Time Capsule - W

Cold weather means doing a bit of cleaning and discarding.  I was moving a file cabinet and found this bit of history behind it.

I can date it precisely.  Late Summer of 2004.

We had a German student staying with us for a month or so.  It was not an official Foreign Exchange situation, just providing a bit of US experience for a kid as a favor to a friend.  It  worked out although I recall our own kids being lukewarm to the concept.  I think its important for foreign travelers to see something of the US beyond what they see on TV and what they encounter in the usual destinations:  New York, Florida, Washington DC and, God help us, Vegas.  Germans also are, in my experience, infatuated with Texas.

So we took the lad to a Demolition Derby.  Car obsessed Germans have a hard time getting their minds around the concept of purposeful destruction of automobiles just for fun.  We sat close enough to get sprayed with mud.  He was impressed.

Not long after that we asked if he'd be interested in seeing the President.  "Really?" he asked.  Sure.  There was an election coming up and George W. Bush was coming to town for a rally.  A phone call or two got us tickets.  

It was held at a local factory that made cardboard products.  I don't remember it being especially remarkable.  Big crowd.  Helicopters overhead.  A brief speech that was pretty much a recitation of the usual stuff.

But for a German this was a unique event.  Given their troubled 20th century history political parties don't hold big rallies.  Too "Nuremburg" I guess.  But there we were.  We each got a big cardboard W to wave around.  Maybe he liked President Bush a bit more because of his Texas origins.

A few years later we did visit the student back in his home country.  Later still I understand he moved to the US and started a successful restaurant chain.

It was in Texas of course.