"...Ummm hi?"

Today in Moncton I was determined to run far and run fast. My mom and I have been doing a 100 km running challenge, first to 100 km wins! I was zooming fast down the streets when a rugged old man reached out to me.  He had a long white beard, and was rolling a shopping cart around with him. He started talking to me. I sighed, "I really just wanted to have one good run without having to stop!"   I had no idea what he was saying. "...Ummm hi?" I greeted him, shrugging because he was still spitting out gibberish at me. He continued talking in what seemed to be an entirely different language (not french either). This is when I used my running app to my advantage. I pointed down to my phone to say "I'm in a race" and sprinted off as fast as I could to get as far away as quick as possible.  One of these days I hope to go for a run in peace, without being stopped by anyone, and beat my (very slow) speed record.

Fat Trick!

Today in Moncton I was walking by the Jean Coutu on the sidewalk when I noticed a rather large middle aged man in front of me. He was bald, extremely fat, and maybe a little bit mental. He was carrying a skateboard. When he looked up and noticed that I had (accidentally) made eye contact with him, he threw the skateboard up in the air in front of him. When the skateboard landed he jumped on top of it, stumbling. After he stabalized himself he looked up at me, and gave me an "I'm cool" pose, crossing his arms. I just smiled and shook my head. Just another weird sighting in Moncton. 

SMACK!

Today in Moncton the craziest thing I have ever witnessed with my own two eyes happened. I'm still shaking. I should have taken a picture for my blog, but everything happened very fast. I was almost finished my run for the day, two minutes away from home. On the street running perpendicular to the street that I was on, there was a man riding a bike. I'm going to describe this man to you as "Hobo drunk guy on a bike." He had long scruffy hair, he was wearing old dirty clothes, and he was swerving all over the road, sccreaming and hollering on his bike. There was a red light at the intersection on the street that he was on, with heavy fast flowing traffic going through the intersection on the road I was on. He was so out of his mind, yelling gibberish, he flew right through the red light. A blue car going through the intersection obviously wasn't expecting a crazy hobo drunk guy on a bike to come flying out infront of them, and WAILS into the crazy hobo drunk guy. I heard the crack of his leg, and the sound of metal scraping metal as the crazy hobo drunk guy flew through the air and landed with his bike on top of him. The person in the blue car pulled over, along with several other cars, and got out to see if he was okay. He was screaming and hollering in pain, but he was screaming before he got hit too so who knows. I didn't feel bad for the guy, it wasn't even an accident, he was clearly asking for it. I was so close to being home, I had almost made it a full day without anything weird happening, I just couldn't handle it, so I turned around and decided to walk the long way home (another 15 minutes). I called my mom to tell her what I had just seen, because I was extremely shaken over the whole thing. An ambulance went by as I walked in the opposite direction, and eventually I made it home. I still can't believe I got to see the whole fiasco take place. I watch these kinds of things on Youtube all the time, but I never would have guessed I'd see something like this from start to finish in real life! Some people are really, really dumb.

(without the helmet)

Wheelchair Club

Today in Moncton I was out for one of the longest runs I've been on yet. Instead of turning onto the usual street that connects to the street that my apartment is on, I decided to push it a little further and go all the way down town to Main street. Because this was my first time on this stretch of the road I didn't know what to expect. I hadn't come across anything strange in a while..."this can't be right!?" I thought to myself, "no weird sightings in Moncton today?!"  I slowed to a fast pace walk as I neared what seemed to be just another normal apartment building on the side of the road. In the courtyard however, there was a circle of people all in wheelchairs (who were also mentally disabled) crowding around a small radio playing some tunes. "Thats more like it" I thought as I watched a girl in her wheelchair spin up to a boy in his wheelchair, (who didn't quite seem to understand what was going on) grab his face, and start to kiss him! It continued on for several moments, (several too many momemts) the girl kissing the boy sloppily, and the five or so others in the wheelchair circle just staring blankly, watching them. It was a very odd visual for me to take in all at once. Three or Four of the people who were sitting in the wheelchair circle were elderly, the others middle aged, and then the two younger wheelchair lovers. It was one of the stranger things I've seen as of yet in Moncton. I will treasure my days here forever.

Glum Chum

Today in Moncton it was a very hot and happy summery-feeling kind of day. I started out for my daily 3.5 km run. The sun was high in the sky, the birds were chirping, and the fragrant smells of the newly blossomed flowers were strong in the air. I had made it almost my whole run without being approached by anyone and I was feeling great! As I was rounding my last corner, onto the last street before making it home, a wall of darkness aproached. A few feet infront of me was a very large and grumpy looking man. He was fully bald, wearing shorts, and an old t-shirt with sweat soaking out of the armpits. He came to a full stop as I started to run past him. I smiled and tried to quickly run by, but a very low and a very grumpy "hello" emerged from within him. "Hi" I replied, and hoped that would be the end of it (By this time it's just super awkward because I've already run past him.) "How are you?" he said slowly in the glummest tone I've ever heard. I had to turn around and stop running at this point to reply "Good, How are you?" "GOOD" he said agressively with a large sigh. This was my chance to make a run for it, so I did just that, turned around and ran, all the way back to my apartment without looking back!

"I'm not a bum or anything"

Today in Moncton my roommate Maddy and I had an orientation day for the college we are going to in September. It's about a 20 minute walk from our apartment. On the walk home from orientation we decided to stop at the local "Needs" store to buy some ice creams. On the way inside a rugged man approached us. He wore ripped clothes, and his face was sweaty and dirty. "Excuse me, I'm not a bum or anything..." I looked down to see what he was carrying behind him, it seemed like he was carrying everything he owned in a big blanket tossed over his solder. "...I'm not a bum or anything, but would you be able to spare a few toonies, I have a job, I just need some money for the bus." I never carry any change with me, so I always have to say no, but at least he was pretty nice about it ("bum" or not). Maddy said she didn't have anything to give either, he started to walk away, but she remembered she did have a few loonies and gave them to him. He said thank you and continued on his way - wherever he was going. Living on the streets or not, he was one of the more pleasant people to have approached us so far.

Trade shirts with me?

Today in Moncton Cole and I were at the park (I really don't know why we still go there.) We were sitting on our usual bench just relaxing after walking around a bit. A guy in his 20's walks by and yells over "you guys are cute by the way!" I awkwardly gave a thumbs up back to him. We laughed about it for a few minutes and made fun of it for a while when another guy (maybe the same guy, I didn't really get a good look the first time) starts slowly inching his way towards us. He seemed a little off. His lip was cut in the middle, dripping blood. He walked right up to us sitting on our bench, and said "Do you have any phones for sale?" WHAT? Of course we don't... What is this guy talking about? I get really nervous in these situations so Cole always handles it. Cole told the guy we weren't selling our phones. "What about your shirt? Can we trade shirts? Trade shirts with me." The guy pointed to Cole's 'East Coast Lifestyle" shirt that I had bought him. He told us his shirt was really cool, it had a bandanna sewn into the inside of it, and he made sure we knew it, he lifted his shirt up to show us the inside.  I was getting really uncomfortable, Cole kept telling him no, and the guy pulled a 50 dollar bill out of his pants pocket and showed it to us. Cole told him the shirt was a gift and he wouldn't give it to him. The conversation quickly came to and end, "I shouldn't be here" he said, and off he ran. We could not figure out what his deal was....was he running from someone? Was that some kind of code for 'Do you have drugs?' I guess we'll never know, and I don't think I really want to.