Ohio!

Okay, so for Thanksgiving I went to Ohio with my husband and brother-in-law. They have family there, a whole gaggle of aunts, uncles and cousins, and grandparents too. (And like second cousins twice removed and stuff; that level of family just isn't seen in mine.)

Anyway, we went to a tiny village called Bellville. It's about exactly halfway between Columbus and Cleveland. We flew out of Vegas Wednesday on a horribly turbulant flight at about 23h00 and arrived Thursday at 05h30. The time difference was killer. All three of us had gone into work Wednesday, and got no sleep on the plane, and we bypassed the hotel to spend time with family till about 15h00, when we got a 2-hour nap and went on to celebrate Thanksgiving till midnight or so. And in falling asleep at that time, we missed Josh's 21st birthday bash...too bad, too, it would have been fun. We just couldn't stay awake any longer.

The culture shock was...interesting. It was as if I was visiting America for the first time. Deer! Cows! Corn fields! Wheat fields! Frost! Brick houses! All encased in a freakin forest...plus so so many foods I've never eaten that are apparently "americana". The village is tiny, slightly reminiscent of Kandern (yeah, the only other village I've been to)...it has a bitty main street and a bunch of stop signs. Church Street is where the churches are, and School Street is where the schools are. I went to a tiny market! And an organic fruit stand! And an Amish gift shop! And since we weren't local, and in the village everyone knows everyone just about, they were all staring as we walked around and took pics of the bandstand and scenery. It was so funny, people were stopping in the middle of the street and pointing.

Since they were good enough to show me "true" American cooking, I made them my Mexican-style meatball soup, and I didn't even have to "go into town" (!!!) and get the ingredients. The only thing I didn't find at the market was chorizo, and not everyone's into that, anyway. They really liked it, and want the recipe. I'm happy.

In Bellville we saw parks, and kind of explored the forest, and saw ancient cemeteries (even from the Revolutionary War!) and tree farms...we also went to Cleveland on Friday and saw the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. It's a huge version of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, but it was really cool, we just couldn't take pics. We also went to a White Castle...we were so stoked, we totally played tourist and took pics of the inside of the restaurant and of the food, hehe. (If you've seen "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle", then you understand, even moreso if you realise that Vegas doesn't have White Castle.)
But the last day we hung out with family: Josh had to go home, but Nichole and Melanie (I'm pretty sure that was her name, she was so quiet) stayed for awhile, and Terry and Karen and Charlie too. Of course, Nathan's grandparents were there as well, and it was good to relax Saturday before getting up at "oh-dark-hundred" to catch our plane Sunday morning.

So now I have to go to work, and then come home and do all kinds of crazy homework (since Cliff won't answer his phone and Ryan has no idea how far we're supposed to be) and *then* school tomorrow, and THEN maybe I can get to settling back into life.