Montagnes Russes means Roller Coaster

In an effort to totally overwhelm Abel on his second day here, we took him to the Mall of America.  Okay, we didn't really want to overwhelm him.  We really wanted to get his phone set up and the "big mall" has every phone store in the book.  Little did we know that it would be so easy to get it done!  Abel brought his phone from France, unlocked, and we just went in to AT&T and got a SIM card for him.  All that worrying and prepping that we did before his arrival about his phone amounted to that -- just showing up at the AT&T store.  Now he has a cell phone with an American number...and the harassing texts from his host parents has begun.

We did ride a couple of roller coasters while we were at the mall.  Jude made us all squeeze into one log for the log ride, where we awkwardly tested our knowledge on the Paul Bunyan mythology while explaining it to Abel.  Then Liz, Abel, and Jude went out some other spinny twisty roller coaster that makes me sick.  Like any good Americans at the mall, we went to the food court, where I'm fairly certain that Abel was completely overwhelmed by the food choices.  He ended up going to A&W, which, in the list of hamburger places, has to rank very close to the bottom.  But that was Jude's choice, so being the easy-going guy that he is, he just went with it.  Then one more roller coaster and home.

When we got home, Abel got to make me feel like an ignorant American as he explained rules about soccer to me.  Including making fun of me when I asked who he cheers for when Manchester is paying France, saying "France is a country."  Thanks, cool guy, thanks. I may not know what off-sides is, but I do know that France is a country.  

We went to Jude's basketball practice, where the key event was discovering the Jude and Abel have made up a secret handshake.  It's amazing to see the relationship that he and Jude have developed over even 72 hours.  I can already tell that he will be crushed when Abel has to leave!

Today was Abel's first soccer practice, which he said went well.  Since sports are not tied to your school in France, this will be the first time that he has played on a school team.  All of us are so excited to have the chance to go and cheer him on -- it's going to be fantastic.  He got his warm-ups which look super official.  Liz told me I wasn't supposed to say that they are cute...