Done with Iowa; down to KC

I just wrapped up an excellent week in Iowa, except for the lame-o bit about rising at 4 a.m. to edit articles for my Turkish newspaper, and not touching base with Nathaniel or John.

Here’s a run-down of the high points: On Wednesday I rendevoused with four of the girls who were in party for Derek’s wedding. They were traveling from California to Chicago to see off one of the girls who is starting a Master’s degree at Wheaton, so I met up with them in Newton. From there I took the bonnie lasses on a short Iowa cultural immersion project which included a trip to the Jasper County Fair. They were a bit out of their element with being up close to all the hogs and cattle, but still enjoyed it enormously. Us Mid Westerners are incredible, aren’t we?

On Friday some friends from Iowa State came down to Knoxville. This was both a cool and bitersweet time, as most of them are either wrapping up their Master’s Degree and/or leaving Iowa, which means that get-togethers like this likely won’t happen on the same scale again. My college friendships will go the distance (I believe) but i’ll probably only see 1 or 2 at a time, not 4 or 6. But to commemorate the occasion we drowned it in pork and fired a ridiculously high-powered potato gun (about 50 pounds of pressure) multiple times.

I stayed at the childhood homestead in Knoxville. My dad built an impressive new deck in the back which looks perfect for smoking nargile, but on a sadder note he has also surrender in a long-term land war between himself and the deer in teh backyard that would eat his hostas. Some of his methods used in the past to keep the deer away included low-lying fences, automatic sprinkler systems and even electrical fences. But the deer’s sheer appetite and willingness to be on the wrong end of an animal cruelty law meant they won out in the long term.

The weekend was spent up in Ames. My friends Peter, Greg and I played croquet at Iowa State in front of the campanile. A picture of us in action would have been worthy of an ISU brochure. That evening a group of us watched a document called Into Great Silence, which is about the lives of an order of Carthusian monks that live in a monastery in the French Alps. The guys live an extremely austere life and never talk except for chanting and bits of conversation that are allowed on the weekends. The best part of the film is that it focuses on the monks humanity, and rather than be empty shells of a person whose humanity has been robbed by endless silence, they actually appear more human, and refined by the joy that comes with a life of contemplation and meditation.

So its Monday and I’m in Kansas City for the week. A few highlights might included kicking with my mom, sister and brother-in-law, seeing a Royals game and shooting guns. That’s all I know.

p.s. — While in America I’ve met lots of random people who read this blog that I never imagined would. Don’t be shy — write a post!