Day 31 (Fri): Windy City + Fogo de Chão + Kill a patient + Party!

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We have to wake up so early this morning, which isn't easy after some heavy drinking last night.  My head is thumping, my throat is dry, and I want to lie in the bath to rehydrate.  That's not going to happen.  Eric sends us a message to say he's on his way.  He knows the producer of Windy City Live and has scored us some seats to a live filming at abc studios.

We rush to the abc building in a taxi and empty our pockets to go through security screening.  After waiting at the studio entrance for about half an hour, the show's hosts arrive and we're allowed to enter.  This is the same studio where Oprah began her career.  It is now permanently set up for Windy City Live, which has only been running for about four months.  The warm-up girl takes us through some actions and then the executive producer appears and starts asking the audience questions: how do we like such-and-such segment? do we need to spend more time on cooking? ...and so on.  We've never seen this show so we sit quietly waiting for the show to begin.  Today's show will be aired live.

The show begins and a round-table of discussion takes place.  Most of it is local or national events or people so I don't understand all of it but it is quite interesting.  They go to a break and return.  Then the guest speakers are announced: the Wayan brothers!  These are the two guys who are the main actors in White Chicks.  They come out and are hilariously funny!  This is a real treat.  They have everyone laughing and screaming.

Eric wants to take us to a churrascaria for lunch at Fogo de Chão.  It sounds amazing.  We skipped breakfast this morning to ensure we'd leave enough room for lunch.  After we leave the abc studio, we set off for Fogo de Chão feeling very hungry.  Unfortunately, we arrive about half an hour too early because they don't open until 11:00am.  We decide to walk around and look at the buildings for a while to kill time.   Buildings seem deceptively close in Chicago.  The size and height of them turn what seems like a five minute stroll into a twenty minute walk.    Before we know it, it is time to head back for lunch.

Vegetable and salad buffet

As we enter the restaurant, meat on metal skewers in a tee-pee design are each slowly turning above an open fire.  The restaurant has an amazing number of tables.  It is huge!  A long buffet of salads and vegetables stand in the middle of the floor.  We're seated and I order a Caipirinha.  The waiter cautions us to not eat too much salad.  We need to leave room for the meat.  That's a tall order when we're already starving!  The deal is that we each have a round card, not unlike a drink coaster, next to our plate.  It is red on one side and green on the other.  When the red side is facing up, nothing happens.  When you flip the card to green, each of the waiters carries a different style of meat on large skewers to you to see if you'd like some.  If you do want it, you need to specify how well cooked it should be.  The waiter starts cutting the appropriate piece of meat, you use your tongs to hold it, and he continues to cut it until done.  There are sixteen different cuts of beef, lamb, chicken, and pork with varying types of marinade and cooking styles, all cooked to perfection.  It is ridiculously well done and scrumptious.  I need to sit for a while.  But wait, there's dessert: a digestive papaya cream.  My stomach is sore.



After lunch we walk down the street holding our stomachs, as if they are going to burst.  We're going to see the university where Eric trains medical students how to become doctors.  The easiest way to go there is via the El train: the Elevated train.  It runs above the street level like a monorail but they are actual train tracks supported by a wood and metal structure.  I don't think I've ever seen this anywhere else.  We arrive at the university.  It has old, gorgeous buildings.  Walking through the corridors reminds us of schools in Victoria; days long gone - yikes.  Eric introduces us to a few colleagues/friends and then shows us a computer simulation that he takes the medical students through.
A patient is lying in a hospital bed and any symptoms can be given to him.  The would-be doctors must decide the correct course of action, from asking questions, performing tests, injecting fluids, right through to surgery.  Our patient is breathing and has minor symptoms so Eric decides to use the defibrillator to show us what the simulator can do.  It isn't long before he kills the patient.  It's such an interesting simulation!

Lucky for us, he shouts out loud
his entire phone conversation

On the way back into town on the El train, a crazy guy keeps looking around at everyone until his phone rings.  Then, lucky for us, he shouts out loud his entire phone conversation.  The conversation ends, his head slowly drops and he falls asleep.  Then he wakes up, talks to a girl sitting opposite him, and she knowingly ignores him.  His head slowly drops again and he is asleep.  We arrive at his stop and he promptly gets up, talks to someone who also ignores him, and then leaves.  The El train amasses a collection of intriguing people.

We need a rest and head back to the hotel.  Eric is throwing a party for us this evening so we need our energy!  It's only a short bus ride to his place but there are people everywhere in the city.  Buses come and go but ours isn't anywhere in sight.  We're going to be late to our own party!  It's pretty relaxed so we'll be ok.  We arrive and meet Eric's friends and chat away the night.  The food is delicious, as is the wine.  I forgot to take an anti-histamine (for the wine) but I'm doing fine.  If I just keep drinking, my body should simply get used to the wine and not have such a bad reaction without the anti-histamine.  I give it a nudge and we continue drinking until the early hours of the morning.  Robin and I are definitely going out clubbing... until the wine wears off and I end up feeling quite sleepy.  Next time.

Pics of the day