Rick, I've already edited the emails myself so there's no need for further editing. Thanks for blogging my email; it's great that the online community want to read it. The messages on whatsapp have been very supportive, and I hope this next part of my travels gets good reviews. I also like the fact that nobody is interested in what Mr Hall has to say on whatsapp! I also have a few more friends who's emails I have, and can inform them of my travels.
One of them is Kyt who is flying to Chicago next month with Mel and Hung, to participate in the Great Chicago Marathon. This means a possible trip across America to cheer him on! There are several options available: walk, cycle, drive, Amtrak, greyhound or fly. To my followers, please let me know your thoughts about how I should get to Chicago?
Last Wednesday I moved from the outskirts to Downtown, swapping the very comfortable Best Western Hotel for the Hostel Inn. The Hostel is only a year old and it definitely has a new feel to the decor. Because it's not in a conventional tourist city, most travelers pass through on their way to other destinations. It's inexpensive in comparison to the hotel, but your sleeping in a six-bed dorm. Even with earplugs, the constant disruption and noise makes sleeping a difficult task. But other positive aspects to living in a hostel, is that you have cooking facilities and you get to meet a great variety of people.
The first person I spoke to was Santiago and his canine companion Thera, from Mexico. Naturally, any conversation between two travelers starts with "what are you doing...?" So I told him about my volunteering for Hillary Clinton campaign, which as a Mexican, he fully supported. His story, however, is a much more remarkable journey, both internationally and spiritually. He is "Walking for Humanity," traveling from Puebla Mexica to Istanbul. He'll then go to the Turkish-Syrian border to build a hospital for those refugees fleeing the very destructive civil war in Syria. He had already traveled through Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, both Carolina's before meeting me. He left last Thursday and was heading to New York, his last stop in the United States. For those who are interested, go to Facebook@walkingforhumanity to discover more about Santiago and Thera's incredible journey.
In my dorm I met two South Koreans, Choo and Dong "Chief" Won. They're both in the U.S. Navy taking a bit of R 'n' R, and although there English was not great, they're very friendly and engaging in conversation. Chief, who had only recently arrived, left behind a two-week old son who he would not see for another eight months. We both mused (when we first met) that his wife would be calling him constantly; Low and behold, she did! In addition, I met Ulrich from Vienna, Austria. He had been in New York and had driven down Skyline Drive, part of Shenandoah National Park. He was very much interested in politics, and we talked about Austrian, British and American current affairs. His English was very good, but when he spoke, sounded like Rainier Wolfcastle from the Simpsons, which made it difficult to concentrate when having a conversation. We went to the Penny Lane and watched the first presidential debate together, before he went back to New York. I also met Mike from Indiana at the PL, Depauli, a gorgeous looking Indian-American at the Oktoberfest street festival, Sania and her daughter Mia at the Indian Festival and Lea, a forty something year-old "man-eater" with ADHD, who dates men in their mid-twenties. Fortunately, I was too old to be a potential target. I was happy about that.
What I like most when out and about in the city, are random events. There are numerous homeless people, black and white, who ask me for directions and money. I give the occasional dollar and the most I gave was $5 to a young black family. The weirdest interaction was with this "white homie-less" who asked me for money for the bus. He was called "Bubba" and he stank of body odour and booze. He was hanging around other homeless people and his reasoning for the bus ticket, "was to get away from these other guys." I was a little confused because he could, at any time, just walk away from them; more than likely he probably wanted the money for more alcohol. I didn't give him any money.
Of course, you meet and greet people all the time and then go-on your way. One guy who I met after shopping in Kroger, was James. He had loads of shopping which he had to transport on the Bus and then walk a fair distance after his journey. We discussed the unpredictability of the GRTC system, Princess Diana, and his son, who DJs in New York. I helped him with his shopping onto the bus and he gave me a fruit memento. Another guy, who gave me directions to get to Belle Island, complained about the "violence" in the country and asked me "whether or not we had the same amount of violence in the UK?" I responded, "that we didn't have this amount of gun violence because we have very strict gun laws," and continued "but we still have murderers, rapists, paedos and fraudulent bankers." Although I left him after that, he was a man who I think, had seen too much violence in his lifetime and he opined "the violence, man! it's all around here," "all in this neighbourhood!" Our conversation however, did take place just after the shooting that took place in Charlotte, NC and that may have been in his thoughts at the time.
My favourite random meeting so far was with a woman called Charlene, from Wisconsin. I was in 'Rite Aid,' similar to 'Superdrug' in the UK and looking for plasters, which Americans know as "bandages." Charlene overheard or, should I say, misheard and directed me to the rubbing alcohol and suggested I use the 90% instead of the 70% which would get rid of the itching. Charlene, however was referring to the itching she got after she removed a tick that had bitten her. Her dog too also got ticks, and she explained to me the difficulty of removing them because they were so close to the dog's eyes. I asked her "how she removed the tick from her body," which she replied: "I just pulled it out." I was amazed by this because it can be very dangerous removing a tick; you may end up squeezing it, injecting blood into your body and a variety of diseases that ticks carry on them. Charlene then talked about another mite (a relative of the tick) called "chiggers," which you also can catch when walking in tall grass. However, the conversation got a little deeper. She was explaining her "chigger" story to her daughter's boyfriend, who, not paying full attention, thought she said the word "niggers." Thinking that Charlene had used an "offensive" word, the boyfriend got into a right "huff 'n' puff," until she had correctly explained her story. We then talked about Britain and the time she went to Yorkshire. Her family geneaology descends from the Yorkshire area, and that's, where she believes, gets her humour. What I love, and maybe because she was talking to another white person, was her unabashed use of the word 'nigger' even though she knew it was a derogatory term. Maybe it is generational thing; I remember my late Great Aunt using the word nigger in the nursery rhyme 'eenie, meeny, miny, moe,' and also my vodka and tonic gran cheekily using the word 'coon' when talking about inhabitants of the Caribbean, one time. But I will always remember this event as the "chigger-nigger" meeting. I think it should be made into a kids story.
