A Taste of Korean

On Sunday we got together with Kathryn (aka Catalina), a former student of mine.  Kathryn lived and worked for a number of years in South Korea where she taught English.  She suggested that we have lunch at a little Korean restaurant in the Cleveland suburb of Parma.  We had forgotten that Sunday was Father's Day, and the place was packed when we arrived.  We had to wait about 20 minutes for a table.  The clientele was mainly people from Korea or of Korean descent, which was a good sign that the food is authentic.  (The Korean community in Greater Cleveland number more than 5,5The dishes were identified on the menu with Korean characters, than transposed to our alphabet, and described in English.  Kathryn was familiar with and had eaten most of the items when she lived there.

She ordered a very large bowl of soup (whose name I can't remember).  It was a meal in itself.

We were puzzled by the pair of scissors that were placed on the table.  She explained that the noodles in the soup are very long, and you cut them with the scissors.

We ordered two different types of Korean barbeque.

It was great to see Kathryn again and to try some new kinds of food!

Slurge at a Historic Restaurant

 Last Friday we did not have any dinner plans with friends so I suggested we splurge and go to what is perhaps the most elegant restaurant in Strongsville... the Pomeroy House.

The restaurant is housed in a historic house that was built in 1847.  The original owners were Alanson Pomeroy and his wife Kezia.  Pomeroy was a prominent citizen of Strongsville.  He was the Justice of the Peace, a leader of the Congregational Church, founded the Bank of Berea, and built the town's general store.

Portraits of Alanson and Kezia hang in the dining room.

The two of them were active in the abolitionist movement, and the house served as a stop along the Underground Railroad.  Runaway slaves would be brought to the house from Oberlin by night, concealed in a load of hay.  They would be hidden in the cellar until they could be transported to Lake Erie where a boat would take them to Canada.

By the 1960's the house was abandoned and had fallen into disrepair, but the people of Strongsville strongly resisted any attempt to demolish the house.  In 1975 the house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Shortly afterward the it was purchased by a local restauranteur.  The building was meticulously restored, and in 1980 the restaurant was opened.

It had been a long time since I had eaten there.  Although the restaurant is rather pricey, the food is excellent.  It was a real treat to eat at this historic restaurant.

A Step Above the Ordinary

Last week when we got together with our friends Nancy and Fred, we met at a Mexican restaurant in the Cleveland suburb of Independence called "Gran Fiesta Mexicana.  Most Mexican restaurants up here, even if they claim to "authentic", are more "Tex-Mex" than true Mexican cuisine.  That is what most "gringo" diners expect.

"Gran Fiesta" is an attractive place that is decorated with Mexican-themed pictures an murals.

A "jimador" is a man who harvests the agave plants to make tequila.

Although the restaurant menu includes some "Tex-Mex" dishes that are not authentically Mexican, my attention was immediately drawn to a dish that I have never seen on a menu up here... chicken in "pipián" sauce.

"Pipián" is a type of "mole" that is made from pumpkin seeds.  That's what I ordered, and I was very happy with my choice.  It was very good, and it tasted authentic.  The side of vegetables was also a nice touch that is rarely seen in Mexican restaurants up here.

I would definitely rank "Gran Fiesta" above most of the Mexican restaurants in the area. 

A Social Whirl

I came to Ohio to take care of some business (renewing my Ohio driver's license and getting a new debit card from my bank), but, of course, my trip included visits with as many of my friends as possible.  I actually had to make a calendar to keep track of whom I was visiting on what day.

Here are some of the friends that we have seen so far.  We will be in Ohio for several more days and each day is booked with more people to see.

Katie was one of my colleagues in the foreign language department.

She is still teaching French, although in a different high school now.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see her husband, son or daughter because they were all in France at the time.

 We spent three days with our friends Cliff and Jeramie.

One evening, we went out for dinner at "Das Schnitzel Haus", our favorite German restaurant in the Cleveland area.  You may recognize them from when they visited me in Mexico City several years ago.

