East Lansing to Grand Rapids, One Day
In contrast to my posting lulls of a month or two ago, now I’m feeling almost overwhelmed at how much each day holds and hold long it takes to write each evening. I guess that’s a nicer problem to have than having nothing to write about because nothing happens. I think this is Halph Asian’s standard conundrum. When life is interesting and worth writing and reading about, there’s not enough time to do the writing. And then, once you finally do have the time to sit and reflect, you find you’ve forgotten half of what made the days interesting and enjoyable and memorable.
I really did get to sleep in today, door closed and everything. I only awoke because it was getting so warm in the bedroom (other conundrum - had the door been open and the room been cooler, I would have been woken up by the parents' presence in the living room).
After moving the chickens and their coop back outside to the chicken run, I went with Mom to East Lansing on her mission to pick up and confirm things before tomorrow’s “real” pick up day. We got a couple boxes from the Nyaka School with books and flyers. Our surprise visit to Altu’s had the man worried he’d been told the wrong day to prep food. He was right. We were just double-checking, much to his relief.
The visit to Emo’s was not so encouraging initially, but Mom inadvertently bartered the Korean woman down to a lower price and got exactly what she wanted. I assure you it was unintentional, but here’s how it happened. We talked in around 3pm, well after the lunch rush, and Mom asked the son (there are two characters at Emo’s - the son, who is at least as old as my brothers, and the mom, who does the cooking) if we were all set to pick up the food tomorrow afternoon. A letter had been delivered last week. The son didn’t know for sure but he went back to the kitchen and returned with his mom. She was quite adamant about how impossible getting a tray of bulgogi would be tomorrow, particularly at 1pm, right in the middle of her extremely busy lunch rush. (Hey, I get it, that totally makes sense. But my mom played the role of spurned hard ass). The son, a pragmatic, affable, loquacious diplomat of a peace keeper came around to discuss it more, perhaps so his mom could save face. He wondered if we could come tomorrow at the same time we were there today. My mom assured him that wouldn’t work because we live an hour away from where the food would need to be delivered. She then said she supposed she’d just go over to Korea House now, across the street, and see if they couldn’t give her a tray today, plus they always give a discount, but the reason she didn’t do that before is because tomorrow they start renovating and would be closed for business for at least a week. The son wondered why she couldn’t just take home a tray right now, which his mom could cook, and leave it in the fridge tonight then reheat it at the dinner. My mom said she thought that would be ok, but how much would it be because Korea House was just over there. He came back with an offer for $25, half off the usual price, and the deal was accepted. Oh, also - the food there is fantastic! It just turned into my new favorite Korean place in East Lansing. Cheap, too, and the son is highly entertaining.
We stopped at the MSU Surplus Store following lunch for me to at last have a look around. That was my first ever visit, despite a long and varied history with Michigan State. We didn’t buy anything there but I did get a t-shirt at another shop next door.
That was followed by a stop at Woody’s to get some Middle Eastern desserts, then coffee from the original Beaner’s Biggby. They really are the Starbucks of Mid-Michigan. Wouldn’t it be funny if Starbucks had started as a shop called Gook’s or Chinky’s or Darky’s? Maybe not. Our stop in Portland on the way home to confirm that order for tomorrow was also incomplete, since the owner wasn’t present. But her cute daughter gave assurances that everything would be ready right on schedule.
It was a quick turn around from when we got home to when I left again to meet Scott and Angela at their place so we could have the famous burger at Stella’s. We got there, it was fairly busy, it took a while to order and for food to come, but it was totally delicious. Best burger in the country? Obviously and necessarily that’s debatable. But it was a solid excursion and hanging out with the Rhoadeses is consistently enlightening. Probably for both parties. If I were to take up residence in Michigan, I’m comforted to know I’d be close to plenty of good friends. That’s something this trip has reinforced.
There were rumors Shawn was coming to meet us. That never happened, and since Scott has a work schedule which isn’t conducive to late nights out, we didn’t wait around for Shawn. After going back to my car at their house, I did make an appearance again downtown to see Bethany and her friends in one their native habitats. If you weren’t sure about this, karaoke at a gay bar on Tuesday night in West Michigan may not be the best choice for your bachelorette party. But maybe my idea of what someone’s bachelorette party should be like is skewed. And no, we weren’t part of that party. These are more like anthropological observations.
