Toto, I don't think we are in Galveston anymore

Ahhh, the sound of beach waves crashing in the backround. The smell of fresh? air wafting in through the window. The sight of my little sister drooling on the pillow next to me.

All classic Frieda and family galveston adventure experiences.

This weekend I got to add a new experience. One that is making me still giggle while I write this.

My family decided we were going to go out to eat at a restaurant at the other end of the island, near the strand. As we are driving over (giggles commencing) we begin to observe the bizarre number of motorcyclists on the island. The closer we drive to the strand the more we observe that it's our acura SUV surrounded by motorcycles.

Hmmmm. A memory began to surface for me. I suddenly flashed back to my galveston residency interview, when a fellow resident was telling me about the highlights of living in Galveston. I think someone said something like, 'and one of the coolest things that happens on the island is the biker rally.'

Hehehehe. I decided not to enlighten my parents at that exact moment.

So we go to park near the strand and there are THOUSANDS of people wearing leather jackets (many of them leather pants. many many people wearing leather pants who in my humble opinion shouldn't have been wearing leather pants.)

You have to have met my parents to truly to appreciate this scenario. Doha is leaning out the window going 'wow cool!' while I knew enough to be glancing apprehensively at my mother.

My mother who at this moment was rapidly mumbling to herself, 'what is this? who are these people? We are going to get kidnapped.' And my personal favorite: 'why are they all dressed in black? what's wrong with more cheerful colors like red and blue?'

With coaxing we got my mom out of the car and walking towards the restaurant. Then we hit the strand which was blocked off for the biker rally. There were people lining the street as motorcycles rushed by. It was fascinating. My mom was pulling her coat tighter. It kind of reminded me of the fresh prince episode when carlton goes to the ghetto, except in this case it was egyptian parents find themselves at biker rally.

So we do make it to the restaurant...my mom still grumbling, my dad pulling out his 'cultured man of the world persona' and making comments out loud like 'how interesting' and 'it's a different culture entirely'.

We get seated and to my further enjoyment (funny how the things that used to mortify me about my parents as a teenager now are a cause of great entertainment!) my mom asks the waiter tentatively (he at least was clean cut with no signs of tatoos or head scarves in sight) (my favorite ironic comment of the night: my mom's ,'what's wrong with these people? why do they all have scarves tied around their heads.' hmmm. viewers I leave it to you to decipher that further.

ok now i have digressed too much and I can't go back and fix the previous' paragraph's sentence structure. see how i just put an apostrophe on previous. my brain is rotting. all this before my morning coffee.

So my mom asks the nice waiter, 'umm..what is going on with the motorcycle....festivities??' I nearly choked on my water with the way my mom said festivities. doha and I were both biting our lips down. The waiter then echoes 'festivities?......oh! you mean the biker rally?' It was great. Then the waiter looked down at my parents faces and felt a need to reassure them. 'Don't worry. This is a good crowd really. Really it is. This isn't a rowdy crowd.'

Hahaha. This was awesome. That is all. It was worth coming to galveston just to watch my parents walk through the biker rally. Which btw i found out was one of the top five in the nation.

makes me wonder if i should have done my residency here.
:)
frieda