Two Weeks of Fun

Yesterday, we dropped Immanuel off at O'Hare airport where he caught a flight to New York City. Armed with a recommended list of fun things to do and places to visit in NYC, we said our good-byes and saw him disappear into the security check area.

Here what we ended up doing the last two weeks in Champaign-Urbana, St. Louis and Chicago:

> Sat 10/13 - arrive in Chicago, transfer via shuttle bus to Champaign; dinner at Baccaro; live music at Cowboy Monkey; a pint at Blind Pig
> Sun 10/14 - reception: meet friends and colleagues
> Mon 10/15 - lunch at Farren's; discovered Dexter on DVD
> Tues 10/16 - visit City of Champaign's IT dept; dinner with Amish family in Arcola IL
> Wed 10/17 - visit City of Champaign's IT dept; dinner at B-Won
> Thur 10/18 - visit Parkland's IT dept; "Facades" art opening at Krannert Art Museum; dinner at home
> Fri 10/19 - Papa Del's for dinner; War of the Worlds at Virginia Theatre; Barn Dance followed by live music at Iron Post, Rosebowl, Phoenix
> Sat 10/20 - drive to St Louis: Ethiopian lunch at Meskerem; Henry Rollins concert at Pageant; late night at Pops
> Sun 10/21- St Louis: Whole Foods, Arch, river boat ride, dinner at Wonton King
> Mon 10/22 - steak dinner at home
> Tues 10/23 - visit Volition's IT dept; homemade Indian food at the Red Herring
> Wed 10/24 - visit Wolfram's IT dept; Swiss dinner at home; dance performance at Krannert Center
> Thur 10/25 - drive to Bolinbrook: dinner at Best Buffet in Kankakee; Across the Universe at typical suburban cineplex
> Fri 10/26 - Chicago: lunch at Frontera Grill; Yuri Yunakov concert at Old Town School of Music; Astral Project at Green Mill
> Sat 10/27 - Chicago: lunch at Happy Chef Dim Sum House; fly to New York City

(See pictures of Immanuel's stay in the USA)

Reception

Last night's reception was a great time. 25 people enjoyed the music, food and conversation. And what music! Maria Merkelo and Dorothy Martirano played everything from gypsy music to polka to Nino Rota. Rock Maffit couldn't resist and joined in for the fun and played percussion on several songs. There was dancing, singing and great conversation. (See pictures)

Amish Dinner & Tour in Arcola

We now have dinner reservations for 10 people on Tuesday October 16 to have a private dinner party in an Amish home. The arrangements were made with the Illinois Amish Interpretive Center. We've been promised "absolutely the best made-from-scratch food you can find." The schedule is below:

• 5:00 pm: Leave Champaign (see directions)
• 5:45 pm: Arrive at the Amish Interpretive Center in Arcola
• 6:15 pm: Guided combo tour of Amish home and farm
• 7:45 pm: Dinner

The cost is $23 per person.

A Week in New Glarus

As part of our research in preparation of going to Switzerland, we thought we'd take a week off and go to "Little Switzerland" (aka New Glarus, WI). We rented a self-catering farmhouse so that we could take our dog. Although the town itself was a tourist trap, the Swiss Historical Village was a highlight. Among authentic pioneer log cabins (one was discovered inside a modern house that had been built on top of it), one-room school houses and other period buildings, old-timer guides in their 80s told stories from their personal experiences and family histories. Another highlight was the excellent beer from the New Glarus Brewing Company (sold only in Wisconsin, so we brought home a couple of cases). A big disappointment was the local restaurants -- poor quality traditional German cuisine marked up for the tourists. Our own Bayern Stube (in Gibson City, IL) does the same dishes with much more flair and with much better value. But we did discover Landjaeger sausages which we've never had before. Side excursions to Madison and Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin filled up the rest of the week. (View photos)

IT Job Shadowing

In his application, Immanuel stated that he wanted to see complex IT environments and how people deal with complex problems. So far, I've made contact with the following companies and organizations requesting a "job shadowing" opportunity. All four contacts welcomed Immanuel and invited him to come observe how IT is done in the USA.