Joining us at "Das Schnitzel Haus" was our friend Frank.  Frank used to housesit for me when I would travel to Mexico.

Irma has made numerous appearances here on the blog.  I have known her for many, many years.

She was born in Mexico, and was the wife of one of many college Spanish professors.

Another person who has appeared here many times is my cousin Gail.

She invited us for lunch at her home one day.

Nancy and Fred have also been guest stars on the blog.  Nancy was a math teacher where I taught.  I have played "tour guide" for them in Mérida, Yucatán, and in Mexico City.

There were other engagements with friends whom I forget to photograph, and, as I said, there are more friends to visit in the upcoming days.  It has definitely been a social whirl. 

 

What a Dump!

 Last year when we traveled to Ohio we stayed at the Best Western Hotel in Strongsville.  The hotel was fine.  Our only problem with it was that they had no room safe, so we had to carry our passports and other valuables with us whenever we left the room.

When I looked at Hotels.com to book a room for this trip, the hotel description of the Best Western said that there was a safe at the front desk.  So, I thought, "OK", and I went ahead and made reservations for our trip.  We stayed at the hotel for the first two nights, and then we spent three nights at the home of friends.  We then returned to the Best Western for the rest of our time in Ohio.

The room for our first two nights was not very clean.  There were crumbs on the floor and stains on the sheet and pillowcase.  You could not open the faucet of the bathroom sink without banging against the lighted, glass frame of the mirror. (See photo below.)  Someday, someone is going to end up cracking that glass frame.  I asked the young woman at the front desk about putting our valuables in the safe.  She was clueless, so, once again we ended up carrying our pouches with passports, extra cash and cards around our necks everywhere we went. The next day when we returned from running errands and having lunch with a friend, housekeeping had not made up the room.

Three days later, when we returned to the hotel, we had a different room on a different floor.  This room looked clean.  And the bathroom mirror had been properly hung, several inches higher. so that the faucet handle did not knock against the frame.  I thought that this room was going to be all right.

 

The next night, when we returned to our room around 10 PM, the room had not been made up.  I looked at the card with hotel information and read that the rooms are cleaned every five days.  Certainly, we don't need clean towels and fresh bed linens every day.  That's a waste of water.  However, I would expect housekeeping to make the bed, empty the wastebaskets and check to see if we need toiletries.  We did in fact need toilet paper, so I went down to the front desk.  The young fellow did not know where the toilet paper was stored, but he said he would bring a roll up to our room (which he did several minutes later).  I told him that I would like housekeeping to come the next day.

The next morning, by the elevator, someone had spilled pop, and the floor was sticky.  Two days later, the floor still had not been mopped.  I went to the front desk and asked about housekeeping.  The night employee had not put us down.  I explained that all we needed was to have the bed made, the wastebaskets emptied and fresh toiletries put in the bathroom.  She said she would just put us down for a full cleaning.  I thought, fine.  I was not going to pursue it.  When we returned to our room in the evening, housekeeping had been there.  The wastebaskets were empty, and fresh towels (which we really didn't need) were in the bathroom.  However, she left the towel I had used hanging on the bathroom door.  She had not given us any more toiletries, and she had not made the bed.

That night, I wanted to do some laundry.  I had a supply of quarters, and I went to reception to buy some detergent.  The same young man said that they were all out.  "When will you have some?" I asked.  "I couldn't tell you," he said.  So, I had to buy some laundry soap at the supermarket.  When I got around to washing clothes, it looked as if the laundry room floor had not been swept for a month.

Next day, around noon, before we went out for the day, the internet went out.  When we returned around 10:30 PM, it still was not working.  I went to the front desk again.  A different young man said he would have housekeeping reset the Wi-Fi.  OK, since when is housekeeping in charge of the internet?  Next morning the internet was still not working.  As we left for breakfast, I told the gentleman at the desk about it.  This fellow, an older employee that I remember from last year, seems to be the only one who knows what he is doing.  He immediately called maintenance (not housekeeping!).  When we returned to the room after breakfast, the Wi-Fi was working.  And so I was able to work on the blog once again.

