block party!

Well, if I thought last night was a diverse crowd, tonight was uberfied.
and we loved it!

We headed out with the Allen's to the block party on French Street, by the Sea Wolves stadium. Cool setup, lots of people, and we met some folks who recognized us from the article (thanks for being so friendly!) and had a good time listening to 2 great bands- The Sam Hyman band and the Boys Room Band....or men's room band. i can't remember.

During the Sam Hyman band, a semi circle was formed around the stage and the crowd went back from there. In the center of the semi-circle we had a 3 dancers, who, may I say, danced their little hearts out. We're talking no inhibitions, people. I mean, the band was very good, but this was the real entertainment. They stole the show. They were fantastic.



These photographs do not capture the essence. In fact, today's film technology is incapable of beholding what our eyes captured.





Then the 2nd band was setting up, we thought by the looks of things, that they would be....a more "herbal" band, which would've been fine. But then the blues brothers busted up on stage and sang the oldies! They were a really fun band & we had a blast listening and people watching. And, might I say, the tambourine girls tamboured like it was nobody's business. Never in my years in the biz have I seen such tambouring and sychronization. Such dedication to the art.





All in all, a great Erie celebration. There is so much to do in the summer and we've had fantastic weather! The night concluded with the always delicious marble slab to discuss new revelations in erie dialect. (example: many folks here leave out the phrase 'to be' in sentences. Instead of "The rugs needs to be cleaned." We hear "The rug needs cleaned.") Successful outing.



some friends we met who amazingly recognized us from the article. These folks are really nice!



The crowd





someone's in trouble...



the allen's



The fabric of society is fun to watch.

sunset music

Tonight we went to the Presque Isle music series on the peninsula to hear the Sam Hyman band. It was so cool to see how many people came out and the scenery was beautiful! We arrived a little late and grabbed a seat off to the side of the stage and between the delightful screams of the children jumping through the waves.
We love people watching at events like this. It looked like people from all walks of life came out - old, young, crazy, corporate, artsy...and of course, the carnies.
just kidding.
the band played fun music- oldies & such.
the crowd


even dogs love sam hyman band


kids playing in the water

Gracias

Thanks to Karah Rhodes from the Times for not making us look too much like country bumpkins come to town! We do love Erie and are really enjoying discovering all of its culture & fun surprises. Thanks for being so welcoming, Erie.
Friends and family in the south, you can read the article at goerie.com.

Beware of Bears

When we first saw the sign at the trailhead, we were a little nervous.
"Black Bear Territory"

It was posted at the trailhead followed by some tips on how to survive if you come into contact with these bears. We had driven to the Allegheny National Forest and were planning on backpacking and camping for a couple of nights. We set out, despite the warning and we disregarded the additional warning, "dogs antagonize bears. leash your dog" and let powers walk freely beside us. No one was parked at the trailhead and we wondered if they knew something we didn't.

The hike was intense. Especially with our heavy packs on our back. But it was beautiful and we enjoyed sweating profusely on the climbs and enjoying the views from uptop. We finally made it to the river and set up camp. We built a fire and cooked spaghetti on our camping stove and enjoyed sitting. We knew that we were supposed to keep our food at least 100 yards away from our tent, but we were tired and it was getting dark, so we put our food about 75 feet from our tent and got inside. As soon as the darkness settled in, we heard scurrying, and rustling, and the opening of sealed bags, and the eating of our food. We knew the first time that it was small steps, but it was stil scary. Adam put on his headlamp, knife in tote, and went to move our food a little bit further away. Five sets of fat raccoon eyes faced him as he left the tent. But some food had already been spilled by the raccoons. So all night long we heard the rustling and eating, and then it turned into heavier footsteps and growls. Bears. Good Lord. We flenched at every rustle, every noise, and I did not know that I could pray for so long. Needless to say, it was the worst night's sleep we've had in quite a while and by the time we woke up, all of our food had been eaten. They had even opened up Power's little pack, unzipped it (how??), and eaten all his dog food. Thus, our camping trip was cut short. We hiked back the next day and then drove back to our little cottage and here I am, relaying the details to you friend.

