One of my best mates, Finn, met an American girl at an ultimate tournament in Italy…and you can probably guess the rest. If you can’t, they are now married and living in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Finn is working and Ashley is attending law school at the University of Michigan.
We drove up from Richmond to spend the five days with them and their two kittens, Paga (the shortened name of the ultimate tournament where they met) and Scoober (an upside down way to throw a disc). They have a fantastic apartment close to the town’s centre that they have painted and decorated beautifully. Ann Arbor is largely centred around the University. The varisty american football team has had over a 100,000 spectators at each of its last 236 games…That is staggering!!
It has been a dream of Ashley’s to attend law school and I am amazing and so impressed with her determination and perseverance. 1st year law is notoriously difficult through some misguided ‘break ‘em down to build ‘em up’ mentality on behalf of the academic staff.
Finn is currently working in two restaurants who, in true Finn style, both think he is the best thing since sliced bread. It was great to spend quality time with him as it felt like slipping back into a familar South African groove – someone who knows you well and who also has a funny accent just like your own. We went out to dinner several times and made some nice dinners at home and played scrabble (Finn introduced us to some new intriguing rules involving rearranging words already on the board to make new words with the addition of new letters) and texas hold ‘em poker. The nights were cold, but the days were beautiful though admittedly a little fresh if the wind blew.
We found a disc golf range close by that, unbeknown to us, had hosted the 2000 world championships. It was actually two courses next to each other and each course that six additional holes. So for the princely sum of $2 you can play 48 holes. Needless to say it was most fantastic course I’ve ever played on. It was laid out exactly like a golf course, cut and kept fairways and manicured greens . Most holes are normally between 50 – 140 metres (150 – 420 feet). One particular par 5 was 300 metres (approx 1000 feet ). Hannah, Finn and I played all 48 holes on one particular day. Half way through the first course, the wind came up and with the wind chill factor, we had to stop at the 19th hole (25th hole) for a quick whiskey warm up.
After five fantastic days, it was sadly time to say goodbye and it was off to Asheville North Carolina to visit Kara.
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