Polka in a Pink Hat

 

Yesterday I completed the November Challenge on DuoLingo:

Travalon had gone to the Badger basketball game, and when I texted this to him, he said Prankster Bear was going to have it shown on the big screen in the Kohl Center. I talked to Tiffy, as I generally do on Friday evenings, and she said, "Guess where I am?" Then she showed me the lit-up Capitol behind her, so I knew she was at her sister's apartment here in town. Her sister and brother-in-law were at the same game as Travalon! And she was going to the Badger football game today just like we were! Only she was going to be in the box, whereas we had nosebleed seats that I got free at work. She also told me it was World Quality Week, so at work they went to a building they never go to, and they were given small backpacks with pencils in them that you could plant and they would grow into basil plants. I was intrigued! I thought "Miniature Backpacks and Magic Pencils" would be a great blog post title, but Travalon suggested one today that I had to go with.

This morning Travalon and I met Tiffy for coffee downtown, then she and I got bubble tea so I was well-caffeinated. Travalon and I walked from our church to Union South, where we went to the tailgate going on there. We had cheeseburgers and listened to the DJ, who played some songs that we loved. I got free temporary tattoos of Bucky Badger and the W.

Then we listened to the UW Marching Band playing Sinatra songs, and they played a polka, so we danced. Travalon said, "Polka in a pink hat!" and I said that would be a great blog post title. I saw a guy walk by wearing a hat that said "Vietnam Vet" so I thanked him for his service, since it was Veterans' Day, and we talked a little bit. Then everyone headed over to Camp Randall for the game, and that's when things took a turn for the worse.

The Badgers scored first, getting a field goal. Then Northwestern got a touchdown. No need to panic, we were only down by four. But then they scored again. And again! And they drove down the field again, but finally the defense did something and held them to a field goal. So if you're keeping track, that meant the score was 24-3. We doubted the Badgers could come back in the second half, but we stayed. People were booing the football team, but at halftime the band came on, and then everyone cheered. They did the medley of Sinatra songs again, only this time they were marching in formation too. They had way more discipline than the football team! Travalon was texting with his buddy, who said the blame was evenly spread around the team. I said the offense and the defense stank, but Special Teams seemed okay... and then I remembered that they missed a field goal. Never mind!

One cool thing is that the veteran we talked to was featured as Season Ticket Holder of the Game, so he was up on the big screen. Another cool thing is that they had the Platonic ideal soft pretzels there. Yum! And then the second half seemed a bit promising, because the Badgers shut the Wildcats down with a three and out their first drive, and they put together a really good drive themselves... and then turned the ball over on downs in the red zone. Since both the offense and the defense seemed more put together, we stayed through the third quarter, but while they kept the Wildcats from scoring again, they didn't score either. We stayed for "Jump Around" at the start of the Fourth Quarter, and then we watched the Badgers driving down the field... but when they fumbled the ball and Northwestern recovered, I texted Tiffy: "Put a fork in them! We're outta here!" At that point they couldn't catch up. We saw later that they did get a touchdown, and Tiffy told me the whole box she was in cheered sarcastically because at that point there were 11 seconds left in the game.

We walked back to the church, and I tried to wash the temporary tattoos off with soap and water, but they wouldn't come off, so I had to go to dinner with them on. We met my colleague and her husband at Ha Long Bay, and they told us there would be a 45-minute wait, but we had to wait for an hour for a table, and then it took a while before they took our order, and then it took a while to get our food. Good thing we got a couple of appetizers! After my colleague had told the story about trying to find the duck dish Travalon got at the other Thai restaurant we went to, we assumed she would order the curry duck; her husband did, but she got pad see yew. (Which for years was my go-to order at Thai restaurants.) Travalon loves talking to her husband because he can talk about sports. They are both very good conversationalists, and English isn't even their native language - Shanghaiese is. (I have no idea how to spell it - it's the dialect of Chinese they speak in Shanghai.) Plus my colleague has studied German and Japanese, and she can certainly get by in English. I know I can "get by" in Spanish and French, because I've been places where people spoke those languages and no English, and I got by, but imagine having to work in a foreign language! Because that's what my colleague does. I'm impressed!

I did manage to get the temporary tattoos off back home with nail polish remover. Thank goodness! I would have hated to have to go to Mass tomorrow with them on my face.

Famous Hat