So, I'm actually finally here, for real. Even just saying that is such a big deal for me. You should know how much I've been looking forward to this trip, I've been planning it for over a year. May have laugh-cried when the plane got close enough to the coast to actually see California for the first time, but then again I had just spent 17 hours on two planes with only two hours sleep to balance out my emotions, so it's okay.
But I'm jumping ahead. First I need to list off answers to some basic Mum questions that I know she's probably going to ask me. Feel free to skip them.
Mum Question 1: How are you?
Well I'm actually sick right now with some sort of cold that's quickly morphing into an annoying cough but I should be fine by the end of the week. I had a coughing fit at 2am that I was so scared would wake up Allison or Patty but I think we're okay. Hooray for sharing germs on planes.
Mum Question 2: How was the flight?
The flight was fine, not much turbulence. The tv in the back of my headrest was broken for the flight to NZ but that was only three hours so I just read a Jodi Picoult book the whole time. I got two hours sleep on the long flight from NZ to S.F, I read, wrote, watched Warm Bodies and Beautiful Creatures. My flight from NZ got delayed by an hour because something was wrong with the hydraulics, but it was fine. Yes I walked around, no my feet didn't swell, yes the food was actually really nice, and the two Kiwi fifty-something women I sat next to were lovely. I had the window seat.
Mum Question 3: Are you jet lagged?
Yeah I actually was for the first four days but I'm feeling a lot better today. Like, I woke up at 10 today (which isn't ideal but just go with it) and I actually felt like I was meant to be awake, which is a huge improvement seeing as for the past four days I've been tired and moody until around 4pm.
Mum Question 4: Are you aware that the dog actually loves me more now that you're gone?
There is no way Luke loves me more than you, I show him more love than any of you. Allison has a dog called Vince but he's no Lukey Loo. That whole thing rhymed and it was completely unintentional.
THINGS I HAVE SEEN THUS FAR
1. Airport Weirdos: At Auckland Airport I saw a Chinese businessman spit directly and purposely into the carpet and then rub it in with his shoe. Locked eyes with a stranger and we shared expressions of disgust. At that same terminal I also saw a forty-something year old man proudly wearing a Nickelback shirt. Same level of disgust.
2. 46 (and counting) American Flags: This number isn't accurate because I'm sure I've counted several of them twice and maybe even three times, but even so, there are flags all over the place. It probably isn't fair that 4th of July is coming up and Americans in general are feeling extra patriotic, but still. So many flags.
3. Squirrels, deer, a bear, and a bald eagle: Allison's house is on a really steep hill that makes my ears pop every time we drive down it, and they have these deer that just chill in the streets and sleep in people's yards and it's the coolest ever! Especially since there are two baby deer with spots on their backs still. I'm yet to take a photo of them.
Down to the right of the beach closest to Allison's house there is a quarry, and there are a heap of largish rocks that line the shore front and litter the ground up the cliff next to the quarry, and a family of squirrels live in them. I didn't know they lived near oceans so that was a bit of a surprise to me but they are really cute and kinda tame, I saw them on my second day here.
The bear and the eagle don't really count because I saw them at San Francisco Zoo, but still, I felt very American seeing them.
4. Some sort of police chase: Okay I more heard the sirens and saw one police car screeching around a corner, but still, it's police in America so at least one person had a gun and that's exciting.
THINGS I'VE GONE AND DONE AND STUFF
Allison, being the majorly prepared, super enthusiastic person that she is, has got a rough plan set up for every single day I'm here, whether that includes things she's already bought tickets for, or places she wants to take me, or me just wandering around the city by myself while she goes to poetry workshops. I've messed with this schedule a fair bit already because I've been sulking around feeling sick and tired for the first half of most days until the jet lag wears off, but we've still packed a fair few things in.
Day One: Arrived at Allison's to discover she'd organised for one of her friends to lend me their acoustic righty guitar because she knows how much I love to play and she only has a lefty. That was awesome, I've played it every single day so far. It was really sweet and she didn't have to do it but I appreciate it a lot.
