Everyone says how are you doing, darling? I wonder if the fact that a little blonde girl walking around alone in the sketchy downtown neighborhoods gains some respect in their eyes. But really, I have met some nice people on my travels, and I know I may say it over and over, but really; the Bahamian people are so very friendly. They go out of their way to help me out. And best of all – (which you often see south of the border) the majority of the people here are not lazy. I asked a boy (yes a boy – what age is working age here? I don’t know but I swear there was at least one 7 years old working) the price of a small bottle of soy sauce and he searched around everywhere; from books to calling other stores to get the price for me and came back to tell me almost a half hour later. That is dedication and service at its best. I even told him not to worry about it. After, I told him that the Bahamians were so very nice. He said they live by the theory of: treat others they way you would like to be treated. I wish everyone did that. Then the store manager bought me apples and oranges and drove me home because the taxi he called for me took too long. One thing I have felt about here, is that most places I go that are less well-off than the US the people seem to have a sense of resentment towards Westerners, or at least they try to take advantage of them. Here, it’s almost like they treat everyone the same. I feel respected here, like one of the locals even. That’s a very, very good thing. And, even better, people are more polite than they are even in the US! People actually say excuse me ALWAYS. It’s amazing. It’s wonderful. I’m not sure if they ever actually get mad. I have never once been anywhere that people have been so polite and patient. To further prove, there just is NO road rage. People beep if they want to be let in, to say please and thank you. What a great system!
I will no longer listen to advice from the men at my hotel. They told me it was fine to walk around into the downtown area at 10pm. Sunday it felt ok, there were lots of people out and about (President’s day weekend/Valentine’s day) but last night it was just deserted. I felt fine walking there but walking back I almost wanted to run. I had received a few comments from people driving and sitting in the shadows and it was not comfortable. I won’t be doing that again. I got back with my take-out and a Bahamian girl said to me, “you went there all by yourself on foot to get some food? Wow you are dedicated!” And just another justification why I won’t be walking alone again.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
You would think things would be better in the Bahamas...
Today was a frustrating day. Of course, I only slept 2 hours last night. I get to the airport and my boarding pass does not have a seat number. When I asked why, the lady said well, the flight was overbooked but 9.5 times out of 10 when this happens you will get your seat. So, the idiot I am, I get to the gate about 2 hours in advance and spend 1 hour and 15 minutes of it sitting and eating breakfast at Legal Seafoods and don’t even ask about it when I go to sit down. Dumb. When I’m finally the very last person to board the plane, I decide to mention that I don’t have a seat number. “We have been looking for you forever!” They say. Bullshit. I was sitting right there for the past 45 minutes! So, after some misunderstanding and frustrated chit chatter while holding up the DIRECT flight from Boston to Nassau, I was kicked off and re-booked on another flight that was going through Charlotte adding on another 3 hours to my would-have-been nice and quick transit time. Damnit and oh well.
Luckily my luggage was patiently waiting for me in an off-to-the-side pile at the airport and I had a friendly taxi driver who told me all about the island. He also mentioned that the way that Bahamians survive is through sharing everything amongst a group of people, especially money. Everyone works and they share the money they make; one week one person gets it, the second week another person gets it. It’s a traditional African way of life adopted in the Bahamas, apparently.
I had conch for dinner. Food here so far is pretty good! Though it was heavy; fried. I heard there were lots of great restaurants here so I’ll be checking them out. There are also lots of resorts with restaurants too… I will have to stop by them at some point to get prices anyways, so there is some high-class munching to be done anyways.
My hotel is pretty ghetto. I found a black hair in my bed. There are bars on my window. We already had a blackout at the hotel. The appearance is just dirty. I guess that’s what you get for $120/night in the cheapest room of a crappy hotel in Nassau. Luckily, I do have free internet though. Too bad this would only matter if I actually had to pay for it myself. I’m sleeping with my lights on tonight; and every night to come in that room, that is if they don’t black out again anyways. At least I’m in “warm” (70 degree) Nassau, right? I hope I get some sun to prove it!
Luckily my luggage was patiently waiting for me in an off-to-the-side pile at the airport and I had a friendly taxi driver who told me all about the island. He also mentioned that the way that Bahamians survive is through sharing everything amongst a group of people, especially money. Everyone works and they share the money they make; one week one person gets it, the second week another person gets it. It’s a traditional African way of life adopted in the Bahamas, apparently.
I had conch for dinner. Food here so far is pretty good! Though it was heavy; fried. I heard there were lots of great restaurants here so I’ll be checking them out. There are also lots of resorts with restaurants too… I will have to stop by them at some point to get prices anyways, so there is some high-class munching to be done anyways.
My hotel is pretty ghetto. I found a black hair in my bed. There are bars on my window. We already had a blackout at the hotel. The appearance is just dirty. I guess that’s what you get for $120/night in the cheapest room of a crappy hotel in Nassau. Luckily, I do have free internet though. Too bad this would only matter if I actually had to pay for it myself. I’m sleeping with my lights on tonight; and every night to come in that room, that is if they don’t black out again anyways. At least I’m in “warm” (70 degree) Nassau, right? I hope I get some sun to prove it!
