Mind the gap.

01 August 2004

I haven't written in a while, although I've actually been semi-busy. Last Thursday, Mum, Dad, Rhiannon, Tamara, Ian and I went to Lake Compounce, an amusement park about two hours away in Connecticut. We arrived there around 11:30 in the morning, half an hour after it had opened. We went on the Wildcat first, a pretty tame wooden roller coaster. Of course, my mother sat out for most of the rides, but the rest of us were pleasantly surprised to find that Tamara is as much of a thrillseeker as we are. Then Tamara, Dad and I went on DownTime, one of those things where you are rocketed up to the top of a 200' tall tower and then then drop you a few times. Next we went on the Boulderdash, a wooden roller coaster that's been called the 'best in the country/world' by quite a few roller coaster enthusiast groups. Since my dad and I love roller coasters, we were very excited... and not disappointed. It was a great coaster with lots of small hills, bounces, twists and turns. It was also verrrry fast. We went on that three times throughout the day. The best thing about that ride, and the entire park, was that it was set on the side of a hill so the ride meanders through this gorgeous forest and then continues alongside the lake. The entire park was nice like that... the carpark was not paved; it had gravel... it was just nice to know that nature and something like an amusement park can happily co-exist.

Next we got in line for the flume ride, Sawmill Falls or something. It was really hot and the line was moving very slowly. Tamara was in front of me and suddenly she kind of slumped and fell to one side. The people on the other side of the chain separating the line gasped and grabbed at her, but she fell backward towards me so I grabbed her and made sure she didn't fall and hit her head on the cement. She woke up a moment later and everybody was concerned. The park's paramedics were there in seconds with water and a wheelchair... we think she just passed out because of the heat and the people and a lack of sufficient water. She was really embarrassed but of course they made her sit in the wheelchair on the way back to the little medical center... after they released her, she was fine for the rest of the day and she went on all the rides with us... but it was kind of scary at the time.

:-

The Zoomerang, this backwards and forwards coaster, was quite fun and since the line was short we went on three times... there was also a raft ride, this show with these Tanzanian trapeze artists who were quite incredible, and a few other things. It was a generally good day and I'd like to go back to the park again some time.

On Friday, Tamara went to New York City with the rest of the students. On Saturday, my new neighbours had a cookout so we all went over there. Lo and behold - there sat Mr. Mullen, my former US History AP teacher / our school's new principal. His daughter Tara was on my sister's and our neighbour's soccer team, so that's why his family was there. He, his wife, my dad, my mum, and I all carried on a nice conversation about various things for a while... I was glad to get a chance to catch up with him since I really missed his class last year. He was really happy that I got a 5 on my EuroHistory exam... hehe.

Later Saturday night, Tamara returned and we had a small campfire and then decided to go in the pool one last time. Unfortunately, I got a horrid foot cramp and had to get out while Ian and Tamara played against Rhiannon and her friend Hannah in a game of 'keep the giant green ball away from the other team'. It ended rather abruptly when Rhiannon hit the ball out of the pool and into the bushes where it proceeded to pop... oh well. ^_^

After getting out of the pool we all played Cranium... sadly, Ian, Mum, and Dad beat Rhiannon, Tamara and I... but not by much! Heh. Later that night Ian, Tamara and I spent a long time looking through her Spanish-English dictionary and commenting on various words/phrases/expressions that actually are/aren't used in our respective countries... it was interesting and informative and we all learnt something new.

So. Today was Tamara's last day...we slept late, went out for breakfast, played Ping-Pong, talked for an hour, and then it was time to take her to this church in Coventry where the bus was picking all the students up to go to Boston to catch their plane {stupidly, they're flying from Boston to Zurich to Madrid and then taking various flights to their home cities... Tamara's is Bilbao, of course}. It was a very sad scene... all the host families and their students were hugging and such until they finally all got on the bus. :-{

Tamara's invited me to stay with her in Spain, so I really hope we can do that because I want to see her again... it was a good month, and my room already seems empty without her.

Tamara ha salido. stopped here at 3:43 p.m.

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