Samedi, le 23 Février - On Quitte Québec pour Rentrer à la Maison

All good things most come to an end, as must this most amazing of experiences. It was a short night after such a long stay, but I'm glad to be on the bus early et en route vers la Virginie!

There's still a faint sour taste in the mouth from how the game slipped away last night, but in the light of day, it's quickly fading. Patrick brought Kayla and Henry to the Château this morning at 8:45 to drop them off and say "au revoir". A bitter late February wind was blowing off the St. Lawrence, which was fitting for a day of saying goodbye.

Yesterday, Henry had purchased Patrick a pair of "Canada" socks in a souvenir shop with bears on them. He gave them to Patrick as a going-away present. Patrick was deleted and gave a good laugh. He and Henry hugged and each promised to see each other soon. I could see hoe fond Henry is of Patrick, and how sad he is to be leaving him and Québec. One could not have asked for a more perfect Famille d'Acceuil.

Somehow, the repacking of the bus was not as crazy as that snowy night last week (let's hear it for daylight). With a surprisingly high degree of efficiency (Sylvain is an excellent task master), we were on the road, by 9:50. As we past under the ramparts of the old city's walls one last time, I'm sure that every person was remembering the highlights of our stay here, and thinking "à la prochaine."

There are still so many things that I wanted to write about this amazing Tournoi, and here I've run out of time. Among the things I wanted to mention to you was one of the most interesting aspects of the culture of the Tournoi: Pin Trading. Every team Brings two designs of pins, a large and a small. Each player has a supply of both, and before, sometimes during, and after games, the players seek to trade with one another. There are also "professional" pin traders, who set up shop on the mezzanine level of the Colisée. While these "pros" have the largest assortment of pins, they apparently drive very hard bargains.

Henry came equipped with a slew of pins thanks to his Mom, and while he was slow to warm up to horse trading, he quickly got into the swing of it, thanks in large part to Kayla, who was an absolute natural at the art of pin trading. Every day we showed up at the Colisée, Kayla and Henry (and often Ben), would go off to trade. They would come back to where the parents were sitting to show off their newly acquired treasures. Henry had a plan in his trading - he was seeking to acquire as many international pins from the foreign teams as possible. From what what he showed me, he was very successful!