Mad-Town

A lot has happened since my last short post. I now live in the northern-most city/town in the USA (The locals call it northeastern-most which is stupid because it's not eastern-most at all, but apparently it's a corner of the country if you are on a motorcycle). It's called Madawaska (some call it Mad-Town. I'm leaning toward "The Waska").

Almost everyone here is Acadian, and there are only about ten last names in the phone book. There are literally hundreds of people with the last names Cyr, Daigle, Guerette, and a few others. It's really confusing, and my Scottish last name stands out like a scarlet letter. Everyone is very nice to me though. I just get a lot of funny looks when I tell people that I moved here. I guess that really never happens.

Garage sales are one of the favorite pass-times here. I was talking to a girl who said that she knows of some that have been going on for several years. They just keep coming up with more crap to sell. Maybe I'll be able to pick up some cheap furniture. I've already basically cleaned out the Family Dollar and Mardens.

The accents here are also ridiculous: a funny mix of antiquated French and thick Mainer. It's something I hope to be able to duplicate one day. It brings out the twang in me, and the thicker the Acadian accent, the more howdies I blurt out. I sound downright country.

Everything also closes absurdly early here. The post office closed at 3:30 for no apparent reason, and the bank closes at 3:00. I can't figure out how anyone with a full-time job gets anything done around here.

My apartment is pretty rustic. The floors are uneven and the carpets need a serious shampooing. The landlord knocked $200 off my security deposit to clean the place for him when I moved in, and I consequently figured out that a werewolf had been the previous tenant. There were coarse black hairs everywhere. It was pretty gross, but things are looking better now. I only have to deal with the Creepy Room now. I've named it the creepy room because it is really creepy. The ceiling is slanted because of the roof line and its dark and has no windows. When I moved in there was no furniture in the place except for a chair in the Creepy Room. The chair was facing the wall and had either blood from the werewolf or dried fruit juice on it. There was also an oven rack in there. I'm scared of both. Who puts an oven rack in a creepy room? What was it for? When I checked the oven to see if it belonged there, I found two oven racks and a cookie sheet. Who puts a cookie sheet back in the oven after taking the cookies off of it? WEREWOLVES! Anyway, I planted a hydrangea out front today to compensate for the creepy room, and I'm doing better now.

Work consists of exercising a ton and entertaining kids in high school and middle school. I'm leading ski training for at least three different groups of skiers in a few different towns, so my hands are full. Some of the kids are great and some of them suck. I'm also in charge of helping different ski clubs plant vegetable gardens in an effort to save the environment. That seems like it will be fun.

Despite all the ranting I've done, I'm really enjoying myself. My job is fun, and the people I work with are really cool. The town of Madawaska is very endearing and quirky, as are all the towns up here in Aroostook County. I like that. Life has really been a huge adventure this last week, and I've only scratched the surface of it; but I'll spare you the rest. Hope you're all happy and healthy.

Love,
Toast