First few days

First work day I had to get up at 6am to get the shuttle at 6:45 which is tough, but I made it. I have been watching DVDs on the way, the very brilliant “The Wire” (Ben’s recommendation) which I have to watch with subtitles due to the hardcore slang, even then I don’t get some of the terminology but I was told most Americans don’t either, which made me feel better about myself and I therefore consider myself again a worthy semi-Englishman. So the shuttle takes like 45mins to an hour and you also have wireless (which of course I first was able to figure out with some help) but working on the shuttle at 6:45 isn’t my idea of a fun start to the day. Work is really cool and all the people are really friendly and the choice for food is, to put it plainly, an absolute joke (as in extremely awesome). Winnie also brings her dog in most days and she, Fred the dog, sits right next to me. I stayed til 7:40 cause I missed my shuttle so I was first home at 9, which for the first day was rather long.

Friday was good too and after work went back to a friend’s place where we first did some crosswords (I know, Sex, Drugs and Rock’n’Roll) which we solved (maybe I was the cleverest person on the plane?). Three of us went out for some cool Thai food which was better than any in Dublin and less than half the price. After that we played this weird Video game (Bust-a-Move 2) at which I got my ass kicked most of time by Alison, and that after winning the first time right-away and thinking of myself as a natural talent. After that we went round the Mission area in some bars where I had some Guiness, which obviously wasn’t as good as in Dublin but at $4 that was excused. Had some weird woman cab-driver who let me off 2 blocks too early and didn’t wear a seat-belt and was on her mobile the whole time, I reckon she was talking Portuguese but couldn’t tell for sure.

Today I slept in for a change and walked around the bay area for like 3 hours which was cool. Nice weather too. On the way back I did pass some not dodgy, but not quite as posh areas, and I was thinking to myself that there is some advantage in looking scruffy (I don’t consider myself as scruffy but back in Germany people do and won't even let me enter some clubs) and therefore I think that I blend in nicely and don't look like a tourist. Went to Starbucks too where there was this totally cool guy working, I went in and ordered a coffee and while I was wondering how to correctly pronounce “Grande” he was like “Hey man, what’s going on?”. At first I was like “Well, I am a bit tired and intimidated ‘cause you look like an actor and I don’t know if you want me to answer ‘Thank you, I am fine. How are you?’ or just go ahead with my order” but then I just ordered a coffee and a sandwich (which his charming female colleague warmed up for me) and wandered around some more and went home. I did go into an arcade and thought to myself that no-one is developing new arcade games these days, they all look like 5 years old yet these things are always full with people. Strange. Anyway, now at home waiting for Sandra to pick me up for some food, Italian I demanded and then maybe going to the cinema after.