San Ramon, boring San Ramon, again
San Ramon, in all honesty, was pretty boring and there was nothing special to write home about. It was my second time going there for survey so luckily I felt like I knew it inside and out which made the work go by that much faster; though I didn’t really get a chance to see the real estate agents that I wanted to meet with – (getting anyone to talk to you in the US for free information on the rental market is nearly impossible and such a pain in the ass). Luckily I got a chance to repeat a visit with a realtor I had met with before who was so very friendly (and was content enough to give up information for a free bottle of nice vino), so we had the chance to catch up. But aside from that, the only notable thing that happened was that I got sick with a terrible ear infection so I had to go to the doctor – and waited in line for hours to do so. He prescribed me medicine and pretty much told me this better get better by the time I had to fly home or it would be possible that my eardrum would perforate. I wasn’t totally sure what that meant but all I could picture was my ear drum exploding. It didn’t sound pleasant. Luckily everything turned out fine in the end; the high-dosage of strong antibiotics he prescribed for me did the trick.
I swear to God during the week I was there they were holding the annual Wal-Mart conference nearby. Either that or it was the red-neck extravaganza. I tried, really hard to listen to conversations to see if I could get snippets of what was going on. No luck. The characters coming through the hotel, well staying at the hotel were humorous. Big fat ladies who hadn’t seen a gym in her life, men with long hair and beards with clothes that were far from fitting. It was comical, I couldn’t believe my eyes. We were in California not Arkansas and these people did not belong.
I ate at In and Out Burger. Yum. I was given a large pizza for the price of a small at Papa John’s. I missed Mom. And then I went home for the weekend; I got a break from the madness to refresh and it was very nice.
I swear to God during the week I was there they were holding the annual Wal-Mart conference nearby. Either that or it was the red-neck extravaganza. I tried, really hard to listen to conversations to see if I could get snippets of what was going on. No luck. The characters coming through the hotel, well staying at the hotel were humorous. Big fat ladies who hadn’t seen a gym in her life, men with long hair and beards with clothes that were far from fitting. It was comical, I couldn’t believe my eyes. We were in California not Arkansas and these people did not belong.
I ate at In and Out Burger. Yum. I was given a large pizza for the price of a small at Papa John’s. I missed Mom. And then I went home for the weekend; I got a break from the madness to refresh and it was very nice.
Lombard Street, the sexy painted ladies, and Haight Ashbury... of course
The next day we scored a free breakfast which was completely unexpected, apparently it came with the hotel reservation which was not even expensive. On the way home we took the tourist route through Sonoma. I tried to figure out where I had stopped to eat when I had come last time (Feb 08) and eventually we ended up passing it, bringing back memories. But really, I hadn’t remembered how beautiful Sonoma actually was. It was breathtaking; we would never had gotten back to San Francisco if we actually stopped to take all the pictures we wanted to take.
We made a few stops along the route before arriving back “home”. Sausalito was the first one. The scenery was a windy mountain that provided beautiful views from the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge. Artisans with entertaining parrots and balancing rock towers occupied the streets as tourists walked from shop to shop. Mom bought an artsy little night-light and we visited a few art galleries in her honor before crossing the Golden Gate. We stopped for a photoshoot once we got back into San Francisco, it really was breathtaking to see in person. We almost blew off the cliff though since the wind was so strong.
From there we took a crooked drive down Lombard Street, stopped to view and photograph the sexy painted ladies (and the flower pots made out of shoes located in the park across from them) and ended the evening in Haight Ashbury where I got more hippiness than I ever could have wanted back when I was in the junior high. After being convinced, I decided against buying a super cute hippy dress but devoured a crepe instead
My bittersweet visit with Nicole was done. Well, at least I still had Mom. We dropped Nicole off at her apartment and said our goodbyes, I’ll see ya when I see ya and from there, Mom and I hit up Le Colonial, a restaurant suggestion from one of Jason’s girls (hehe). French-Cambodian food. I must have had gained at least 10 pounds that trip! On full stomachs, we drove the hour away to San Ramon to check in at the Marriott hotel. I had to drive all the way back in the morning to drop Mom off. Yahoo….
We made a few stops along the route before arriving back “home”. Sausalito was the first one. The scenery was a windy mountain that provided beautiful views from the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge. Artisans with entertaining parrots and balancing rock towers occupied the streets as tourists walked from shop to shop. Mom bought an artsy little night-light and we visited a few art galleries in her honor before crossing the Golden Gate. We stopped for a photoshoot once we got back into San Francisco, it really was breathtaking to see in person. We almost blew off the cliff though since the wind was so strong.
