Hippies, Percussion, and Wolves.

Beware: there is no focus to this post.

I've officially been living in Montreal for one month! It feels like I just got here. I don't know how this happened.

Every Sunday, there is a hippie congregation called the Tam-Tam at Mont Royal Park. The festivities take place near the  George-Étienne Cartier Monument. It's probably not socially acceptable for me to call it a "hippie congregation", but I'm blunt and that's what it is. Thousands of people visit the park. There is larping (live action role-playing), a DJ booth near a gazebo, and many people relaxing, tanning, and playing frisbee or fetch with their pups. Many people bring their drums, so there is a group dancing in the corner near the monument. There is also an aroma of a certain substance in the air... let's face it. It's a hippie party. 

The Monument

Drum Fun. 

Sidenote: sorry if you get nauseous. I'm a better writer than I am a videographer.

My mother was born to be a part of the Tam Tam. I'll have to take her in a couple of months when she visits!

After visiting Mont Royal, I went with Laura-Ann to my favorite creperie. I can't resist crepes when I walk past a creperie, but these are my favorite yet: strawberry + ricotta. Tastes more like strawberry cheesecake.

Recently, I was told that it is very "asian" of me to take pictures of food. I had no idea that this was an asian stereotype. My dad does it ALL the time, so it must be true.

Last weekend, Max came in town! We visited downtown one day and spent time with friends another.

The Old Port

Notre Dame de Montreal Basilica

Top Left to Right: Vitaliic, Nikita, Jonas, Reid
Bottom Left to Right: Lisa, me, Olga, Kat, Gareth, Laura-Ann
Three Russians, three Americans, an Aussie, a Dane, a Canadian, and a Welshman

Kat (from TEXAS!), Laura-Ann, and me

Besides the weekend fun and relaxation, training has been going well. Last Friday, I suffered a minor injury. I've been having some back pain for the past few weeks because my acrobatic training uses muscles that I didn't use as much as a gymnast. I strained the lower left side of my back, so please keep that in your prayers! It's pretty normal to miss a few days around this exact time during General Formation. We work laborously (I know this is a word, so why is spell check against it?), and all of us are exerting energy using muscles we haven't used as rigorously before now. I'm praying that a few days off will give my body the rest that it needs to push through during the last two months of training!

Laura-Ann made picture of the week last week, and, yep, that's me on her shoulders.

Fixed training with Juan

A week ago last Monday, we had a small percussion presentation. We have had a few weeks of training, but we are still terrible. It sounded like a first grade recital, but we are all between 18 and 35. Fortunately, learning to play the drums is less about our talent level and more about rhythm, cohesion, and expression. The presentation was a blast, and Dasha and Elena took pictures with me afterward in the studio.

Elena

Dasha

*THIS* is a recent article from my the newspaper of my alma mater. It made me really excited to have a spot in the Diamondback even after I graduated! Plus, this is the first time that Max and I have been in the Diamondback in the same article. GO TERPS!

At night, I usually spend a lot of time video chatting with friends and family. Sometimes I spend a lot of time talking to dogs... but seriously.

Video chatting with my dog, Maya.

Video chatting with my dog-niece, Lady Buggs.

Before you get worried, I also talk to people. Real, live humans.

Willa, my niece, stuck between the mattress and the footboard.

My big brother, "Gunkel", and my niece, Hadley.

 Lately, I have had some amazing sunsets right outside my window. Yesterday, a storm passed by before sunset and the result was absolutely beautiful. Here is a series of pictures taken over a period of less than thirty minutes.

 Those pictures were taken with my iPhone from inside of my room through my window. I'm going to miss this tiny shack when I'm gone! Mostly I'll miss it because of the sunsets, and not so much because of the tiny bathroom, rock hard bed, and the freezer that's too small for ice cream to fit.

What can I say? This girl likes her space. And her ice cream.

Speaking of ice cream, I would buy some at the store, but there is always a thirty minute line (and I don't have a large enough freezer)! It would melt before I got through the line and walked ten minutes home.

I miss you, America.

There are a few momentous occurrences that have happened in the States since I've been gone:

1. My three year old niece, Hadley Angel, started pre-school at Abercrombie Academy.

I know that I'm extremely biased, but I also *know* that she was the prettiest girl at school that day. Props to my sister for being a total fashionista, and props to Hadley for appreciating style just as much as my big sister.

My father-in-law opened the Schmidt's Sausage Truck at the Ohio State football home opener. He has been working so hard, and I'm so proud to see this dream turn into reality. Follow Schmidt's Sausage Truck on Twitter to find out where you can eat a Bahama Mama and a cream puff on the go!

As if this blog post hasn't been random enough, here are a few random pictures for you. The first two are some of my favorite decorations inside Cirque Headquarters.

Clowns/Characters from previous shows.

Seating area on the 3rd floor! My favorite.

This next picture is a picture of two dogs. I woke up this morning and saw them before I put my glasses on, and I honestly thought they were wolves for at least five minutes. Nope, just dogs.

Happy Monday, Y'all!