I got seated, met a sweet deaf lady and got to talk to her for a little bit before more people arrived. The person organizing the event arrived. He was a nice guy, an ASL student that wanted to have an event to go to during the week since his schedule wasn’t able to allow him to go to any events on the weekends.

Many students came in, there were some interpreters as well and just interested participants that had no academic obligation to attend. They just wanted to learn and practice sign language. It was a very refreshing event that showed me that there’s more to Cleveland for deaf people than I thought after all.

I can appreciate the ASL population in Cleveland and I would like to encourage more students to go out and get involved with the events that the deaf residents of Cleveland put together. As of right now I see the events in Cleveland being put on mostly by ASL students and organizations.

I’m motivated to start one where it’ll be a purely social experience and not just for education. I want to have fun socializing with the deaf community and give ASL students an opportunity to put their hard earned skills to use. I’d like to get a DPHH event established for Cleveland.

DEAFair attendants mingle with the vendors

I traveled with a group of people that I had hung out with the night before at Grace Church’s Game Night in Middleburg Heights south of Cleveland.  I was planning on doing a 5K saturday morning in Lakewood but decided to forgo that in order to go to Columbus.  One of my goals while I’m teaching ASL is to get involved with the Deaf community in Ohio as much as possible and give my ASL students a reason to come to ASL events besides it being a class requirement.  I want it to be just as much fun for them as it is for me to attend events that have Sign Language as its main form of communication.

Attendants of the Grace Church Game night sign/sing Happy Birthday for November Birthdays

Step 1 was actually getting off my ass and getting it to an event.  I did that when i drove to Grace Church Friday night.  I had a blast meeting new people and I met a wonderful person named Sharon, a fellow ASL teacher for Cleveland State University.  I also met up with a CSU student that is the president of the ASL club there, Ryan.  We mingled all night and they had told me about their plans to go to Columbus the next day.  I was persuaded enough to forget that I had $15 dollars deposited for the 5K the next morning.

We arranged to meet at 7:30 at a gas station in the morning and then we’d go from there.  I have to admit, it’s really easy to persuade me to do things if someone else will drive. I just absolutely hate to drive sometimes.  So since there was a car pool already established, the decision was easier for me to make.

We arrived in Columbus shortly before 10, and due to the Venti cup of coffee that I bought, I was antsy to get to a bathroom and that was the first place I went.  Note to self: do not get a huge cup of coffee before going on a 2 hour car ride.

We got back together and proceeded to walk around and check out the vendors.  It’s impressive how there’s a lot of services for the deaf population bringing them more equal to the hearing population and allowing them to do more than ever before.  One example of this is the abundance of telephone relay service providers such as ZVRS, Purple, and Sorenson.

Other vendors that were at the DEAFair included a glass maker that shaped ILY hands from glass. It was quite impressive.  Other vendors included an ASL Club from a local college that were selling ASL T-Shirts and Deaf Ministries in addition to services for the Deaf such as lawyers and deaf resource centers.

We met with some friends that we knew and met new friends.  At that point we were just famished and ready to go to lunch.  Little did we know that the place we went to would make us wait even longer to get our meals.  We were under a strict time limit and had to be back in Cleveland by 6:00.

We were meeting up with Ryan’s friends that he knew in Columbus at the Thurman Cafe.  For fans of the Travel channel show, Man v. Food, this name should be familiar to you.  This is the place where Adam Richman ate the famous Thurman Burger.  This burger is on a lot of national lists for best burgers in America.  Unfortunately, the wait forced us to have to order our burgers to go.  I do not advise eating this burger without any napkins.  The carryout bag did not have any napkins which is insane. We had to get napkins from a gas station because our sandwiches were just too messy.  The Thurman Cafe prides itself and really does promote reruns of the Columbus episode of Man v. Food whenever it is scheduled to be on.

Poster showing when the Columbus episode of Man v Food will be on again

I’ll be watching this.  One thing that made me very happy was that it was the first time I had ate anything that was featured on Man v. Food. Now chalk the Thurman Burger off the list.  Next up, Primati Bros from the Pittsburgh episode!!! Or the Dagwood from Ohio Deli on the same Columbus episode.  I’m thinking that Foursquare needs to add badges for people that accomplish something that was on Man v. Food!  What do you guys think about that?

We arrived back in Cleveland on time, with our bellies still full.

I don’t regret passing up the 5K. There’s tons of other runs that i can do, but I won’t be able to do any until 2010 though.

Next up: Columbus 11/14 and Buffalo 11/21!