We went to a Safeway and I browsed the odd American foods. Most of the cereals are like, 80% sugar. I've been eating Honey Nut Cheerios. Their lollies come in fairly large bags, they have a hell of a lot of cleaning products, and their produce is gross. Not just like the customer complaints we get at Woolies where an apple or a carrot has a slight discolouring on it so they demand a refund because they can't deal with a tiny speck - actual grossness. They are treated with so many chemicals that Allison said she didn't even know what a real carrot or real celery tasted like until she was a teen and went to a farmer's market. That's ridiculous.
We went out for Indian food for tea. I had tikka masala and it was delicious, so good, and it was so cheap, I wish eating out was that cheap back home.
Day Two: Explored Pacifica, which is where Allison lives. It's very hilly (like everywhere else I've been so far) but don't take that term lightly - these are real extreme hills, so steep. I doubt I could walk up Allison's driveway, and I bet Kelly's car couldn't make it up the slope.
We went to the beach and the quarry, saw the squirrels and the deer. The weather was gorgeous if a bit windy, and I managed to get sunburnt even though it was only 20 degrees. Saw some poison ivy on our walks around the cliffs and along the beach, know to stay away from it. The sand on the beach is black, supposedly because it has a high iron content. It's also covered in pebbles and pretty rocks. We looked through some rock pools and found these cool sea stars and purple crabs and hermit crabs.
I met a couple of Allison's friends and we went to this end of year picnic thing for their middle school, and that was really nice, just sitting in the sun and chatting. We made daisy chains. Then we went to a chai shop and I had a delicious banana smoothie.
Probably the best part was when we drove down to Janine's Grandad's house to sneak through his backyard and walk along the cliff. The view in itself was gorgeous, but the funny bit was we found out that Janine's Grandfather fought in WWII... for the other side. So he was a Nazi. She has no real proof apart from the facts that he's really racist, is a German, lived in Germany during WWII and fought in WWII. It just adds up that he wasn't fighting on behalf of the Allies, and it's a little bit hilarious.
Day Three: I was getting progressively sicker so we stayed inside and watched about six episodes of The Gilmore Girls (no complaints here) for most of the day. When I managed to summon up some energy we went to Safeway and got some cold and flu tablets for me, and some throat lollies. Turns out you need to have ID even to get that here, which I thought was weird. We went into San Francisco proper to this cool tea shop that played classical music and was quaint. I had cinnamon/orange tea that was really nice, and we had scones with it.
After that we cruised around S.F. The buildings are gorgeous, I love all the colours. It was really picturesque. We went down to Allison's friend Austin's place and ended up staying for tea, even though we refused to eat anything. His family are so lovely. His Mum is Australian and still sort of has her accent. It was really nice to just sit and chat. Austin works at the Zoo so he gave us a badge that could sort of sneakily get us free entrance to it the next day.
Day Four: I was in such a bad mood for most of the day, I was sick and exhausted and moody. We went to the San Francisco Zoo and it was really good, there was a tiger cub that was playing with it's mother's tail, and two grizzly bears that came right up to the glass of their enclosure.
That night we went to Queeriosity in Downtown S.F, which is a division of the Youth Speaks poetry slam events where youths perform their own spoken word poetry based around sexuality. Queeriosity isn't judged though, I think because of the sensitive nature of the theme. It was soooo good, I really loved it. Some of the pieces were so beautiful and I think all the poets are really brave to get up there and speak so openly about their lives and experiences. The featured poets were awesome, it was just really impressive. I wish we could go to a Youth Speaks event that Allison would perform at, but I don't think I'll get to see her do it on this trip. For the record, here is the first poem of hers I heard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBKShms4LcI
That's about it so far. Tonight we're going to a mystery event that Allison has been keeping a secret for ages because she loves to torture me.Sorry this post is so long, the other ones will be smaller I promise.
Much love and I miss you all,
Bridie xxx
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