Hey guys. Yes…Yes….Yes….I know. It has been a long time. But trust me, I have had to deal with a lot the past month. This past month I have been all over France, moved apartments, fallin’ in and out of love, and had scuffles with administration. I will address those characteristics shortly. I appreciate you guys still commenting and entertaining yourselves. Trust me again… I am trying to get internet soon and will let you all know when I do. Right now, I am pondering what to write as I am sitting in my apartment with a glass of Bordeaux and smoking a cigar. I love and miss you guys so much. Your stories were heartfelt and I have read them over and over.
Let’s see here. Where to begin? Let’s just start from my birthday, July 3rd.
On my birthday, Chris and his family had Olivear and his girlfriend over to celebrate my birthday. At this point I was sleeping on an inflatable mattress in Chris’s house. The night was great. I was with the people who truly make me happy over here. Olivear and Marie bought me “Thirty All Time Great Acoustic Guitar Hits,” from an English bookstore, and Chris and his family bought me an authentic Marseille soccer jersey. I love these guys. We had guacamole, french fries, and grilled cheeseburgers. It was a great taste of home.
In the first week of July, if you didn’t know, I was homeless. Andree’, my former landlady, and I got into a scuffle about making noise past 10:00pm and me not being able to leave the apt. past that time. I decided to move out and find other means. I was saving the club hundreds of euro’s a month by staying in the past two apartments. I needed my own place. My words were along the lines of “All Woodchuck Club involvement that I have will be suspended until I get proper living means.” This broke the younger kids team’s hearts. They were incredibly supportive in sending me text messages and emails pleading with me not to quit. Jean Luc got the message and found me an apartment. It is my own studio next to the train station in the heart of Dtown Rouen. It is pretty small but the independence is worth more than the square footage.
I went out on Saturday, July 5th night with Camille, one of my softball players, and we went to go see the Armada. The Rouen Armada is this national event that happens every 4 years where ships from all over the world come down the Seine River from the English Channel into Rouen and dock for a week full of music, fireworks, and other festivities. So we went out on the opening night and saw some huge wooden ships. Pretty impressive. We then went to a night club where other friends of Camille were going to be. Some of her friends had positions on the French National Softball Board and greeted me really nicely.
So after doing some negotiation, I was going to southern France to coach the girls in Bordeaux for a national tournament. I was pumped.
Bordeaux, Southern France. July 7-12. This is a national tournament held every year for the Minime, Cadet, and Softball levels in France. Since my Bois Guillaume Cadet and Softball clubs were champions of Normandy, we had a good number of kids representing the Normandy region. There are 5 regions of France that are a part of this tournament. Normandy, Ile de France, Aquitaine, Rhone Alps, and another one that I cannot remember. Lets just call that team Southern France. When I showed up on the bus to go to southern France the girls were happy and surprised that I was going. It was a good feeling. I was going to help coach the Normandy Softball team with two other coaches. Florian and Melvin. Sorry, I do not know their last names. Flo, is from Louvier and Melvin is from Caen. Both really nice guys and they were happy to have me a part of the squad.
When we got to the tournament, their was a half-ass banquet for the teams. The coolest part of the trip was that the Normandy teams were to stay in these old dorms of this school in a little town outside of Bordeaux. Right in the middle of the country. Vineyards and farmland. I have some pictures of the place. It was a great time.
We played two games the next day. We went 1-1 in the first day. I wish I could remember the other name of the other team because they were the eventual champs of the tournament and that is who we lost to in the first game. We beat Rhone Alps in the second game. Now these girls can play. The majority of our girls were not ready to see competitive softball and it seems that they were just thrown into it. We collected ourselves the second game and took care of business.
