Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Belgium friend

I totally forgot that a guy I dated while I was in high school lives in Belgium! His name is Reinhold and he was staying with friends to visit the U.S. I think he was a little older than me, I just remember that he wasn't in high school anymore. He was terribly charming and a ton of fun to be with. I can't remember the end of everything... I think he left and went back home. I remember we exchanged a letter or two and he mailed me some photos of him and his friends. I wonder if I still have those somewhere... Here's what I do remember...

* He was in love with gangsta rap and took public transportation (BUSES!) from Newport Beach, CA to Compton. Why? Because Compton was/is(?) mentioned all the time in the rap songs. So he wanted to see what it looked like with his own eyes. I just remember that he wasn't impressed. And that it was like a three hour bus ride. One way.

* He was dying to see graffiti art and wanted so badly to be a graffiti artist. I had a friend who was kind of into that, so I think we took a car ride up to a spot where supposedly all the "good" artists did their work and he took some pictures. His street name was "Stick." And he'd take pictures making this "S" with his hands.

* He taught me how to dip my fries into mayonnaise. And I've been doing it ever since.

* He loved reggae and we'd spend hours hanging out and I learned to enjoy it quite a bit too. In fact, I never really listened to it after he left and when I met Jason, anytime he played reggae, it reminded me of Reinhold.

Maybe Ron & I can swing by Belgium for a day or two to check out his art shop that he has now. Apparently he had a band briefly too. That would be so cool if I could arrange that! I just sent off an email to the art shop, so we'll see if hear back from him!

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