Friends from across the pond.

It was the fall of 2005 in Salamanca, Spain. The greeter thought that it would be a good idea to sit the young lady from Germany visiting the church next to the young lady visiting from North Carolina, they would be able to talk since both of them spoke English.

Fast-foward a couple of months and the young lady from North Carolina (Laura) is staying with the young lady from Germany (Marietta Dietrich) and her family in Solingen, Germany.

Now skip ahead to January 31st, 2008. Laura's husband is dropping Marietta and her boyfriend (Tim Mueller) off at the airport in Charlotte, NC. Marietta has been with Laura and Chris for nearly three weeks and Tim has been with them for nearly two.

It is those three weeks that are the subject of this entry. Laura and I were blessed with the opportunity to have Tim and Marietta stay with us and, for a very short time, become part of our lives here in Winston Salem. Marietta arrived on Sunday, January 13th. She was with us a week before Tim arrived. Marietta would join Laura in adventures that Chris would not have fully appreciated. One of which was a facial night that involved some sort of carrot concoction.

Marietta's first few days here were spent catching up on rest and checking out some local sites (Old Bethabara Village, Hanes Mall, Reynolda Village, Wake, etc.). She and Laura enjoyed some quality girl time that included shopping and cooking as well as some other things that this author is not fully aware of. It snowed on Thursday and Saturday, which is the topic of the previous post.

Tim arrived in Charlotte on Saturday, January 19th, sometime around 8:45 pm. Laura and I were both off from school on Monday, so we had planned to spend the weekend in Charlotte. After picking Tim up at the airport, the four of us went to check into our hotel and grab a late dinner. On Sunday we all went to church at Uptown Pres. in Charlotte where we met up with Lauren Johnson, whose company and Charlotte savvy we would enjoy for the rest of the day. Lauren graduated from Wake with Laura and is now in seminary at RTS in Charlotte. The five of us enjoyed lunch at a great salad restaurant (Brixx), a film at the Imax, cards & football in the hotel lounge, and dinner & football at my new favorite Charlotte restaurant (the name of which eludes me, but I will get it!). The night ended with Tim and I watching the Giants and Packers in a great NFC championship game that ended in overtime. It was Tim's first, but not last, American sporting event experience of his stay.

On Monday, the four of us went to the Spurs/Bobcats game in Charlotte. It was Laura, Tim, and Marietta's first NBA game. After the game we all went to the mall and did a little shopping before heading back to Winston Salem.

On Tuesday night Tim and I joined a few guys from my class at Fox 'n Hound for dinner. We watched the Wake/Clemson game on the big screen there and Tim picked up on the reality that college games have much more energy and fan interest than NBA games do. After an overtime NFL game on TV, an NBA game in person, and an overtime college bball game on TV, it was time for a college bball game in person. The next opportunity would be the following Tuesday night when Wake played Miami at Wake...

After a Wednesday of exploring Winston Salem and a dinner for four at the apartment, Tim, Marietta and I headed to the Amtrak station in Greensboro Thursday morning so the two of them could catch a train to D.C. We arrived at the station minutes before the train's departure. Marietta ran to get into the ticket line, she picked up their tickets and the two of them took off running to catch the train. They reached the boarding platform just in time... to watch the train leave. The next train for D.C. did not leave until the next morning, what to do? The Greyhound station was next door, might as well see if there was a bus they could get on. Fortunately, there was a bus leaving a bout an hour later that would get them to D.C. that evening. Amtrak refunded their money from the train ticket and they purchased a bus ticket. Interesting morning, but it all worked out.

Tim and Marietta spent 3 nights in D.C., Laura and I picked them up from the train station on Monday night. They had a great time in D.C. and we had only a few days remaining before they had to get on a plane headed back to Germany. Tim went with me to class on Tuesday morning. He had the wonderful experience of sitting through Constitutional Law II and Conflicts of Laws. We had an hour break between classes which we used to walk around the campus and pick up some t-shirts at the bookstore. Earlier in her visit, Marietta had gone to a class with Rachael Bryan, so both of them were able to get a taste of what University classes are like here.

Tuesday night Tim and Marietta had the wonderful privilege of experiencing a meal at IHOP. Since the International House of Pancakes is not actually international, they had never been to one before. Ben Mitchell and Ben Moeller (both classmates of mine) joined us for dinner then Tim, Ben, Ben, and I walked over to the coliseum for the Wake/Miami game. Laura and Marietta went to get dessert at Midtown and then attended R.U.F.

Adam Chapman (another classmate of mine) joined us for the game. Our tickets were on the third row behind one of the baskets. It turned out to be a great game, Wake lead throughout but Miami tied it up with about one minute left. With the game tied, Wake was able to keep Miami from scoring and get the ball back. They called timeout with about 30 seconds to go and the ball, needing to score on our end of the court. Ish Smith let the clock get down to about 10 seconds, drove on his guy, then pulled up to hit the winning shot with 2.6 seconds left in the game. It was a great game and we were fortunate to have great seats. This is an AP photo of Ish taking the game winning shot, the guy in the red circle is Tim. He enjoyed his first college bball experience and his suspicions about the passion and energy of college basketball were confirmed.

On Wednesday Tim and Marietta packed up and prepared for their departure. They spent part of the day running a few more errands around Winston. Tim, Marietta and Laura baked cookies later that afternoon. That night, after picking me up from school, we took the cookies to Ling an (Asian lady whose family owns an Asian restaurant that Laura and I frequent). The Asian Bistro had provided Marietta's first meal in the States on her first night here, so it was fitting that she and Laura took Ling (who is ALWAYS working there) cookies on her last night here. The four of us then enjoyed one last dinner together (for now) at one of Laura and Is favorite locale restaurants, River Birch Lodge. We are very thankful for the time that we were able to spend with Tim and Marietta and all the wonderful memories we have from their visit!