Summary: The Allegheny forest is beautiful and definitely worth saying. However, as we've now been taught, get a bear box or get some rope and chunk your food over a high branch a couple of hundred of yards away.
Also, let the record show that at 2:45 a.m., Adam Jennings said, 'if i ever say i want to go camping again, please remind me of this experience.'
Moment of weakness, I won't hold him to that.



























dry at home. glorious.

We need a translator

thats an exaggeration, but we have noticed somewhat of a communication breakdown as we converse in Pennsylvania. Obviously, we have the southern draaaaaawl and the Pennsylvanians have something altogether different. Here's an example:

1. In the south, we say "y'all" .. up here we expected "You guys" but usually we here we here "younz" as in "Younz need to borrow a rake?"

2. Also, we've heard the expression "red up" as in clean up, get ready. "I'm ganna red up the yard today."

3. speaking of words like "gotta" , up here its "gAtta" like "I gatta tell you guys..." or instead of "bought" its "i baght a broom"

4. instead of "color" we here "keller" up here. "What keller is the house?"

5. we say "buggy" instead of "grocery cart" well, actually i say "buggy" and adam says "cart" probably because i'm from louisiana.

6. the everpresent coke vs. pop debate. you guys wanna pop? its actually not even "pop" here its "pahp"

7. car is "cah" ganna pahk my cah in the pahking laht.

and then there are some people here who are polish. and honestly.. we never have any idea what they are saying. and vice-versa. we just look at each other confusedly. and smile. but they are always friendly!

thus we are learning to translate our draaaaawl and y'alleatet? (did you eat yet?) ya'antto? (do you want to?) into northeasterner. of course we can't say the difference between "pen" and "pin" either. so there you go. adventures in dialect.

the unspeakable...

i bought a suit. it happened. mom wins. she is always right.

yesterday i found out i had an interview for today and when reflecting on the options hanging in my closet, i knew it was time. so, i headed to the mall & got my suit. and honestly.. i like it! its chic and actually looks really cute especially with the right shirt and necklace. it wasn't at all the huge shoulder pads, red suit & black buttons i had dreaded. so, here i am. corporate woman.

the interview today was for an admissions counselor. it was a preliminary interview so we'll see what happens! I won't know for 10 days because the head honcho is headed out of town. but the job sounds awesome. although i must admit. i've gotten spoiled by teaching. so, wait.... i don't get off 2 months for the summer? and i only get christmas day, new years day, thanksgiving and day after, memorial day, labor day, and the 4th of july off? isn't that communist? so oppressive! (kidding) ah, welcome to the real world, camille.

last night we had supper with our new favorite 2 Erie people. Josh & Sarah are from Texas too and so, in honor of the great state, we went to torreros. It is a mexican place here, and it actually is in an old fazolis. i know, i know. sounds shady, right? actually it was really good and very close to the tex mex of our homeland! So, i recomend it to anyone with a soul. the lime margarita gets an A+ too! Josh & Sarah are really great & funny and we ended up staying in our booth for 3 hours... the greatest 1st date. haha.

headed to the beach for a while in victory celebration of suit wearing. tonight there is an arts festival at the liberty ampitheater so we might go check that out. we are, after all, so artsy, right? well, we're wannabes. updates later.

by the way, not to make our southern amigos feel sad, but it is 74 right now. and its 1 in the afternoon.
delightful.

