A Bulls Game, which I never told you about

The Bulls at United Center

As soon as I came back to Chicago in September, as you might recall from a previous blog entry, I went to a Cubs game, and had declared that I want to go to at least one game of each of the important Chicago teams. 

After such a declaration I could not miss the opportunity of attending a Bulls Game.  The Chicago Bulls are quite famous in the basketball world, and everyone knows Michael Jordan, one of their main players who is now retired and has a steakhouse on Michigan Avenue.

The opportunity came in the form of discounted tickets for Loyola students, brought about by the Water Tower Campus life, the department where I work.  We had bought the tickets quite in advance, and they were sold out quite early, because it was quite an offer.  We got our tickets for $15.  These same tickets generally cost in the region of $60.  Which definitely means I’m not going to be seeing the bulls play live very often.

The basketball game is very simple, but like everything here in America, it has been transformed into a show.  Watching game includes seeing dancing in intermissions  (and there are a lot of them), contests between spectators, flying T-shirts, and more. 

The opening of the game is quite spectacular, with this 3d rendering video of bulls trampling over the City of Chicago and arriving at the arena.  This is accompanied by a show of lights, music and fire effects.  After this, the players go onto the court and start the game, but not before a gigantic floating bull goes round the court.

The floating Bull

The game was a good one, and we enjoyed ourselves.  It was played at the United Centre, house of the bulls.  They however share this place with the Chicago Blackhawks, an ice hockey team.  In fact the pitch can be transformed into an ice-skating rink. 

The United Center, Chicago

What struck me is that the nearer the game is to its end, the more Time-outs the team take.  The last minute of the game could take half an hour to be over, especially if the score is really close.  This could be quite frustrating, but being at the stadium in good company I wasn't annoyed.  Probably watching the game from home, would have been a different story.  Anyway, finally the Bulls won, and we went home happily.

Christmas holidays

I have again abandoned my blog for a while. I'm sorry.  I wasn't idle though.  In fact I have written quite a lot in the last month.  I wrote 3 papers and a number of reflections.  I've also started writing some blogs for the University website.  Here's the link:  

http://blogs.luc.edu/globalambassadors/2012/12/17/studying-social-justice-at-loyola/

You should read it, if you're curious why I decided to come here :)

I've also had to decide what I'm going to do for Christmas.  I decided to stay in Chicago, because although I have no school, I still got loads of work to finish, and not much money left for traveling.  I will still spend some time with some friends in the suburbs, but I'll spend most of my Christmas holidays here in Chicago.  Thus, I decided I need to put up some Christmas decorations in my apartment.  I didn't want to spend any money, since I will need to get rid of everything in a few weeks, and also because this will be my first and last Christmas here. (At least that's the plan so far) 

I managed to get some sort of garland and some plastic ponsiettas.  I also have some christmas baubles which I had designed for WTC (the place where I work).  And the most precious of all is the little baby Jesus I got from Malta.  I'm pleased to say the result is not that bad. 

Now, that I have some Christmas spirit in my apartment, I'm looking forward to the snowfall which has been predicted for today, and ice-skating later this evening.  In the mean-time, I'll burn some wood in the fireplace and take some time to write some more blog entries to update you on what I've been up to in the last month.

In the meantime, I wish all of you a Merry Christmas!!