Turning Right on Red: July 2014

It’s been awhile since I've written an update so I’ll recap some of what’s happened so far in this very busy summer:

Heat: Hotlanta has arrived. 90’s at night, 80’s during the day
Bandu Khan’s: Maya and I met up with a college friend- an Indian guy and his Pakistani wife. The Pakistani wife loves this restaurant back in her country and when they opened an Atlanta branch they had to take us. You know when you are the only non-ethnic person in one of these restaurants that it’s an authentic place; although I suppose the long tunics and hijabs on the women also would have confirmed that. This was by far one of the spiciest foods I've eaten since a funeral in Cameroon where I had potatoes that actually made me cry. For desert we had Falooda – a pink and green sickly sweet ice cream (more like cough syrup medicine) with fish balls, noodles, nuts, gummy bears, and whatever else they throw in there. Even Abdallah, our Saudi Arabian Air B&B guest who came with us (he stayed with us for almost the whole month of June), couldn't eat more than a few bites. Our friends referred to this dish simply as “heavy.” I think heavy in this case means “bad” and not worth it at $5 a pop.
Café Campesino, the local Fair Trade coffee roaster I work for here, does a lot of environmental events as either a sponsor or coffee vendor. Bicycle Ride Across Georgia (BRAG) at one point had over 2,000 riders but is now down to merely 600 (still a pretty big number I think)! Most of the riders were middle aged with small children with a fair share of old timers too. We set up camp each night and hung out at random rural Southern Georgia high schools. After only 3 days of the week long trip, I got the idea and like I had enough. Riding 50-70 miles a day in the Georgia summer through pretty boring scenario was an exercise in monotony. At one point I had several flat tires in a row and a SAG (people that drive around picking up injured riders or people with equipment issues) picked me up. I learned a nice local limerick from my driver about Metter, one of the town’s we camped in:

I met her in Metter

Had to go to Winder to finder her

And Decatur to date her

And finally to Tucker

To meet her parents

At one point I thought I was back in Africa when I looked around some rural towns where Whites were definitely the minority. Jesus signs were everywhere as well “God’s convenience store” type places. There was even boiled peanuts for sale! I really didn't know this was a Southern U.S. thing, although I wonder if it came first to Africa or here. Either way I loved it.

I also got to do one day of Paddle Georgia, going about 15 miles down the Chattahoochee River outside of Atlanta. This was a blast and really made me want to get my own boat someday. What was crazy about both of these events was the “scene” of gear and socializing of people that are so intensely into these sports. I could have imagined these scenes but being around them in-person was different. It’s like a whole new world exists of weekend passion below the surface of what we normally just see in the 9-5 work world, sometimes from some very boring people.

Bachelor party in West Virginia for my friend Pete from College: I won’t go into too much detail here but suffice it to say it was every bit as awesome as you would expect. This was actually my first Bachelor party. Camping, white water rafting, corn hole, partying, “late” night partying at the third best place in Charlotte NC, and even a scrappy ultimate Frisbee thrown in.
Lots of other trips out of town including Memorial day week to NYC for a wedding and trip to Boston, Raleigh/Durham for a graduation, Vermont 4^th of July (best place to be in the summer for sure), Louisville for a wedding, camping in North GA with a 12 mile one day hike to Springer Mountain; the start of the Appalachian trail.

All of this was between adopting a new dog (Sherlock), a new soccer amateur league we’ve joined, our first garden (surprising amount of work), studying for some tests, a new Jewish class, new ATL friends, and a very busy new job.