Rochester, NY
1:30 AM
It’s been a blast showing a foreigner around Rochester. Charles arrived on time from England, at 5:30 yesterday. The poor, as he says it, chap, had no idea where he’d be staying in Rochester. I never emailed him back and told him he’d be staying with me. The whole flight over I bet he was wondering if he’d have to find a hotel. I think he was pleasantly surprised to find that he had a room at house on Lake Ontario. He took a walk on the beach this morning while I worked.
Last night he met the folks and we introduced him to sweet potatoes. He enjoyed the chicken and the zucchini, which he called something else that I can’t recall right now. There are a lot of language differences, but nothing too major. Yield is give way. Sleeping in is lie in. There is more.
After dinner we went downtown. It was pretty quiet, but he saw some people in costume. They do celebrate Halloween in England, but it sounds like the adults don’t do as much costuming. He was tired from the trip and we were back to the house by midnight (5 AM) his time.
Today’s weather started out nice, but I wasted most of it working. We left the house at 11 and I showed him the public beach, the post office, the bank, and the grocery store. He was impressed by the many selections and was also surprised at our minimal section of pies (pot pies). He explained the difference between cookies and biscuits. Biscuits seem to be plain cookies. Cookies have chocolate chips or something added to them.
We got the pork tenderloin, baking potatoes (he pronounces it differently), and broccoli. I marinated the meat and then we were off to lunch. We had a burger at the Big Apple Cafe on Park Avenue and tried to walk around, but the rain was upon us. Charles is a train aficionado, so I took him the Amtrak station. He said it looked unused compared to the stations in the UK. Timing was on our side. 3 minutes after we arrived, a passenger train entered the station. He took a picture of that. I bet he has a better impression of the Gatwick Express, where he works.
From the train we decided between the mall or the Rochester Museum and Science Center. We chose the RMSC. It was a grand time. He did a few weather forecasts and we taped it. My parents and sister and future BIL had a lot of laughs watching the tape after dinner. I was on for one segment. At the museum, I also explained to Charles about the Native Americans. There were a lot of exhibits. He was surprised to learn that they inhabited the States just 300 years ago. I also explained about slavery, as they had a Fredrick Douglas exhibit.
I was very impressed by the time capsule from 1873 that was on display. There were all sorts of records, listings of social groups, and currency. Time was too short. I will have to go back.
We had a good dinner with the family. Tomorrow the weather should be better and we will do some bonding with Mother Nature. Charles crashed out early and my mom and I watched The Interpreter. Not bad. Time for bed and another day of hosting.