Saturday PM - Philadelphia, USA

Last night at about 6 o'clock the entire family and myself piled in the car and off we went to adventure! First we drove to a nearby train station where we picked up Bazil, a cousin of Bradley who often comes to spend some time when his studies allow for it. He studies Computer Science at Drexel University in Philadelphia and is a very amiable young man from Kenya. With the car full of lively people we happily drove on through town down the main street and all of a sudden we noticed honking cars, some pulled over, while others just drove by the corner of the street where a man and a woman were fighting, rolling on the street, pulling on a backpack and screaming at each other. Bradley pulled over also, he checked it out for a few seconds and then got out of the car, while Katee in the backseat rolled down the window and yelled: STOP IT! STOP IT! and then she started calling 911! Bradley walked over to the scene and started talking. His voice lowered at least 2 octaves and sounded booming and very intimidating. Another man came out also to help Bradley and they got them off of each other, but they were still yelling and screaming, and then they started walking down the sidewalk. Katee was still on the phone with the 911 dispatcher and gave physical descriptions while 3 police cars came by with sirens on and intercepted the man and woman. They handcuffed the man and made the woman sit down to talk to her. The whole thing did probably not take more than 3 or 4 minutes, but can I just say it was intense?! Really. This is the world that the members of Katee and Bradley's youth group live in and that is very foreign to me. I can assure you that a lot of prayer went up in our car during those few minutes!

Anyhow, we got back on track to the most famous Philly cheesesteak restaurant in Philadelphia: Pat's King of Steaks. Pat's is located in a relatively small building that is surrounded by sidewalks and streets. There are steel picknick tables all around the building on the sidewalks on the street side and on the inside of the sidewalk towards the building is the line of people wanting to order food. I am not kidding you, the line went all the way around the building when we got there and it took one hour to get our food on the table. Fortunately we were able to get a table quickly so Katee and I sat down, while Bradley, Bazil and Joshua stood in line. It turned out to be so busy for several reasons: it was a beautiful and balmy evening, the send-off game for the USA soccer team to the World Championships in South Africa had just ended (they played Turkey in Philadelphia!) and lots of fans came to Pat's for some cheesesteak and there had also been some other game for which lots of people had come to town. It was nice sitting there, talking to Katee and watching people! And the food was great!!! I am pretty sure I have seen Pat's King of Steaks restaurant on FoodTV in one of those series where they check out local delicacies... After all was consumed and enjoyed we drove around in the city for a little bit and I saw some historic buildings and the Liberty Bell which was really nice. We were home a little bit before 10 and I was in bed by 11, very tired and also proud and satisfied that I was able to do this little bit!

And I almost forgot: I also walked from the back of the house to the end of the backyard to admire Katee and Bradley's brandnew fenced garden where the tomatoe plants of several varieties and other vegetables are growing. It's so sweet! And of course there are the usual enemies of garden life: govers, groundhogs and bugs. Bradley is determined to eliminate and potentially destroy any and all opposition to the growth of his crop! Yes, they brought me a chair so I could rest before I walked back :-), but I was pretty proud of myself that I did it without too much trouble!

This morning I did not wake up until after 9, which I interpreted such that I was very tired and maybe had overdone the activities a little bit. Today Bradley's sister will get baptized and the entire Wangia clan will come to Katee and Bradley's house for a barbecue after church, so I will get to meet a lot of Bradley's relatives! Very exciting!