It's official, I lost my virginity...

Let me tell you how it happened. It was friday night I had just gotten through with another frigid practice at around 10:30. We went out with coach to some of his friends party. Apparently there were a lot of single French flight attendents and they were having a little get together at one of their apartments. We got there and it literally didn't take but about five minutes til it happened. I hadn't even met the girl yet, nor got her name for that matter... this was then followed by two other random girls that I hadn't met yet either... I guess it's a French thing...


My social kiss greeting virginity had been taken by a flight attendent and followed quickly by some more. It is rather awkard when your used to a hand shake and maybe a side hug. I felt so weird having a girl I had never met kiss me on both cheeks. But it is better then the normal handshake I must say. Also though the French are best at it, but it is not that often that men kiss men like the video says. This is more so reserved for maybe special formal occasions between really close friends. I for instance have not seen this male greeting yet in France, but I'll be sure to let you know when that changes.

It was funny later when we were at the hockey players house, and Olivier's girlfriend did the same when she was leaving. We talked about it and apparently it's weird for them when they go to the US to extend a hand and shake. Roland said he has to catch himself because he often turns his check when departing or saying goodbye. The French have a customary type of handshake which is more so a wrap your hand around the thumb as they interlock instead of actually gripping the entire hand. It's more of like a greeting with your boys, but that's it. No following finger lock or "pounding", just a long lock. All of the guys do it and that has been another thing getting used to. It may just be amonst the younger guys, but everyone I have met so far does the same. It's tough because I'm used to the long handshakes in America with friends.

I went to Chateau de Versailles today... I will update you on that A demain....for now Bonne nuit.

The Jokers

I about lost my mind when I heard country music blasting in the club last friday night. I literally laughed out loud. Even though it was Shania Twain's "man I feel like a woman," it was hilarious. I mean seriously this is like the comic relief in the middle of a movie. This is my life. It was funny. Ok first let me tell you about club duplex.

So you walk in, more like down, into the club from the street level. There are some typical security guys bouncing/deciding who comes in or not. Then once inside there is a main level on top which is a room more with a latin feel and very large. It's only open Vendredi and Samedi. Then there are two more rooms down stairs one a straight up techno type of dance eoom you'd expect in Europe and the other a more hip-hop style. Well I guess hip-hop night was more like open mix night because they played 50's music, beach boys, COUNTRY, and same other golden oldies mixed in with your French/American hip hop mix. It was awesome.

I went to another hockey game Saturday night. Let me just say it was the most incredible tie I have ever seen. I'll paint a picture. The Jokers of Cergy vs the Vipers of Montpellier. The Jokers are your scrappers, your tough kids who can all skate fast and have the gumption to take a crack at the large defenders. The Vipers are from a rich district/team....you can easily tell by the massive amount of advertisements on their jerseys.... I mean seriously I thought the name of there team was some Irish Pub!! That being said you look at these guys and there atleast a foot taller on average then the Jokers. I mean there some big boys. Numbers 18, 25, 77 are all huge defenders, I'd say atleast 6' 6". With names like Vernikov, Urosev, Simak, you can tell there not from France...18 is your prototypical tough guy hockey player, a huge Ukranian getting paid to protect the goalie and rough up the other players....the nemisis.

The first period goes off and it's a battle. If you could fight in this league without suffering being ejected, I swear 4 fight's would've broken out in the first period alone. Its brutal and intense. I find myself on the edge of my seat and entertained with the general gladitoral battles that all men love. #81 for the Jokers, Roland Fontaine, a fast skating small guy wouldn't back down. It was fun watching him jaw with the players from the other team, I mainly watched him bc he was speaking English...it's amazing how much that sticks out in France.... Anyways several times the big guys were elbowing him in the head and playin' a little cheap and he just said in esscence do it again and I'll knock your teeth end. It was fun watching him check the the Ukraine Vernikov into the boards a couple times after he tried a big hit. At the end of the period it's scoreless.

The next period has more action as the Jokers give up a goal a man up. The Vipers skate in attack mode even a player down. But the Jokers quickly answer with a goal to the top shelf on a nice cross pass. The period ends and the Vipers scored another goal. The last period is where most of the highlights come. On one play the Jokers cleared the puck and the goalie came out to get it, but a fast skating Joker went after the puck and leveled the goalie onto the ice. It was vicious, the goalies feet were in the air and you could tell he wasn't used to being hit. Afterwards he laid on the ice and really looked like a baby. The fans were on him. It's physical and the Jokers get scored on again. It's 3-1 and not looking good. Finally with about 5 mins left to play the Jokers score on the Vipers who look like a team trying not to lose, instead of playing to win. After seeing this the coach yells at his players and they start attacking a little more. In fact they scored a goal following the Jokers answer, but it was called off because the player apparently hit it with his hand into the goal...or something of that nature....I'm not to familar with the rule but it was an illegal touching of some sort.

