Les Hannah, day 37, part final

Claus stopped by my flat at a prearranged time to escort me to the restaurant. It was a small place down in the harbor district. We rode our bikes there; actually the distance was not much at all. We were there in less than five minutes. I had ridden around this area just this past weekend when I was out touring the harbor area.

I was introduced to (I think) every member who came. Don’t think I missed anyone. Claus was very good at ensuring I met everyone. The conversations before the meeting were very cordial and friendly. Some of the members struck up short dialogues with me, and all were friendly. When time came to eat everyone found a seat somewhere and the meal began. It was fried eels. OK, my American friends calm down – they were actually quite good. Tasted like chicken – bet you’ve never heard that before right. No, actually they tasted just like what they are: fish. It tasted like fish, something like catfish caught out of Lake Tenkiller BEFORE Arkansas started dumping tsitaga iksh into the river.

Anyway, the meal was good and the company was fantastic. I sat with Claus and two others; all were inquisitive about American Indians and the conversations at our table circled around Indians in the 21^st Century: our status, our future, our goals – things like that. Oh, and did I mention we ate fried eels? Well of course there was more, other things. The potatoes were very good, and there were pickled beets – and beer. I also got to sample some schnapps from Aalborg, which is a city north of Esbjerg. There is a distillery in Aalborg that makes different varieties of schnapps. Overall the evening was very good. I ate my fair share of eels, but Claus really packed them away. He said he had been saving his appetite for this and let me tell you he did some serious eel eating. I honestly got full and could eat nothing more, but Claus kept going.

Following the meal and just some general conversations Claus and I took our leave of the few who lingered afterwards. We rode back to my flat, through the mist and fog, and he headed on home from there. This was a good evening. I had good company, good food, and a genuine good time. Wado Claus.