We still have several days left here, and who knows what further problems we will encounter.

It is amazing how quickly this hotel has gone downhill.  Needless to say, the next time we travel to Ohio, we will NOT be staying here.

Red Moon

Tuesday was the full moon of June.  Native Americans referred to it as the "strawberry moon", because this is the time of year when wild strawberries appear.  From the window of our hotel we had a good view of the moon.

Because this full moon is the lowest on the horizon, atmospheric conditions tend to give it a reddish color.  This year the color was especially pronounced in Ohio because of smoke drifting southward from the Canadian wildfires.

Lights in the City

Last Saturday evening, we went with a couple of friends to downtown Cleveland to see the new light and sound show that is being presented every night on Public Square.

We parked a few blocks away, and I saw the new world headquarters of Sherwin Williams, the largest paint and coatings company in the world.  The last time I was in downtown Cleveland, the building was under construction.  It opened last year.

We also passed by the new convention center and the adjoining Hilton Hotel.  Although those buildings have been around for more than a decade, I had not seen them before.

We arrived at Public Square where Cleveland's iconic Terminal Tower stands.  When it was completed in 1927 it was the second tallest building in the world.

The Old Stone Church, the oldest building on Public Square, was built in 1855.  It was also illuminated and had projections on it and the building behind it.

There were lights projected on other Public Square buildings.

The Federal Courthouse

The Huntington Bank Buiding (originally the Sohio Building) is the third tallest building in Cleveland.

The Key Tower is the tallest skyscraper in Ohio.

I'm glad that we had a chance to see the lights, but frankly, I was expecting more.  Some important structures, such as the Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial were not illuminated.  The narration for the light and sound show was a generic advertisement for Cleveland.  It could have been more informative, highlighting the city's rich history.  Still, if you are in Cleveland, it is worth seeing.

In the Park

 After visiting the historic shopping district in Olmsted Falls, we headed just a couple blocks down the road to the covered bridge that crosses Plum Creek.  The Charles Harding Memorial Bridge is of recent construction (1998) and honors a local war hero who died in 1944 of wounds sustained in the Battle of Normandy.  The bridge is for pedestrian use only.

From there we followed a path that leads down to the David Fortier River Park.  It is located where Plum Creek flows into the west branch of the Rocky River.

The stone is the same sandstone for which the neighboring city of Berea was famous in the 19th century.  There were quarries in Olmsted Falls also.

As Plum Creek joins the river there are several small cascades which gave Olmsted Falls its name.

A water bird (a heron, I believe) was fishing along the bank of the river.

Welcome to Olmsted Falls

Although in some respects I consider Berea, Ohio, my hometown, I actually lived just across the city limits in the neighboring town of Olmsted Falls.  On Saturday we had a free day, and we drove there to explore its historic downtown.  After having lunch at Moosehead Tavern, a restaurant located in the old building that used to be the town's firehouse, we crossed the street to the Grand Pacific Junction shopping district.

Grand Pacific Junction is named after a hotel that was built in 1840.  It is one of about 30 buildings and storefronts that were restored in the 1990s to create a picturesque shopping district.

The former hotel is the building to the far left.  It now serves as a banquet hall.

The restoration of these buildings is thanks to the efforts by a local real estate man, Clint Williams, who, until he passed away a few years ago, was my neighbor.

  

An antique locomotive dating from 1922 stands on the site.

The former Masonic Temple has been converted into a wedding chapel.

The doors were open, and. since I had never seen the interior, we took a peek inside.

We went into some of the shops and bought a few things as gifts to take home to Mexico.  We then stopped at the ice cream shop.  Each of us had a double scoop.  At first I thought it was rather expensive, but then we saw the size of the serving.  It was enormous!  If we ever go there again, we will order a single scoop.