After this the Jokers try to mount a comeback... the clock keeps ticking... 3 mins 2 mins 1 mins.... Come on guys. The captain number 17 Olivier Viennot looks like he has the answer but barley misses the top post. It's frustrating as a fan because you want them to win so bad. Despite being a little cold sitting so close to the ice. Tick tock, tick tock. Time is winding down. Now theres 20 seconds, 15, 10 ...man this isn't gonna happen... but the Jokers never lose heart. The lay it all on the line. With 1 second left on the clock a Joker rapped around the goal passed it to number 8 the Canadian player who slaps it in for a goal. The clock winds and that's the game. It was classic. The best hockey game I've ever watched.

Later it turns out we end up hanging out with Roland, Olivier, and Sylvain (the goalie from Canada) at their house. I think they were friends with Tony, the lineman last year. There solid guys and we talk about the game and stuff. Hopefully we'll hang out with them more. They said they play poker at their house some times... luckily I know the game just a little bit!!!

Life is good.

Door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles

I meet an Austrian girl at the club duplex and it reminded me of this song...


So I wrote my own about my experience in France...

1No raindrops on footballs, and Alyou with glasses
2Champs de Elyses and the high fashion lasses
3Narrow driving alleys and cobble stone streets
4These are a few of my favorite things.


5Meeting new people and trying to speak French
6Pastrys and chocolate and fromage with a stench
7Life still surreal and the Arch De Triumphe.
8These are a few of my favorite stuff.


9Learning the history and going to Chateaus
10All my new teamates and lockeroom French flos
11Cafe's and Pubs and Ice hockey rinks
12These are a few of my favorite things.


....There's plenty more but I just thought this would be humorous!

Snorring man

After the Eiffel Tower, we walked to Champs de Elyses to watch Quantam of Solace the new James Bond movie. I'm a 007 fan and I like the new guy Daniel Craig a lot. Anyways it's a good movie if your a man. Great action scenes, great get away scenes, car chase, I mean it was pretty entertaining. The plots no award winner for best twist or anything, but it's what you expect from a James bond movie. However I did think it was lacking a little bit in the cool gadgetry aspect that I'm accustomed to with James Bond. I mean don't get me wrong the bureau had a pretty sweet computer like a touch screen on crack, but it's not something I haven't seen before. Also, it wasn't something Bond even used. I digress.

The reason I bring this up is to tell you about the movie theater itself and maybe some of the people in it. So we go in and make sure that it is playing in English. Good call, instead of racking my brain trying to figure out French (like I do with Rosetta Stone....btw I'm a fan of the stone, but it's tough... hopefully before June I'll be able to speak some French!!!) So we go into the theater and I don't know if we just drew the short stick because the theater is about twice the size of a home theater... it might even be the same size as the theater in the SAE house at Tech. But the seats are comfortable and there are not that many people watching anyway

Speaking of people "watching" ... let me tell you about the family in front of us. So a husband, wife, and daughter, the daughter was probably my age, were sitting in front of us. In the middle of one of the action scenes the husband starts snoring... REALLY? I mean you can do whatever you like, but seriously go to a high action packed movie and fall asleep... to each their own... I look over at Matt and then try coughing loud to wake him up... no good, then Matt tries nudging him in the back of his seat. This guys a sleeping rock... whatever, then maybe 9 mins later the daughter also falls asleep. Ok, so maybe they are a narcoleptic family! I just couldn't believe it. I have sounds of gun shots and snoring all in one.

Haha, it was a humourus experience. Here's a pic from Champs de Elyses. I wish I could capture the depth of it. This is only about a 3rd of the way down, but I wanted to be able to see the Arch. It is so cool during Christmas time because All the lights on the trees lining the street fall. Maybe I'll get Matt to take a video and show you guys... Speaking of Christmas... I can't believe it is here already. I think all I want for christmas is a chickfila peach bowl ticket!!! hahaha... Anyways hope you are enjoying the holidays. Au revoir.

Eiffel Tower

The base of the Eiffel Tower

The other day, when I got stopped by the policier, we were headed to the Eiffel Tower. I had this picture in my head that the Eiffel tower is the icon of Paris and France. I mean it is probably the single most recognizable building, let alone probably one of the most recognizable structures in the world... I mean competiting against the Pyramids and the Great Wall of China I'd say it's doing pretty good. Seriously though when you get close to this thing it takes all of a second to realize how big this thing is. I mean it is so much wider then I thought it would be.