Tomorrow is the big day. The international dinner begins at 5pm and I think I succeeded at lining up a reporter to come and get a story up on mlive.com. I wish college connections worked out like that more often.
I really did get to sleep in today, door closed and everything. I only awoke because it was getting so warm in the bedroom (other conundrum - had the door been open and the room been cooler, I would have been woken up by the parents' presence in the living room).
After moving the chickens and their coop back outside to the chicken run, I went with Mom to East Lansing on her mission to pick up and confirm things before tomorrow’s “real” pick up day. We got a couple boxes from the Nyaka School with books and flyers. Our surprise visit to Altu’s had the man worried he’d been told the wrong day to prep food. He was right. We were just double-checking, much to his relief.
The visit to Emo’s was not so encouraging initially, but Mom inadvertently bartered the Korean woman down to a lower price and got exactly what she wanted. I assure you it was unintentional, but here’s how it happened. We talked in around 3pm, well after the lunch rush, and Mom asked the son (there are two characters at Emo’s - the son, who is at least as old as my brothers, and the mom, who does the cooking) if we were all set to pick up the food tomorrow afternoon. A letter had been delivered last week. The son didn’t know for sure but he went back to the kitchen and returned with his mom. She was quite adamant about how impossible getting a tray of bulgogi would be tomorrow, particularly at 1pm, right in the middle of her extremely busy lunch rush. (Hey, I get it, that totally makes sense. But my mom played the role of spurned hard ass). The son, a pragmatic, affable, loquacious diplomat of a peace keeper came around to discuss it more, perhaps so his mom could save face. He wondered if we could come tomorrow at the same time we were there today. My mom assured him that wouldn’t work because we live an hour away from where the food would need to be delivered. She then said she supposed she’d just go over to Korea House now, across the street, and see if they couldn’t give her a tray today, plus they always give a discount, but the reason she didn’t do that before is because tomorrow they start renovating and would be closed for business for at least a week. The son wondered why she couldn’t just take home a tray right now, which his mom could cook, and leave it in the fridge tonight then reheat it at the dinner. My mom said she thought that would be ok, but how much would it be because Korea House was just over there. He came back with an offer for $25, half off the usual price, and the deal was accepted. Oh, also - the food there is fantastic! It just turned into my new favorite Korean place in East Lansing. Cheap, too, and the son is highly entertaining.
We stopped at the MSU Surplus Store following lunch for me to at last have a look around. That was my first ever visit, despite a long and varied history with Michigan State. We didn’t buy anything there but I did get a t-shirt at another shop next door.
That was followed by a stop at Woody’s to get some Middle Eastern desserts, then coffee from the original Beaner’s Biggby. They really are the Starbucks of Mid-Michigan. Wouldn’t it be funny if Starbucks had started as a shop called Gook’s or Chinky’s or Darky’s? Maybe not. Our stop in Portland on the way home to confirm that order for tomorrow was also incomplete, since the owner wasn’t present. But her cute daughter gave assurances that everything would be ready right on schedule.
It was a quick turn around from when we got home to when I left again to meet Scott and Angela at their place so we could have the famous burger at Stella’s. We got there, it was fairly busy, it took a while to order and for food to come, but it was totally delicious. Best burger in the country? Obviously and necessarily that’s debatable. But it was a solid excursion and hanging out with the Rhoadeses is consistently enlightening. Probably for both parties. If I were to take up residence in Michigan, I’m comforted to know I’d be close to plenty of good friends. That’s something this trip has reinforced.
There were rumors Shawn was coming to meet us. That never happened, and since Scott has a work schedule which isn’t conducive to late nights out, we didn’t wait around for Shawn. After going back to my car at their house, I did make an appearance again downtown to see Bethany and her friends in one their native habitats. If you weren’t sure about this, karaoke at a gay bar on Tuesday night in West Michigan may not be the best choice for your bachelorette party. But maybe my idea of what someone’s bachelorette party should be like is skewed. And no, we weren’t part of that party. These are more like anthropological observations.
Tomorrow is the big day. The international dinner begins at 5pm and I think I succeeded at lining up a reporter to come and get a story up on mlive.com. I wish college connections worked out like that more often.