Southern Hospitality (2005-11-14)
Day four brought us to the second leg of our trip--Birmingham, Alabama. We wanted to pay a visit to Bruce and Robbie, the couple who kindly welcomed KL into their home when he was a student at the University of Alabama.
We started the day taking a 0815 am flight out from San
Francisco. The flight was alright, the attendants were mostly
unfriendly and passengers flying economy had to pay cash for their
sandwiches and snacks. With the time difference and having to
catch a
connecting flight in Detroit, we finally arrived in Birmingham around 8
pm. Bruce, Robbie and two of their children, Chase and Elizabeth,
were already in the
small airport waiting for us. It was great to see old friends and
they were as warm and hospitable as the day we met them.
KL had reserved a car from Budget before we left Japan to drive to Tuscaloosa to visit our school, but to our surprise Bruce had already taken care of the car rental. He had paid for it and everything, all three days of it even though we had no use of it the first two days in Birmingham. Such generous people! Then Bruce drove the rented car home with KL while Robbie took the rest of us in their pick-up truck.
Their house is situated in an exclusive area whose residents have
sole access to a private lake and resort-like amenities such as a
tennis court, pool and gym. I've never stayed in a house as big
as theirs! It has six big columns in the front, wide veranda on
both stories and spacious rooms. There is a fully self-contained
living quarter in the basement which became our room! It has a
huge poster bed in the suite, a living room with a giant flat screen
TV, a kitchen and a laundry area in an alcove. Robbie even
stocked the kitchen with light food and bottled water in case we got
hungry in the middle of the night. The bathroom was not short of
good quality bath products, hand cream and towels. This
considerate host just thought of everything, didn't she? The
living room opens onto a terrace which is connected to a BBQ area and
the side of the house.
To say KL and I were shocked at seeing our living arrangement is an
understatement. We had never anticipated anything so grand and
beautiful. Bruce and Robbie really made us feel welcomed.
Southern people are almost always nice, our hosts are a fine example.
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