My first view of the Eiffel Tower up close

We approached the tower from the north, coming alongside the river. It is a pretty neat view, you can even see that the tower has a circle of stars on that side of the structure. There are tons of lovers trying to take snap shots of the tower in the background and tons of tourists doing the same. I think I took maybe 5 different peoples pictures before we left. Let's also not forget, for 3 Euros you can take home a keychain remembering your encounter from one of the many scam artists trying to make a quick buck. Boy can they get annoying. All of them carry the same ring of key chains with hundreds of silver or gold replica Eiffel Towers, probably worth 30cents a piece.

The view from the park.

I think the best view was from the park that is situated south of the tower. It is breathtaking and actually being right next to it was pretty cool. Just the architecture was pretty neat, being that it was built over 100 years ago. However, it does have more of a modern feel then most of Paris. I don't know how I feel about this. I mean I love the old town, the quaint little houses in Pontoise and Cergy, the old stones made for walls and the tiny passage ways and alleys that fill the city, and the cafe's on every new corner. But the Eiffel Tower stands alone, theres no other building like it.

The Eiffel n Me!!!

We didn't get to go on the top though, bc there was hunderds of people in line and only one towers lift was working.... THERES NO WAY I'M WALKING 81 FLOORS TO THE TOP... so I'll go up some other time. All in all though it was cool getting to see it with my own eyes.

a couple random thoughts...

A: The police hate me... I got stopped again today switching trains in Paris. What the crap? I am to American... I must just stick out way to much. Thankfully they let me off when they heard we were football players who got paid...I now proudly boast the international professional athlete card!

B: My coach can not do a regular sit up. Not one, he can crunch and do toe touches, but can not do a sit up. I cracked up laughing when I discovered this at the gym the other day.

C: Ok I don't know if I've just been missing the trends or what, but apparently it's cool to carry around your phone blasting the theme track to your life...via old school beatboxer's carrying the radio on their shoulder... I mean seriously... do you really need a soundtrack? can you not afford earphones....do we give 2 cents to what your musical tastes are? (especially when it sucks???) I thought it was just highschool kids...but no this old lady probably 60's was doing the same. No consideration, I guess it's just the craze.

D: Speaking of music I'll hit you guys up with some of the high played stuff, and some of the straight ridiculously weird stuff:

Bienvenue Chez Les Bylkas
Sefyu
Estelle and Kanye West : American Boy
THE DOWN RIGHT WEIRD:
Mylene Farmer LIBERTINE (NOTE NUDITY, NOT KOSHER)

That's all for now but there is some good techno too! Kate Ryan Elle ella l'a

Bonne Nuit!

Is there ANY more room in your stomach?

After Friday nights practice and bowling extraveganza. Will said we would go work out and then he was going to take us out to a great French meal.... By the way the Friday night bowling/hanging out after practice was awesome. The place we go to is just like a Dave N Buster's or something of that nature. Anyways we all go around have a beer from this thing Giraffe, which is called so because it's a long tube a little more then a yard high that is filled with liquids. It looks like something Willy Wonka created for Wonkaland. We sit around and talk and just have fun. I decide to go check out the place, I find some solid games to play. They have a punching machine that measures your power, a hammer that does the same, and of course it wouldn't be Europe without a huge soccer ball measuring your leg power.

It's fun we mess around on that for a while and bump chest's measuring who's the bigger man. Then some little small guy we didn't know challenge's me to a punching competition, in French. I had no clue what he was saying... I was sure he wanted to see who was a better puncher, but i didn't know if there was a wager on this, so I wanted to be clear. He went first with some kinda of hook/cross combination... he was the perfect height to hit the machine, me however being a little taller had to hit down on the thing...Would that be a problem for me.... of course not, I'M FROM TEXAS!!! :) I won... we then bowled as a team.

Just some of the guys hanging at the Speed Park.

Matty P and myself teamed up, normally I suck at bowling but I got 2 strikes a spare, one total miss hitting only 4 pins, and then 9.... it was such a good time bonding with me new team. There is just a great joy when you add a little competition. You can tell they were joshing each other about and making fun of the gutterballs, eventhough sometimes I'd look back at Matt and in a glance say DID YOU GET THAT?!? of course not... but it comes with the territory. Learning french is fun. I'm on that Rosetta Stone, and will makes fun of me for saying Le Poisson nage... Yea no crap the fish swims, Have you EVER seen a fish that doesn't swim? Me neither.

