White people, USA

I have nothing against white people. I happen to be white. Sometimes I'm a little disappointed; I feel much more Asian than Caucasian. I went to high school and college surrounded by many different colors. I went to China and was surrounded by Chinese people. At grad school I'm also surrounded by tons of international students.

So today was a bit of a culture shock when several of my friends and I drove east to Nashville, Indiana. It was a beautiful fall day for a beautiful fall drive. We were headed for a quaint town nestled in the hills of east central Indiana.

I imagined a quiet main street with tiny restaurants and maybe a few people in flannel shirts and jeans or something. I guess that was partially true, except that main street was filled with thundering pick-up trucks, motorcycles, and tons of rather large white people. It was fascinating. It was like white people's Disneyland. I couldn't quite figure out why there were millions of people in this middle-of-nowhere town that was only filled with candy and Christmas knickknack shops. It was almost as crowded as China. These are some things I noted:

-People ate cotton candy.
-People ate fudge.
-People ate hotdogs.
-People ate cotton candy, fudge, and hotdogs all at once.
-People shopped with at least 10 ten children per family.
-People owned Harley-Davidson everything; the bike, the attire, etc.
-People wore plenty of camouflage.
-People bought confederate flags. Wasn't Indiana a part of the Union?
-People ate, ate, ate.

The highlight was when we ate at "Calzone Jones," an earthy little restaurant with an owner named Frank, who wore suspenders, and had a gray mustache the size of Texas. His family worked with him. They all shouted like they were deaf. Here is one conversation we heard word-for-word between the twenty-something girl on the phone with her grandma--probably Frank's wife. Everyone stopped to listen. You couldn't help but listen.

"IS MOMMY THERE? MEEMAW, IS MOMMY THERE? YES, MEEMAW, I LOVE YOU TOO!!"

A few minutes later another daughter actually shouted to all the restaurant patrons, "CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION?!"

The whole restaurant came to an awkward silence. Was the building burning down? Nope. She went on to explain in her booming voice:

"ALL THE OVENS ARE FULL! ALL THE OVENS ARE FULL WITH STUFF RIGHT NOW! PLEASE BE PATIENT!"

I couldn't help but laugh. That place had character. Frank, who must have been about 80 years old, also advertised his "debut CD" on sale for only $13.00. They played it in the restaurant. Frank plays the fiddle, of course. If I ever return, which I probably won't, perhaps I'll think about purchasing a copy.

So it was a bizarre town, but it was so fun to hang out with friends, take a break from studying for mid-terms, and just wander around aimlessly.

I hope you're having a beautifully blessed weekend!


In Nashville with my Chinese-American friend, Yee. We were both a little scared by all the white people and white people stuff.


Chinese pose.


A picture-perfect church.


Vanessa outside of Frank's place.


Our group from IU Graduate-Faculty Ministry.