Another Task

There were two tasks which I wanted to accomplish on this trip to Ohio.  The first task... renewing my Ohio driver's license... was taken care of quite easily (as long as it arrives in the mail to my friend's house before my departure).  The other task... taking care of my bank debit card which expires at the end of this month... is not going as well.

Obviously, I do not want the card sent to my Mexican address.  The postal service here is not trustworthy.  My private mail service does not permit credit or debit cards to be sent through them.  Several weeks before leaving for Ohio I called the card company.  I told them that I would be in Ohio in June, and I asked if it would be possible to send the card to the branch where I still have my checking account.  He said no.  What he suggested is that I go to my bank, have them cancel the existing card, and they can then issue me a new card on the spot.

So that was the plan.  I had an appointment this past week with one of the bankers.  First, she was surprised that they would not send the card to the bank.  Unfortunately, my bank branch no longer issues debit cards.  I would have to go to another branch a few miles away.  While I was at my bank I took care of another matter.  I had been told last year by a bank advisor that I should have a secondary address of a friend or relative in Ohio listed on the account.  So, I gave the banker the address of a friend.

I then went to the other bank to have my debit card issued.  After a long wait, I talked with one of the bankers there.  She went to have the card printed up... but there was a problem.  Because I had just added another address to the account, the card issuer was suspicious.  The card will be sent to the bank in six to ten business days.  Now I have to keep my fingers crossed that the card will arrive before my departure date.

Welcome to Berea

Of course, our trip to Ohio has to include a visit to my old hometown of Berea, a suburb just to the southwest of Cleveland.

The city's emblem is a grindstone, a reminder of its history as an important center for the quarrying of sandstone.  In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Berea was the "Sandstone Capital of the World", and the stone quarried here was used not only to make grindstones, but as building material too.  Structures throughout the world, including the Canadian parliament building and supposedly a portion of the Kremlin in Moscow were built with Berea's high quality sandstone.

We parked the car, and took a short walk around one of Berea's most picturesque spots... Coe Lake Park.

This lake was the site of one of the city's several stone quarries.  This one was known as the "Big Quarry".  After the industry closed down in the 1930s due to the Great Depression and decreasing demand, the big hole just to the south of Berea's downtown, was filled in with water.  Since 2014 the area around the lake has been developed into a park that includes a  gazebo, an amphitheater, a nature trail, and a fountain in the middle of the lake.

My great-great grandfather immigrated from Switzerland to Berea in the late 1800s to work in the quarries.  It might have been here, at this lake, where he worked.

 The lake attracts waterfowl.  This pair of Canadian geese, and their three goslings were at the water's edge.

One Task Accomplished

My first full day back in Ohio...

Even though Mexico City is two hours behind Ohio's time zone, I was up at dawn at 6:00 AM (4 AM Mexico City time).

A beautiful view of the parking lot from my hotel window

The forecast called for a hot day (high temperature of over 90 F) and hazy sunshine.  There was an air quality advisory due to smoke drifting south from the wildfires in Canada.

I had breakfast at the hotel... nothing special but included in the price of the room.  I then got into my rental car and drove to the nearest Bureau of Motor Vehicles, arriving shortly after it opened at 8:00 AM.  There were already a number of people there, but my number was called in a matter of moments.  I explained my situation to the young lady who waited on me... that I am now living in Mexico, but that I still pay Ohio income taxes and that I am still a registered Ohio voter.  And I want to renew my Ohio license which will expire later this summer.  I do not drive in Mexico City, and have no desire for a license there.  However I need a valid license to be able to rent a car when I visit Ohio.  It was probably a situation that she had not encountered before, but she conferred with another employee, and, yes, I could renew it.

