The content of this post is an adaptation of an original text written by Guy Laliberté.
On my return to Star City on Sunday, June 21, I received a somewhat unexpected 'welcome back' gift... Looking at my schedule for the week, I noticed that I would be doing nine to twelve hours of studying and training each day! Was this payback for the week off I’d spent in Montreal? :-P
Early the next morning, I unpacked and prepared myself mentally for the week ahead. My day started with the EGN, where I learned about the basics of personal hygiene in space (toiletries, clothing, etc.) and chose my wardrobe for my stay in the Station.
In space, I will have:
- My flight suit
- Three pairs of socks
- Three pairs of underwear
- One polo shirt
- One pair of short pants
Looking at this array of very trendy clothes, I was no closer to finding an answer to my question of whether it would be cold as a Montreal winter or hot as a Hawaiian beach up there.
Next came my Russian class, where I felt my good humour wane a little—was this my week in Montreal catching up with me or fatigue with the upcoming trip? I don’t know, but the fact is that I lost patience with learning yet more Russian verbs and conjugations rather than words that might actually be useful to me in space! The program seems to be designed for learning Russian over a longer period than the five short months I have. I would have preferred to simply be able to read what it says on my food containers (so I don’t have to ask my commander every time) and know some basic words that I could use to make myself understood if necessary. Oh well, it’s the only thing on my schedule that I find hard and a little frustrating.
After my long day at school, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a first draft of the poem by Claude Péloquin. Water seems to inspire him as much as it does me—it’s such a powerful symbol! Without water, there is no life. No birth; only death. Water is to life what blood is to human beings. Thinking it over, I realized that without water, there wouldn’t be blood either. My creative cells were still firing on all cylinders when it was time for bed!