Nope, I did not see the match yesterday. I stayed at University quite long and finally felt so hungry and tired, that I decided to return home instead of going to a Pub. When I was walking home the match was already on. I've never seen the busy Whyte Avenue so utterly empty. Obviously everybody was already inside the Pubs or their houses. It was weird. Have you seen the film "28 Days later"? Right in the beginning, when the guy awakes from coma, walks through London's empty streets and everything is dead silent. That was how it felt. Spooky. I mean, actually it wasn't that silent because when passing by houses I could hear people shouting things like "Come on!" But in fact this still strengthened the strange atmosphere: Knowing that the whole world (or at least all Edmonton, but for the next six months this is pretty much my world) was doing the same thing, was focused on these crucial events, while I was just walking home in order to have dinner and go to bed, made me feel as if I was living in my own, totally separate, world..

I suppose today morning I was pretty much the only person in this City who didn't know the outcome of the match (I haven't bought a radio yet). Fortunately Sylwia, the Institute's "Executive Assistant" informed me about the result, or rather shared her tragedy with me: In the first Part the Oilers had a 3:0 lead, but then the Hurricanes came back and turned the match to 4:3. In the third and last Part it was 4:4 until the decisive events: The Oilers' goaltender was seriously injured and will be missing all the following matches, which is a devastating blow because he was the Oilers' nominee for the Most Valuable Player of the Playoffs, while the substitutes are young and inexperienced. And exactly this missing experience led - only about 30 seconds before the end of regulation time - to the 5:4 game-winning goal for Hurricanes. The Oilers had fantastic chances but the Hurricanes' goaltender all saved them and Carolina won the match. (For those of you who are even less familiar with Ice hockey than I am: The Stanley Cup final is decided in Best of Seven modus which means the first of the two teams winning 4 matches will be champion. So yesterday was a bitter defeat but it's only 0:1...)

Well, it seems I've already caught the virus.. Tomorrow I've got the next opportunity to become part of this Ice hockey crazy world..

Saturday I went out with David and two of his friends - real Canadians. Oh my gosh, their speed at drinking was crazy. Despite my training in Innsbruck I'm afraid I could not compete.. But hey, the real thing is enjoying large quantities of Beer, not wasting large quantities of Beer, isn't it?

Yesterday I had a veery long walk, down to the river-valley again. In comparison to Austria we've got beautiful weather. Additionally to last weeks cold (which is nearly away ) I've also got a sunburn in the neck. So I'm a real Redneck now! (In the US and Canada Redneck is a derogative term for country people.)

Today is the day of the first match of the Stanley Cup Final Carolina Hurricanes vs. Edmonton Oilers. Although I'm still not really interested in Ice hockey I may go to a Pub this evening, just for the atmosphere. I suppose here I could experience a similar atmosphere only in a Bar in Little Italy during the soccer world cup - but if I'd go there I'd risk severe injuries for supporting the wrong team... Anyway, I took some photos of the Oilermania (especially the flags and the posters are virtually everywhere):

Als Erstes fielen mir in den Wohnstrassen die drosselartige Voegel mit orangen Baeuchen auf, die es bei uns nicht gibt. Ausserdem gibt es ueberall Elstern, die ich bei uns auch so gut wie nie sehe. (Ich werd einmal ein Foto machen und dir schicken Angy, das waer dann Nummer 4 in unserer Beweis-Liste "Voegel die ich Kenne"). Wie in den Londoner Parks laufen auch am Campus Hoernchen (Squirrels) herum, bislang hab ich aber nur eines, ein ganz suesses kleines gesehen - das sich aber nicht fotografieren lassen wollte. Vielleicht ein andermal. Am Campus soll es ausserdem zahlreiche Schneehasen geben, allerdings scheinen die zusammen mit dem Schnee untergetaucht zu sein...
Auch unerfreulichere Begegnungen mit der hiesigen Fauna gibt es zu berichten. Am Wochenende traf ich zwei schoene grosse Spinnen in meiner Wohnung an, denen ich freundlich den Weg zur Tuer hinaus wies. Weniger freundlich gesinnt war ich gegenueber jener Assel, die heute frueh am Aermel der gerade angezogenen Jacke hing. (Sie landete im Klo.) Am Fensterbrett (in dessen Naehe die Jacke hing) wuselten noch zwei herum, verzogen sich aber in einen Spalt als ich mich naeherte. In eben diesen Spalt hab ich sofort Zeitungspapier hineingestopft, in der Hoffnung, dass damit eine Ruhe ist. Was ich im Bad machen soll (wo der Spalt beim Fenster einen Zentimeter breit ist) weiss ich noch nicht. Brr! Vielleicht haette ich die Spinnen doch behalten sollen, damit sie mir diese Viecher vom Leib halten?

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Yesterday evening with David and Lilla was very, very nice, and apart from the nice company I also had my first beer - although it was not Canadian. Just a Heineken, but at least it was a "special offer" costing "only" 4.50$ for a Pint, which is about 3.50 Euros. As far as I've seen until know a Pint would usually cost about 5 to 6 Canadian Dollars (excluding the tip of 10%, which I was told is very important here as waiters/waitresses aren't paid well). David complained that if we ever really go out we should better "vorgluehen" because these prices are crazy. I answerd "Well at this time of the year it would be still nicer just to buy a few drinks and sit somewhere at the campus." Both looked at me and said "That's not possible." I should have known. Alike to the US public drinking is prohibited. So there won't be any comfi "gmiatliche" Beers at the campus as we did in Innsbruck. It's a pity.

Here's all three of us:

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Does David look familiar to you Sabine? When trying to check whether the photos we took were any good he accidentally saw the ones of my Farewell-Evening in Innsbruck (which are still on my camera) and it turned out that he knows you from a course last term! And actually he lived only a few dozens of meters away from me. The world is a village...