My life and my thoughts - on faith, culture, politics, whatever comes to my mind

Sunday, September 12, 2004

Lost luggage, seafood and football

This is my fourth day in the US and I had a lot of great experiences already! I arrived in Houston, Texas, after a not that boring twelf (!) hour flight with a two hour stopover in Pittsburgh. My friends, John and Diana, picked me up at the airport. It was great seeing them again after half a year! Unfortunately my luggage didn't make it that evening ... and I was wearing long pants. Which in my opinion is far too warm for the climate in Houston ... I think I've never been anywhere that warm AND humid.
But the luggage arrived on friday, so I'm very relieved and wearing more comfortable clothing :)
Friday we relaxed a lot and went for lunch with John and two of his collegues at a great Mexican place. I love food! In the evening we went to the Kemah boardwalk at Clear Lake where they have a lot of restaurants and little shops and some amusement rides. We had great seafood at The Flying Dutchman and then strolled along the boardwalk. Clear Lake is part of the bay of Galveston and Galveston is at the Gulf of Mexico - that sounds sooo far away from home!
And yesterday we went to the ballgame - college football at the Texas A&M University in College Station. Both John and his brother went to this university. We went there with John"s brother and his wife and Diana's sister and her daughter, a freshman there. And of course, everybody was wearing maroon and white, the Aggie colors - even me! It was a great experience. The stadium seats 82.000 and the attendance was 65.600 - the biggest game I've ever been to! Before the game we had the Star Spangled Banner, the anthem of Texas and God bless America as it was Patriot Day (9/11). And two fighter planes flew over our seats during the last song. It was a very moving experience, though as a German it is very different from home and I'm unused to it. But I liked it. The game was a lot of fun and the Aggies won! I really enjoyed it and the half time show with the Fighting Texas Aggies band, they're incredable good!
Today is culture day! More next time...