Our First Earthquake

This morning, when I was in the middle of a call with a colleague, she started yelling: “Hey, do you feel the earthquake? I am going under my desk, let’s continue this conversation.” I thought she was pulling my leg, because April 1 is near and the April Fish is also well known here. She continued the call from under her desk and she advised me to hide under a robust piece of furniture.

It was a 4.4 earthquake with an epicenter 30 minutes south of San Jose. Annelien was in San Francisco and didn’t notice a thing.

Republicans afraid of the Europeanization of the US

I know one Republican. At least, there’s one Republican who dares to out himself. Republicans are not very popular over here (i.e., in San Francisco and San Jose – I am not speaking about Orange County or Alaska) and I am not very surprised they are not very popular. I haven’t yet seen one single bumper sticker for McCain, though I have seen numerous bumper stickers for Obama. I don’t drive to the office, so I bought an Obama mug on eBay to exhibit my political preferences.

Some Republicans are very upset by the current “Europeanization” of the US. We read about it in newspapers. They are afraid they will have to share more of their wealth with others. By this they mean that people earning over 200,000 USD might have to pay more taxes. According to the Republicans, this will be the death knell of the American middle class, says Annelien.

Golden Gate Park

We spent a lazy Sunday afternoon in Golden Gate Park. It was so relaxing. The people you can see in the picture brought a ghetto blaster and were dancing on their roller skates. Other people joined them and soon, they had a Sunday afternoon dance party in the sun. Everyone could join: from the well trained guy at the right hand side to the slightly overweight lady with the hat in the middle. We chilled and enjoyed this great new world with all our heart.

Wet Feet

After a fun Saturday night dinner party, we felt a bit faint and decided to go for a hike on Sunday. We drove 14 miles north and this is where we ended up. I thought for a moment I had died and gone to heaven. When the wind almost blew away our pick-nick, I realized I was still alive. We hiked up a vertical hill (well, almost vertical) and then quickly spun off the hill. We discovered Tennessee Valley Beach and got wet feet.

Hills, Hills, Hills

San Francisco is amazingly hilly. It’s very scary to drive around in a car. You may bump into a stop sign in the middle of a really steep hill. Usually, I am too scared to stop. I have visions of me losing all control and my car rolling backwards off the hill or flipping over (which is even worse!). I pray for the green light and I pray for an unblocked passage at every cross section on a hill. So far, my prayers have been successful; my car hasn’t flipped over yet. I don’t know whether I should continue testing my luck and have decided I will bike only in the future. It’s much safer, though the hills remain equally steep.

Americans Don’t Want Our Blood

I went to the Blood Drive today. A big truck of Stanford Medical School was on the eBay campus and I stopped by to give blood. I filled out all the paperwork and thought I was extremely qualified to make a blood donation – after having lived for 2 months in this healthy organic State of California. Unfortunately, there is a black list. You are not eligible to give blood if you have lived in the UK, Belgium, Luxembourg, or other countries of the EU, between 1980 and 1996 (during the period of the mad cow disease). Americans don’t want our blood. I was a bit surprised, but of course, I do understand that there are good medical reasons for this policy. Though the mad cow disease is not transferred by human beings, Americans want to be extra safe. Who would blame them for that? And actually, I was somewhat relieved as well; I had tried to do the right thing (so no feelings of guilt for me!), I didn’t have to have my arm pierced by a mean needle (I am a bit of a whiner), and still I got the voucher for free ice cream and cookies! Who told us there is no such thing as a free lunch?

Thank You for Biking!

Annelien made a trip through the Eastern part of the city. We have our own Tour de France every day, when climbing up the hills and flying down (with our eyes closed because it’s so scary). Valencia Street is a (partly) flat street and it has dedicated bike lanes! It’s great to circumvent the mean hills by using our favorite Valencia Street. Today, a bus of school kids cheered Annelien while she was biking, encouraging her and yelling: “Thank you for biking! Thank you for saving the environment” Who wouldn’t want to live in this great city?

Vive l'Amerique bilingue

Today, I took my written driver’s exam. I was allowed to take it in Chinese, Spanish, or English. I decided to take it in English, to boost my chances of passing. And I passed! I will take the practical exam next week. You know now that San Francisco is way too hilly to drive a car – I would never pass here. I took an appointment at the DMV in flat San José for a driver’s test with an English speaking examiner.

After work, I had to go to Ikea to return a lamp that did not work. I am a big fan of the Ikea catalogs; I am an equally big fan of Beautiful Home, the Crate & Barrel catalog, the Pottery Barn catalog, and Architectural Digest. I day-dream and fantasize about all the great small details I will change in the house to make it more sophisticated. We need a little bit of glitter and glamour every day! I should learn some Spanish, because I found all the “Ikea información” was “en español”. And the Best Buy Customer Service corner was empty – so if you speak Spanish, you will get serviced faster.

San Francisco, here we come!

Don’t park your car in front of our new place tomorrow morning. A big moving van will be unloading the sea container and all other cars that are in the way will be towed!

We will be living close to Mission Street. Annelien is trying out the tacos in La Taqueria, a Mexican fast food restaurant with beautiful wall paintings of the Holy Mary.

I will tell you more later this week. Now we have to pack our little Toyota. It’s amazing how much stuff fits in such a small car. We had it tuned and now it carries two bikes as well. It’s our little road monster! Move over!