During the nights, the coaches would all get together for beers and wine. I even had a mock football game with the little kids. They were all wanting to play football every night with me and always asking what I was going to do. They were incredibly sweet. So I made a lot of friends and had a blast. Another plus it that, the Southern France team did not have a coach for the next day. Melvin said that he would take over for them , leaving the reins of the Normandy team to me. It was great. So in the end, I was the head coach of the Normandy team with Flo as an assistant. Flo and I got along great. He is just the nicest guy who took care of all equipment, documentation, and other legalities. The next day, our girls kicked ass. We slaughtered Aquitaine and found ourselves in the semi final match against Ile de France. We lost in the last inning by one run. It was a heart breaker but I was just so proud of our girls. We won the consolation 3rd place game the next day and took home some medals. It was just a great week .
When I got back, I had a game the next day against Cergy, last place team. We had already locked up number 1 seed for the entire country of France with the best record of 26-4. We trounced Cergy that Sunday. One thing of note this game was that Olivear had two homeruns that game. His first’s of the season and career.
So the regular season is over and not a game until September 7th. Can you believe that shit?
So I have had to keep myself busy the past couple of weeks.
It just so happens that the last night of the Armada was that night on Sunday. I had a lot of people from the club over to my new apartment to have a pre party before trekking down to the Armada for firewords and Iggy Pop. That’s right folks…Iggy Pop was the final act of the festival. He was just as vulgar and crazy as ever. So we all drank, saw Iggy Pop move his old ass across the stage…(hahaha, this guy rocks.), and walked around.
Stephanie Joly, one of the players from the club, had an American girl with her and I met up with them after Iggy Pop. It was a great night. The fireworks were amazing across the river. I will never forget that moment.
After going to a couple bars with them, I retired home for the evening. The next day, Stephanie called me and asked if I wanted to go to Paris for three days with her, Natalie (her American friend), and Paul, her brother. I quickly agreed cause shit…I got nothing else planned for awhile.
Paris 16th-18th. This was just a great couple of days. I have always said that I really don’t like Paris much but this trip turned it around. A big reason that I have not liked Paris so much is because of the fact that the girl who we don’t mention broke my heart last time I was there. So when I was under the Eiffel Tower this time, there was no care about a girl cheating on me. I was with friends. We rode a Ferris wheel right next to the Louvre that was just amazing. You could see the whole city. The Eiffel Tower, Mont Marte, Champ Elysee, Notre Dame, The Seine.
Stephanie and I from the Ferris Wheel
It was just a great couple of days. We stayed at Paul and Stephanie’s sister’s apartment in town for the days we were there. It was Natalie’s birthday on Wednesday of that week and Paul and Steph said they had a surprise for her. We went to Mont Marte which is a little sect of Paris that has a cathedral and the whole area just over looks the entire city. Stephanie also told me that my birthday present was there too.
The birthday present was that Stephanie and Paul paid for Natalie and me to have our portraits painted. Hahaha…..not some bum from Silver Dollar City….real artists. It was great. I will show you a picture of what mine looked like. That night we had a great dinner and walked around the city. We then shared drinks in a park for the remainder of the evening. The whole trip was unforgettable.
So when we got back, I had to get prepped to umpire a game in Rouen. I had asked Jean Luc months ago about getting me a job so earn money since the club is not paying for me to be here during the remainder of July and all of August. So on Sunday, 20th July, I earned 100 Eu for umpin’ a game. It was good. I got into the role, pulling out some outrageous strike and out calls. It was fun for both teams to have an American umpire. I umpired the Rouen vs PUC Elite game. This is the division above us, and yes, it is better than N1 but not overwhelming by any means whatsoever.
Yes, I did fall in love for a spirt. Not going to get into it much at all…sorry. Had some phenomenal nights with this girl. We saw fireworks, talked all night one night, and we have shared memorable time together. Not going to release the name, because I really don’t know if it is going anywhere at all. There is the obstacle that I am leaving in about 3 months and that I am still a teenager at heart with not knowing where my path truly leads just yet. I will probably not see her again due to our schedules, but spending time with this person has made my past weeks the most memorable ones in France.
So here I am, my glass empty and cigar almost completely out. I love you guys and will talk to you when I get this internet connected in my place; should happen within the next couple of weeks. I am thankful for every one of your words of support. You guys are in my prayers every night. I love you with all of my heart and I will see you soon. Promise. Au Revoir.