it IS fun to stay at the Y

I read on wikipedia that annually over 4 million people to go to Presque Isle State Park in Erie (the peninsula) and let me tell you, Sunday afternoon, we could tell! We went to take Powers on a run and the sidewalk was full of bikers, buggy riders, rollerbladers (obviously), walkers, fishermen, and runners. It was a full out obstacle course until we got into the clearning a little ways out. We've decided that when brooke & free come into town we're going to rent the buggy from the place by the big pond. The awesome thing about the park is that as soon as you enter it, the temperature drops 10 degrees! We rode our bikes there yesterday (On the road, not the sidewalk) and it felt so very nice. Then, my camelback broke and spilled water on me at an astonishing rate. The sucky thing broke off at some point and so the tube just poured water out like the nile. I tried to clip it off to no avail. I tried to shove it in my sportsbra strap pointing straight up but the water kept coming! Gravity held no power over this water. So finally Adam and I pulled over and he folded the tube like a balloon animal and it stopped. The knot, however, may be irreversible and so maybe its time for a new pack.

Also, we've been informed that there IS, in fact, some decent mexican food in this city. By golly, we plan to search this out. So this Thursday night we're going to eat with 2 other former Texans. Will report back with the results.

Today we joined the YMCA. There is a really good deal for LECOM students & families. AND you can use all 4 Y's in the area. And, if you join at the Glenwood branch, let me assure you that you will never meet anyone more enthusiastic about the Y and its benefits in every aspect of the Universe than Carol. She'll have you moving in and leading kiddy wilderness teams before too long. She was very nice. Also, the YMCA offers some very interesting classes. Let's take a looksie.
1. karate (in case you want to get your rage out.)
2. snow shoe-ing. (in case the plow doesn't come and you need to get to work!)
3. belly dancing. (adam really wants to take this class)

We heard that on Thursday nights they clear out State Street, block off the roads and let people walk around from restaurant to restaurant, bar to bar, etc. We think this sounds muy fun and plan to attend soon and report back. So far, the city has been full of cool little surprises and we are becoming big fans. By the by, blast from my 6th grade past, counting crows is coming to Erie at the end of the summer. Carrie? been hangin around this town too long?

now, some thoughts from adam:

Though I don't have ability to create amazing stories from seemingly normal events, as my lovely wife does, I can report facts pretty well. So here we go....

So far I am really liking the city and here are my 5 reasons why.
1. There is a lot of history behind the city. This means that while walking downtown and reading the little "fact plaques" it gives you more of a sense of ownership of the city, since you know its roots!
2. It is not 115 degrees like I'm sure it is in Tx. This means fun outdoor activities, and less money on running the AC 24/7.
3. Although people in the south claim that Northerners are rude we have discovered the exact opposite. It seems as though every person who crosses our path wants to say hello, and then proceed to get our life history as well as give us their own!
4. There a lot of steep hills...I have no idea why I like this I just do.
5. It seems as though this town is saturated with 3 categories of activies that I really enjoy: Medical, Outdoor Sports, Jeep's.

Well those are my most recent revelations of why I enjoy this city. Granted It's not as enjoyable as Cam's writing, but I'm out there and I'm doing it. So BOOYAH!! THE END.

power suits.

much to my mother's dismay, i went out today a-job hunting...SANS powersuit. My mother's belief that the powersuit is an intregal part of impressing an employer was not passed down to me. I had purused the internet and goerie.com and found some jobs that i was interested in. well, jobs that at least i qualified for. and i went to drop off my resume. The funny thing about this tactic is that it usually only earns you face time with the receptionist. So, I really could have gone in overalls and a ty- dye shirt.

THEN, sometimes when you go to drop off your resume, they ask you to fill out an application in the lobby area. Without fail, this application will ask for the phone numbers and addresses of all your previous jobs and 3 references. As if I carry this information around with me all the time.... in my portable file cabinet. Maybe I'll learn.

I'm beginning to realize that a degree (yes, in psychology- thats part of the problem) from a University only really qualifies me to be a barista or a paper delivery boy. (slight hyperbole, but the point remains.) Hopefully I won't have to return to Baylor career services with my tail between my legs.

but hey i have always wanted my own paper route...