really, really tired.

We’re finally in Newfoundland. We hung out with Andrew’s sister Paula, her husband Shawn and our nephew Ryan and niece Rachel yesterday. Not until after we napped in Ryan’s room though. When I woke up at noon, I headed to the bathroom. As soon as I exited, a cute little 8-year-old girl was curled up in a ball on the floor staring with anticipation and excitement at the bathroom was waiting for me, sheepishly grinning. What a way to wake up, huh?

I spent the day hanging out with Little Rachel and learning all about her friends and watching her play guitar and playing video games with her and Ryan. Andrew & I bought them Mario Kart and set up their Wii for internet access. Yeah, we’re probably the best American-based Auntie and Uncle out there!

After the kids finally went to bed (I say “the kids” but really, Ryan was diligent and listened, Rachel put up a fight until about 11:30 and was very overtired at that point), Andrew & I hung out with Paula & Shawn and watched the Miss Universe pageant and made fun of it. Those girls are so dumb.

After Paula & Shawn went to bed, we watched the Discovery Channel in HD and I forgot the word “sideburns” and called them ear mustaches. We also watched this program about the earth’s oceans and it was really awesome, especially the part where they talked about how a ship with containers of bath toys lost some of its cargo in the middle of the Pacific and they found rubber ducks from Hawaii to Alaska and how some of the ducks crossed the arctic and ended up in Scotland. That’s when I learned oceans are amazing, and bath toy ducks are ridiculously indestructible.

We’re now on the road back to Bay Roberts. This means I will be having some sort of Newfoundland blueberry-based dessert made by my mother-in-law and I am ridiculously excited. This also means that we’ll be in Newfoundland for about a week before we head back, while Andrew settles some matters.

Meanwhile, I’m going to enjoy Joan’s cooking. Tomorrow is our two-year anniversary. Hopefully we’ll do something cool. Like eat blueberry cake.

Edit: Can I call it or what?! There was blueberry cake!