As I've orientated myself to the city, getting around now, is no problem. I went to see the Holocaust Museum in Shockoe, established by Jewish survivors who made a life for themselves in Richmond. For someone who has studied the Third Reich, the museum is both illuminating and frustrating at the same time. Like most "conservative" or "traditional" interpretations of Nazi Germany, it follows the "mad-man theory" which begins with Hitler and ends with Holocaust, without explaining the dynamics of German society between 1933-1941/2. In addition, like a lot nation-creating myths, the story it presents, proposes that the "Shoah" was the price Jews had to pay which led to the establishment of the state of Israel. Like most national movements that lead to independence, they are bloody and violent, and somebody always loses out. Everyone should read about the exploits of Haganah, Irgun and the Lehi in Israeli history. Although President Harry S Truman endorsed the establishment of the State of Israel, through a 'guilty conscience,' it's creation had nothing to do with the holocaust. To anyone visiting any museum or reading a history book, be aware of the politics that is associated with any topic of history. My knowledge, however, was illuminated by the Nuremburg Trials exhibit, Jewish resistance and those who hid Jews from Nazi authorities. There is also a tremendous amount of information which focused on events in Lithuania and memorials (especially of children) to the victims of Nazi crimes.
Continuing with the German theme, I was at an Oktoberfest street festival organised by the Capital Ale House Downtown. There was live music, food stalls and of course, beer. I had a couple of steins of Oktoberfest weisebrau and a giant pretzel. I got there quite late and therefore had to move on soon afterwards, where I bumped into Michael from the Penny Lane, just as a Wedding party arrived. For an evening that was meant to be quiet, I had good time!
One of my sadist friends wants two things from me whilst in the U.S.. One, is to speak on a local radio station and the second, to gain weight and return as plump, pot-bellied Benny! The first still needs arranging, but i'm well on the way on the second. In the first week, I arrived just in time (15-9) for 'National Double-Beef Burger Day.' I went to TGI Fridays for my burger which was expensive and dissapointing. As well as stuffing myself with a giant pretzel at Oktoberfest, I went to the Italian (American) Food Festival where I ate Chicken Parmigiana in a toasted bread roll, with fries and watched a meatball eating and pizza throwing contest. After an afternoon nap, I went to the Indian Festival and ate Pyaaj Kachori, gulab jamun and paan. Like most Asian cuisine, and I do love spicy food, the food is great - the Thai food that I ate in Thailand being the best food I've eaten - their desserts pale in comparison to Western puddings. Paan, is mixture of herbs and spices which you chew after a meal. Some are hallucinogenic, but this one was quite minty and worth trying - it did settle my stomach. I also went to the Richmond 2nd Street Festival, which had music, a catwalk, classic cars, radio stalls and clothing stalls. Most importantly it had food stalls and I chose to eat from one called 'The Cultured Swine.' I had jerk chicken in a soft tortilla wrap with mango and banana chutney and a portion of seasoned fries. To wash it all down, and I haven't tried too many desserts, went to a stall serving deep-fried oreos. I wasn't that impressed, and I should of had the funnel cake with strawberry sauce instead. Plenty of time.... The street festivals are great, it allows everyone from the local community to get involved, injecting a bit of income into local pockets and strengthening the neighbourhood.
Last, but not least I have to talk about politics. The campaign is going well, and canvassing voters is the most fun aspect of my volunteer work. I do like talking to people, and people like talking to me. Due to campaigning being about getting people to vote, campaiging strategy 'kind of' dictates the people you speak to and the pitch you have to sell. It means that I've discovered more about peoples' political opinions and perspectives from the hostel, festivals and on the street rather on the campaign trail itself. It's not just the candidates that are loathed, but the political party system, electoral college, gerrymandering, and state v. federal political tug of war. Political apathy here is rampant, just like in Britain, which is why Bernie Sanders would have been a much better choice for the Democratic candidate. After the first presidential debate, Clinton has had marginal gains on Trump, but we haven't learned anything new about the candidates, and furthermore, this debate won't have a deciding factor on the election itself, nor persuading voters which way they should vote. Clinton's biggest problem is that she comes across too robotic in front of the cameras. The other problem is that she didn't squeeze Trump harder to get more information when she taunted him about his past indiscretions. The story about the ex-Miss Universe Alicia Machado has consumed the papers this week, which means Trump will be 'off message.' That Clinton didn't push Trump harder about his tax returns during the debate was a mistake. However, it's been revealed that he hasn't paid federal taxes in over two decades, which again, will keep the Trump campaign off message and on the back-foot. The vice-presidential candidates go head-to-head this Thursday in live television debate. Again, this won't have any bearing on the election, but gives Tim Kaine and Mike Pence a chance to show their credentials. But it could also keep the Trump campaign on the back-foot if Kaine can get more information about Trump's tax returns. The polls look good, but there's a long way to go....
Speak to you soon.
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