• City of Champaign: Fred Halenar (Information Technologies Director) set up two half-days for Immanuel -- Butch Johnson (Network Engineer) from 12noon to 4pm on Tuesday October 16; and Brenda Reed (Network Technician) from 12noon to 4pm on Wednesday October 17.
• Volition: Rory Prendergast (Network Administrator) will be hosting (Tuesday October 23).
• Wolfram Research: Ken Miller (Network Operations Specialist) will be hosting (Wednesday October 24 from 9:30am to 5pm).
• Parkland College: Connie Macedo's department will be showing Immanuel around (Thursday, October 18 from 8am to 12pm).

Eating Out

Should opportunities arise for eating out, we've compiled this list of recommended local restaurants with a heavy slant towards "American" flavors:

• Kennedy's: Upscale dining at an off-beat location (expensive)
• Milos: Unique and creative food in a comfortable atmosphere (reasonable)
• Beef House (Covington IN): Has the reputation as the best steak house in the area
• Jackson's Ribs N Tips: Authentic southern cooking in a no-frills atmosphere
• Apple Dumpling: A down-home country joint with good "comfort" food
• Seaboat: Everything is fried, but it's still quite tasty
• First Fruits (Mahomet IL): A small lunch place focusing on fresh, locally grown food

Although we'd much rather frequent locally owned businesses, the American experience would be incomplete without a visit to:
• TGI Friday's: Really well done bar food, professionally packaged
• Famous Dave's: Decent re-creation of the Southern experience
• Hometown Buffet: A "family" restaurant where overindulgence is encouraged

When American food gets boring, we recommend these international flavors:
• Radio Maria: Inventive cuisine and daring combinations
• Lai Lai Wok: Arguably the best Chinese restaurant in town
• El Charro: The only place for authentic Mexican food
• Sambar: Great homemade South India cuisine (only on Tuesday nights 6:30-8:30pm)
• B-Won: Excellent authentic Korean cuisine
• Ko-Fusion: A trendy Asian bistro

And few Chicago restaurants we like:
• Frontera Grill: Celebrity chef Rick Bayless re-invents Mexican cuisine
• Penny's Noodle Shop: The best of Asian noodle cuisine in a clean environment
• Phoenix: Good dim sum is only available in larger cities and this is one of Chicago's best
• Ed Debevic's: A diner theme park for the tourists (but loads of fun)
• Maxwell Street Market: The closest we'll get to a Latin American open air market, great place for really authentic Mexican street food (Sundays 7am-3pm)
• Soul Queen: An authentic south side experience

Initial Contact

On May 18, I found out that I was accepted into the ICISP short term international exchange program. A few weeks later, I received a letter with contact information for my exchange partner. His name is Immanuel and he is a 23-year old IT support person at the University of Applied Sciences Northwest Switzerland in Basel.

I couldn't be happier as I am a graphic designer and Swiss design has been a big influence on my own work as well as in the history of design. Furthermore, the Basel School of Design is where influential designers like April Greiman studied. And it was Basel teachers like Wolfgang Weingart who inspired Greiman to jump start the post-modern graphic design movement in the USA.

I wrote Immanuel an email introducing my wife and I along with photos and links. Immanuel responded telling us that he lives in "big" Basel as the city is split in two by the Rhine. His English is very good, but he told us that in Switzerland there are four "official" spoken languages: Swiss-German, Italian, French and Rhaeto-Romanic. Since Basel is located in the Swiss-German part, everybody will be speaking German despite the big difference between Swiss-German and German. I guess, I better brush up on my German.

In Immanuel's application, he mentioned liking movies, art, music and travel. One of his goals is to see other IT departments in the USA and how they deal with complex situations. Based on that information and several email exchanges, we agreed to a rough itinerary. Immanuel responded positively to the itinerary and specifically mentioned being excited by going to a drive-in movie (unfortunately the Harvest Moon closes on September 30) and going to Chicago. He is also planning to go to New York City for a week after the exchange.