Sunday, November 1, 2009

11/01/09 Oscar is here visiting from England!

For the last two weeks my English buddy has been in the States visiting. His mom was here working on her doctorate and so he came with her. On Friday the 23rd I took him to Johnny Rocket’s for lunch. For those of you who don’t know, Johnny Rocket’s is a 1950s diner with the best french fries.

Customers can sit at a counter, a table, or a booth. The counter and the booths each have a non-operating tabletop jukebox. The restaurant plays music from the 50s and 60s. I swear, eating there is like taking a trip back in time. When I look around, I can visualize the girls in their poodle skirts and saddle shoes and I can picture the guys in their lettermen sweaters and penny loafers.

The only drawback to Johnny Rocket’s is that Oscar and I are vegetarians. Whenever I go there, I usually eat the salad, but I forgot that Oscar didn’t eat meat. Fortunately, Johnny Rocket’s has the ability to switch the meat patty with a soya burger. We had a great time.

Afterwards, we had some time to kill, so I suggested we go to the Tech Museum. The new Star Trek exhibit just opened that day and I remembered that Oscar loves Dr. Who and Star Wars. So I showed him where the Tech was so he could visit it on his own. I think he went a few days ago. We spent about 45 minutes looking around the Tech store just looking at all the different things. There were a lot of kids there; they must have been on a field trip. Eventually the kids left. Oscar found candy on a stick, so I introduced him to the concept of rock candy. He bought some for his dad. I introduced him to astronaut ice cream. Astronaut food is all freeze dried and he had never seen it, so I bought him a pack. He and his mom were absolutely amazed by how real tasting and “creamy” it was.

The next day there was a reunion for the students who participated in the Summer Bath Program in 2007, 2008, and 2009. We were invited to the home of the professor who led the three groups. It was a very nice evening. Good beverages, good food, and great conversation. Oscar and his mom were the guests of honor. Oscar was acting like a social butterfly.

We also took advantage of the school’s bowling alley. I assumed that he had never gone bowling, so I wanted to introduce him to one of my favorite activities. Turns out, he has bowled before, but that’s ok. We still had a lot of fun even though his scores were less than 70 and I didn’t reach my average.

My vocabulary words are:
Insofar: to such an extent (Webster's American pocket dictionary)
Licentiousness: sexually immoral (Webster's American pocket dictionary)

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