A Good Couple of Days

Well, I’ve been here just under a week, but I’m starting already to get my groove on. I mean, I slept in all the way until 8 this morning, and believe me, that’s an improvement over the 5AM internal wake up calls I was getting last week!

Yesterday I took my mom up to San Francisco proper as she has a big convention up there this entire week that she will be staying up there for. I took advantage of the opportunity to wander around town a little bit while my mom and her boss went to the salon. I was trying to head downtown to H&M (where else?!) but ended up going the very wrong direction and ended up first in China town (yay!) and then in Little Italy. As Italy had just won the World Cup (vive la France…and head-butts), it was an exciting time to be in that neighborhood. People inebriated on spirits and spirit waved Italian flags on the street, hooted and hollered, honked their horns, and generally had a good time. My favorite, if discomforting, image of the day: a really drunk guy standing somewhat in the road wobbling back and forth talking to his hand after he had just hung up his cell phone and put it in his pocket asking for the “person” on the other end to pick up mangoes and other items at the supermarket. “Yeah, that’s all,” he confirmed to his hand as he slouched onto the back of a parked car. Mind you this was maybe three in the afternoon.

After a taro flavoured 珍珠奶茶 (bubble tea) ordered in Chinese (“Wa, you spea-ka Chinese?”), I managed to orient myself and get to H&M, Old Navy, and Borders. Hooray for beautiful, beautiful bookstores! Though I can’t believe how expensive books are these days. $14 for a paperback?! Who are they kidding? I topped off the evening with a sushi dinner with my mom and friends and drove back to San Jose listening to Audio Theatre and a reenactment of the Rosenburg spy trial of the 50s. Berkeley radio is fun!

Today was even better. It was a full day that started with a run. After that, I went into downtown San Jose to continue applying for jobs. I love radio in the Bay Area as I was listening to an advice talk show in Chinese on my way up. I looked for a Kinko’s for roughly forever in order that I might print out some copies of my résumés. I got so frustrated that I couldn’t find one that I finally just got out of the car and started walking around. I finally broke down and asked a postal worker who pointed me back in the direction I had just come. It turns out I had driven past the Kinko’s about five times but had not noticed it, and I had even walked right by it. D’oh! Of course, as I pulled up to the agency I also noticed a copy shop right next to that…the joys of learning a new place!

But today I went to two employment agencies, and I think I have good prospects. I’m apparently a master user of both Word and Excel, so that’s good to know.

The most exciting part of the day, though, was probably my discovery of a capoeira center not too far away from my house. I had gone out for an evening bike ride to find the “local” YMCA gym and found capoeira instead. I was in jeans and a t-shirt but decided to participate anyway, and was glad I did! I really miss the comfort of making a fool of myself in front of a small group of friends, but I think this will be a really good way to meet people. Plus, they have two classes every night Monday through Friday, so that’s a lot of opportunities to work out…which I need, believe you me!