the Bayou City?
Amanda
Mahmoudi
"Yet again, Amanda Mahmoudi finds herself in a strange predicament."
- The voice inside my head
After what seems like a lifetime of complaining about how horrible Houston is, I find myself in the position of having to show it off.
Isn't it ironic?
Some very dear friends of mine are visiting me from Germany (one of them just happens to be Stefan from my Valentine's Day column, for my loyal readers). Naturally, I feel obligated to show them a good time.
I want to show them that Houston, a city of over 4 million people, is far superior to their Waldshut, a town of just above 11,000.
Although they arrived just yesterday, they seem surprisingly taken with the city.
On the way home from Hobby Airport (a.k.a. Airport from Hell), they couldn't stop talking about how "cool" the highway system is here.
As we passed the Cullen exit on I-45, I pointed toward the Moody Towers and said, "See those buildings? That's where the university is." This was met with more "cool" and "wow."
Obviously, they need to see inside the Towers to have a truly objective perspective. I think it may be too soon to scare them with such an atrocity (maybe next week).
My friends are by no means provincial. They may come from a small town, but they are both very well-traveled. Stefan is an enthusiastic Anglophile, and Maria-Christina resides in Berlin, a city of constant social and political change (and partying).
Of course, this did not smother their reactions at all when they laid eyes on the Lucky Village Chinese restaurant, the Mecca of Chinese food buffets, on Westheimer past the Beltway.
I thought I would have to walk behind them the whole night just in case their eyes or tongues fell out or something.
Speaking of which, I only need to mention that we made a trip to a 24-hour Randalls Flagship store and had a delightful time with the coupon machines. It's really far too fresh and traumatic to write about.
I just don't want them to have the idea that Lucky Village, 24-hour grocery stores and nerve-wracking highways that are perpetually under construction epitomize Houston.
I don't know why I am so anxious. I have two weeks to show them that Houston is a really cool city. Who knows? Maybe I'll even start to believe it myself.
Lucky for me, there are places like Denny's, NASA and Montrose.
Mahmoudi, a junior German and French major, desperately seeks interesting activities for her foreign friends. Send all ideas to amahmoud@bayou.uh.edu.