Bowling, International style--January 27, 2007

Walking into a smokey dive bowling alley, I felt like I was back home in 'merica. Amélie, Oana, Laurent, Steve, Jadyn (our guest for a few weeks) and I all went to the Meryin Bowling Alley for a few games of fun. It was quite entertaining because Amélie had never bowled before and it was only Oana and Laurent's second time. Before going, I talked up Jadyn and Steve (both being stellar bowlers with competitive reputations), so the others were a bit intimidated to bowl with 2 superstars.


First up, Oana. And what does she bowl, a spare. Not bad.
Second up, Amélie. This first timer, bowled a spare too. (And, she was the first person I've seen bowl in a skirt.)
Third up, Jaren. Not too bad of a bowl with 8 pins down.


Fourth up, Laurent. Descent with 6.
Fifth up, Steve. Beautiful Superman approach, however it didn't help him much. He bowled a 5.
Sixth up, Jads. What? The best only knocked down 6 pins.
...so you could guess how the rest of the game went. Those who never or barely played did well. And unfortunately, the 2 superstars were anything but stellar.

The (surprising) winner of the first game, Jaren! I AM AWESOME! I had 2 strikes back to back and was working on a turkey, but that was a no go. At least I broke 100 (big time)!

Second game, same as the first. Steve and Jadyn demonstrated their skills more in this game. I think is was after the beer they drank. That's all they needed.

Side note, Jadyn bowls with a heavy ball, 15 lbs. (Yes, even the balls were marked in pounds instead of kilos. The computer was in English too. We really felt like we were in America).

After two good games (with me winning both) we headed to chez Schwartz for an international feeding frenzy. Everyone was tasked to bring a local food from where they are from:

Amélie: savory crepes with salmon and crème fraishe, croque monsieurs (French)
Oana: tartelettes au citron (Swiss)
Laurent: pommes au fromage de chèvre avec le sirop de Liege (Belgian)
Jadyn: sugar cookies (her buttercream frosting was the BEST. Better than Magnolia, Buttercup and Party Favors)
Jaren: twice-baked potatoes
Steve: Buffalo-style chicken wings

As you can see we had quite an eclectic meal, but it was all so delicous. My hat goes off to all the chefs!