Welcome to Amerika

My parents have a student from the ministry in Slovakia on project with them in Gatlinburg this summer. I met Jakub a few times during the spring semester but really got to know him on the trip to Serbia last summer. Friday night I picked him up at the airport in Atlanta, and he spent the weekend here in Clemson before I took him to Gatlinburg. Aaron (my SK teammate) and Meredith spent the weekend here too, and we had so much fun showing Jakub around Clemson!
After he slept til noon the first day, we took him straight to Cracker Barrel. Aaron got him some sweet tea and macaroni and cheese- I don't think he'll be ordering any more sweet tea while he's here!


Before we left for Cracker Barrel he discovered the rocking chairs on my front porch. He also tapped on the vinyl siding and said, "It's not wood?" Haha- how do you explain vinyl siding?

After lunch we went to Wal-Mart to look at guns and get some "cosmetics." Also known as toiletries. We made him use the self-checkout and he said, "Wow- you don't have to talk to anyone."

Then we went on a tour of the greatest place on earth- Clemson, South Carolina. Complete with Death Valley and Howard's Rock and hanging out in the dugout at the baseball field.

Jakub was so amazed by the queen size bed in Kevin's room that we gave him the king size in Gatlinburg. I think this was the first thing he really wanted a picture of.

It was pretty interesting looking at America from a non-American's perspective. I also have a new understanding of how Slovaks see us when we are in their culture. And why they talk about so much us in Slovak so that we can't understand. It's a funny thing to learn a new culture.

One last Jakub story- we were standing in Corky's BBQ and looking into one of the side rooms. Jakub said, "A picture of Elvis, baseball on tv, and people stuffing their faces with fried chicken. I need a picture." Welcome to Amerika.