Four years ago, the last time I renewed my license, you waited at the bureau, and they gave you the new license then and there.  Now, the state of Ohio, in its infinite wisdom, sends the license to you in the mail.  I certainly did not want the license sent to my address in Mexico.  I would literally take months for it to arrive if it did not get completely lost in the web of the Mexican postal service.  So, I gave them the address of one of my friends in Ohio.  Everyone that I have spoken to says that their license arrived in nine or ten days, even though the Bureau says officially that it takes longer.  I am hoping that it arrives at my friend's house within the two weeks that I am in Ohio.

When last I renewed my license, I got the new version that serves as "Real ID".  Ohio still offers the old type of license as well as "Real ID".  From what I read on the internet, it sounded as if you needed all the documentation for renewal of the "Real ID" that was necessary the first time around.  Well, if I could only get the "old fashioned" driver's license that was OK since I have a passport to serve as my identification.  However, the lady said that my current license was all I needed to show.  After she filled out the form, she gave me the vision test and took my photo.

I was out of the office in less than a half hour.  My first task, one of the major purposes of this trip, was accomplished smoothly and quickly.

 

Flying North

Yesterday I flew from Mexico City to Cleveland with a layover in Houston.  I didn't have window seats, so there will be no photos of the flight.  But in my past travels, you have seen more than enough photos of taking off from Mexico City and landing in Houston.

Even though my flight did not leave until 11:35 AM, I left for the airport before 7:00.  That teachers' protest that I wrote about a couple weeks ago is continuing, and there have been some days that they have blocked the road leading to the airport.  I wanted to give the Uber driver plenty of time to find an alternate route if necessary.  As if turned out, there were no problems.  There was no line at all to check my luggage at the United desk, and I passed quickly through security.  Before 8:00, I was in the United Club lounge.  (My first class international ticket gives me admission to the lounge.)

I was able to relax for about almost three hours, and take advantage of the lounge's breakfast buffet, before heading to my gate.

I wrote the other day that the decline in international travel to the U.S. seemed to be reflected in my half-empty flight to Houston.  Usually, United's flights to the U.S. are fully booked, and they leave from a large hall at the far end of the concourse.  This time my flight left from a closer gate, and, even though the waiting area was smaller, there was more than enough seating for the passengers.  Later, during the flight, it was strange to look back and see so many empty seats.  

We pulled away from the gate right on time, but the runway was closed briefly for inspection (perhaps because of the heavy rains the night before).  So we arrived in Houston a little late, but that was not a problem.  I always book flights with a lengthy layover, so that I don't have to fret about making my connection if there is a delay.

In Houston there was no wait at all to pass through immigration.  None at all!  And at the other side, the line for non-U.S. citizens was not very long either.  I can't really attribute this to lucky timing.  I have flown the same schedule several times and have encountered long lines.  Again, it would seem that there is nothing fake about the news of declining travel to the U.S.  The immigration agent simply asked me if I was bringing any food, tobacco or alcohol... no interrogation about where I was coming from or how long I was there. Passing through security once again, there was a fairly long line, but not as long as those I was experienced on previous trips.

When we landed in Houston is was very dreary and rainy.  However, by the time I was in the United Club, the sun was shining.

I had more than an hour to relax in the lounge, and, of course, I took advantage of more free food!  After passing through security I was able to walk to the United Club and then walk to the gate for my flight to Cleveland.  I did not have to take the train between terminals.

My flight to Cleveland at Gate E9 pulled away from the gate right on time.

There were more people on this flight, but it was not fully booked.  It seemed strange not to hear the agent at podium say, "We have a very full flight today..."

The flight arrived in Cleveland about twenty minutes early.  I retrieved my luggage and took the shuttle to the car rental center.  The past two trips to Ohio, by the time I arrived, all they had left were SUVs, even though I had reserved a mid-sized car.  This time there was a Nissan Altima waiting for me.  It was really rather fun to get behind the wheel and drive along the tranquil streets of suburban Cleveland late at night.  By 11 PM I was in my hotel room.

So, even though it was a very long day, everything went very smoothly.