Back to bowling, it came down to our last bowl... Matty P just had to get a strike or spare and then hit 4 pins.... The pressure is on and everyone is surronding him yelling, screaming, and trying to knock him off his game. Just like a crazy football crowd as the opposing offense is trying to score in the redzone. It was great, he hit a strike... Money in the bank... RIGHT?



WRONG.... ahhh Matt with two bowls left missed by 2 pins... It was such a close game that we ended up in 4th. Out of a medal even... I thought of the olympic archer who lost focus and missed his gold medal to get nothing... BUT it was fun.... anyways back to THE MOST FOOD IN THE WORLD....

So Saturday after lifting Will, Loic, Matty P, and myself headed to Paris to eat at this steak house that was in a word... FILLING. Before we even got to the place, the Policier stopped us and made us pull onto a side street away from where we were headed. She was a nice lady and I think she really was just flirting with Loic who was driving at the time, that or me in the front seat just screams AMERICAN. (for the record i'm tired of that....and i have no clue why we stick out so much) After passing the check we presumed our course. By this time it's close to 12:30 and we haven't eaten anything all day because Will promised there is no way we'll finish our meal. Challenge, I'll accept. Have you ever seen me eat? I remember stuffing my face as a kid and being forced to watch myself eat in the Red Top in Angleton. Please, no problemo.

The Police at the check point.

We drive around and can't find a parking spot for a while. There is a daily market so parking is tough, blocked off by the large trucks carring produce, knock of watches, purses, etc. Finally I see one at the end that we snag and take. Will runs to the ATM and we walk through the market. The smell is like roses and mustard gas. A butcher is burning of the feathers of a pheasant for a lady. Let me just tell you this, it stinks. It makes you think about where your food comes from. (Justin IDK about that chicken farming...just stay away from the burning feathers part... :) )

Finally we get to the steak house and Will is getting a little restless. See I failed to mention that we just worked out and it was tough. For those of you who don't work out, you really need to feed the body afterwards to replenish. I don't think Will had worked out like that in a while either. We get to our table and I push back the wooden booth to make room for the 3 lineman and QB. Automatically Will asks for the Pain... Bread is so good in France, have I mentioned that? We munch on that a little bit and Will orders for all of us. It is a huge steak, let me say HUGE. Think Godzilla, the Grand Canyon, think Moby Dick, think GEORGIA TECH over GEORGIA....

Let me tell you though that the French when you say medium, medium is more rare then medium... I had a piece that was just a little bit chewy and rare, but other then that it's great. When they present the steak to you, it's just a steak on a plate... I'm thinking really.... I mean don't get me wrong it takes up the plate, but no veggies, no salad? huh.... and then here comes the waiter with a huge pot of potatoes...Trufade... oh my heavens... It's good....its the best, it's a huge pot with potatoes that have been cooked mixed with garlic and cheese and are a mix between mashed potatoes and pan fried potatoes, so crispy and creamy.... OH MY... awesome. Again you can have as many potatoes as you want. After I finished the steak and the potatoes, we got more potatoes... I didn't know how i scarfed this down.. It's a lot... I look at my stomach in shock that I'm still able to fit in the table. It was great.

The best part of the meal was when the steaks arrived and how eerily how quite it was while we ate. For 15 mins no words were spoken. We just enjoyed. This was a drastic change from Will who was about to eat his hand he was so hungry, trying to hurry the waiter up!!! We then walk out satisfied just being lineman, I don't think Matt's going to be able to eat with us that often or else he's gonna become the tight end. But were not finished yet. I had mentioned eating a crepe and funny thing, right next door there is a shop that has them... I'm loving dessert in France. It's so good. We go sit in and it is a classy little spot, a little more modern as far as tables, chairs, silverwear, waiters attire...but still old school in the ceilings and decor. I like it.

Will with his Crepe.

We grab some crepes and they are delicious. I have the chocolate with bananas and they top it with whipped cream. So good. The waiters make a comment about us coming from next door and still being able to eat. He says no one ever does that. I smile. I'm a lineman. Takes me back to having the waiter from Magianno's come out to the table after my first preseason camp eating with the boys. I'm smile deep inside. By then I am stuffed, I cant move and I'm starting to get tired.

I don't know why the French are not fat, I mean I am eating like crazy over hear and it's so good. I am worried I might be 300 in no time... EHhhh. But we head back to the apartment with enough time to watch my boys beat the hell out of Georgia. (I'm a little jealous now seeing the pic's of my teamates eating the hedges at the puppies palace....I always wanted that, congrats boys now I can live vicariously through you!) It is an amazing day. LIFE IS GREAT. c'est la vie.

Amy for you a picture of some Euros...

Again check out the pics here...

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