I arrived in Nashville on Friday night and stayed with my friend Anne and her boyfriend, Preston. They had already had dinner, but Anne walked with me to get dumplings. They had a packed 4th of July weekend planned. On Saturday, we walked to get breakfast. In the afternoon, we went to Preston’s friend Jack’s place to have tacos and margaritas. Jack and his roommate had cooked 4 whole chickens for the tacos. They were great.

Later, we went to Anne’s friends Joel and Anna’s place. They had a slip ‘n slide set up in their yard that everyone was trying. I didn’t go on the slip ‘n slide because I barely had enough energy to be social and slipping and sliding didn’t seem fun with so little energy. I did have a good time using my energy to talk to everyone. I met some new people, caught up with old friends, and ate burgers and cookies for dinner.

We had to leave the party early because we had left Preston’s dog alone for too long. When we got back to Anne’s place, we went to the top of her building’s parking lot to see the city’s fireworks. We had a pretty good view.

On Sunday, Anne and I went to Mass. Then, I went to our friend Daniel’s house for lunch. I’m in Ecuador now, but I’ll be back in Nashville for a few weeks after this. Daniel will be on a long work trip, so he offered me his house. I went over to see it and make sure I knew where everything is. Daniel was in India a few weeks ago and he brought back chicken tikka masala spices that he rubbed on the chicken we had for lunch. It was very good!

Anne and Preston had two parties that day and I was supposed to meet them at the second one after having lunch with Daniel. I really needed a nap though, so I went home. Anne and Preston were exhausted too, so they didn’t stay at the second party too long and were home soon after. They were full from everything they had eaten during the day, but Anne walked with me to get dumplings again for dinner. I’m always craving dumplings. I can never have too many. They’re the kind of food that feel light enough and healthy enough that I can eat them any time.

On Monday, I ran errands and packed for Ecuador while Anne and Preston were at work. In the evening, we went to a bar to watch the US vs Belgium soccer game. They had to leave towards the end of the first half because they had a volleyball game, but I stayed at the bar. They were back pretty quickly. There had been a miscommunication with the location of the game, so they showed up at the wrong place. They weren’t going to make it to the right location in time, so they came back to finish watching the game. It was a sad one.

I said goodbye to Anne and Preston early on Tuesday morning and drove to Daniel’s place to leave my car and all my stuff before heading to the airport. My friend Monica, who you might remember from Chicago, met me on my layover in Miami and came with me. I’m very excited for this trip! The last time I was here was 2.5 years ago.