I guess it takes someone from another country to make you appreciate the region you live in. Manolo, an amazing friend I made in Belgium, came to visit all the way from Motril, Spain for 3 weeks-ish. Which also meant Pilar, my roommate from Belgium took off work, as did JP — aka time for best buds reunion. Some of my best memories from abroad include these guys.
Manolo arrived on Weds night, we went to the Cubs game on Thursday and Friday we were off to Carmel, IN to visit Bob, another one of our housemates from abroad. Bob and his fam treated us to amazzzinnngg ribs, corn, pie - the whole American shabang.
And speaking of bang - the next morning we went to the shooting range where Pilar, Manolo and I shot our first guns. We shot an AK-47, some other big Hungarian shotgun and a revolver. Pilar was a natural. As for me - turns out I can’t close one eye without having the other flicker uncontrollably (probably why I look do dumb when I try to wink) and my aim, well, I had none. Bob was the best person to teach us everything, gun safety was #1 and he definitely knew what he was doing.
Then we were off to the border of Indiana and Ohio where JP lives. His family has a huge farm (well, not Big Farmer huge, but they have a combine harvester, which as far as I’m concerned is magic - how can a machine cut down, husk, and separate and store all the kernels at once??)
I had my first ligit fried chicken, which was actually free range as it came from 2 farms away. For dinner we had home made smoked pulled pork. Probably the best pulled pork I’ve ever had. No lie. And this is among many other goodies. Seeing pics of JP’s “chubby period” was also a highlight.
JP’s friend Kelsey had the excellent idea to go riding through the woods on 4-wheelers and gators. SO. MUCH. FUN. Even if I did end up inhaling a bug through my nostril.
We were off to Cincinnati the next morning. It’s a really great city and JP knew so much about it that he was able to take us around all the neighborhoods, not just downtown. We got a real good feel for the city. And also got Skyline chili at the original restaurant.
We went to Jungle Jim’s after - a humungo grocery store. It has just about every type of food. The place come with a map. Our cashier probably thought we were nuts as most of our purchases included several different beer bottles, 3 for $1 lighters with dragons and dolphins on them, BBQ sauce and Mochi.
Then the moment I was dreading came: it was time for me to go since I had work on Monday. Bob dropped me off in Indianapolis on his way home - so I got to see that city for the first time too. Manolo, JP and Pilar are off in the Smokey Mountains camping with the bears and probably melting. I’ll be meeting them in Nashville for the next part of our journey on Thursday morning.
Needless to say, I can’t wait!
July 19, 2011, 10:09pm Comments