From there we took a crooked drive down Lombard Street, stopped to view and photograph the sexy painted ladies (and the flower pots made out of shoes located in the park across from them) and ended the evening in Haight Ashbury where I got more hippiness than I ever could have wanted back when I was in the junior high. After being convinced, I decided against buying a super cute hippy dress but devoured a crepe instead
My bittersweet visit with Nicole was done. Well, at least I still had Mom. We dropped Nicole off at her apartment and said our goodbyes, I’ll see ya when I see ya and from there, Mom and I hit up Le Colonial, a restaurant suggestion from one of Jason’s girls (hehe). French-Cambodian food. I must have had gained at least 10 pounds that trip! On full stomachs, we drove the hour away to San Ramon to check in at the Marriott hotel. I had to drive all the way back in the morning to drop Mom off. Yahoo….
Weekend trip to wine country
What an excellent weekend we had! Wine country is just as beautiful as I remember it being. We left the Westin early after finding a lovely French bakery to get some fresh oats, fruit and OJ from. We picked up my hot little red rental car and were on our way up north. Besides running into an oil spill on the way up (no big deal) it was smooth sailing after GPS helped us around it. The first winery was expensive but awesome ($40 for tour and tasting). The wines were probably the best I have tried, and we got to try them straight out of the oak barrels – name was Del Dotto – or as a guy from another winery stated – Del Blotto cause they give you so many to try. The second tasting was a quick stop and we got to taste for free. I stole a couple lemons that had fallen from a lemon tree in the backyard. I’m so badass. By the second tasting (and the best dessert wine I had ever tried!) I was feeling a bit tipsy but onward we went to the third at Miner and they didn’t even try to charge us. It was straight to the wine we went. We decided to break out the snacks we had bought from Safeway by the end especially since I didn’t think I would be able to drive without getting a little something in my tummy. We checked into a ghetto Hilton Hotel and immediately were a bit put–off. They had screwed up my reservation and gave us one king bed instead of the 2 double beds I had asked for. A lady came to our room, dropped the bed off and scurried off without even offering us some help. But, we laughed about it and drove about 20 minutes back out to wine country to try the restaurant Martini which Nicole had suggested. We were all done with drinking for the day (I think we were all feeling a little hungover already) as well as still full from all of the snacks we ate on the porch at the winery (while enjoying the Napa sunset). But, we were there, and we had to try the food which looked delicious. The decoration of the restaurant was completely French-rustic like, it had an earthy wooden feel to it. We ordered a few things and just about all of us got something with mushrooms because this was the restaurants’ specialty and man, it was just incredible. With a menu consisting of mushroom options like this, how can you resist?
Olive Oil Poached King Trumpet Mushrooms
Mascarpone Cheese / Artichokes / Olives / Radishes / Meyer Lemon
Sautéed Morels
Risotto / Sweet Peas / Tarragon / Parmesan Cream
Pan Roasted Maitake Mushroom
Asparagus / Polenta Cake / Red Wine Sauce
We were completely stuffed after not even ordering that much and made our way home.
Olive Oil Poached King Trumpet Mushrooms
Mascarpone Cheese / Artichokes / Olives / Radishes / Meyer Lemon
Sautéed Morels
Risotto / Sweet Peas / Tarragon / Parmesan Cream
Pan Roasted Maitake Mushroom
Asparagus / Polenta Cake / Red Wine Sauce
We were completely stuffed after not even ordering that much and made our way home.
Health food tax?
Officially, I love San Francisco. The people, the food, I’m even OK with them having a “healthy food” tax because… well really? Healthy food tax? I have had more than 2 taxi drivers that have told me to keep my money when I tried to tip them. Really? Where am I, peace world? I always thought that Boston has pretty good food. New York has pretty good food. But, San Franciscan food is creative, innovative, all natural organic AND fresh. Who has ever heard of short rib lasagna?
I’m so happy that mom is here to share this with me. I love it. If I were to describe SF in one word, I would call it organic. And, not that I need to actually say it, but I love organic food. From the bums (many happy and hilarious), to the very pleasant weather and excellent food (heavy organic accent!); I found my most favorite city in the US – (sorry Boston!) I finally just finished my work today, after spending more hours sitting at my computer. 2:30 PM I was done after going to bed at 3:30 am the night before and starting to work at 9 am. I think my body is SERIOUSLY fighting a major sickness from lack of sleep. At least I have eaten good food every single night. Monday – Italian, Tuesday – Mexican, Wednesday – Spanish tapas, Thursday – Southeastern Asian and Friday – French Californian. Wow. Seeing Jay yesterday was great. And even funnier that my Mom was there too. Maybe completely inappropriate – (she hasn’t stopped texting him) - JUST KIDDING. Today we rode the cable car. A must do in San Fran. And then we ate and drank more. I love this city.
I’m so happy that mom is here to share this with me. I love it. If I were to describe SF in one word, I would call it organic. And, not that I need to actually say it, but I love organic food. From the bums (many happy and hilarious), to the very pleasant weather and excellent food (heavy organic accent!); I found my most favorite city in the US – (sorry Boston!) I finally just finished my work today, after spending more hours sitting at my computer. 2:30 PM I was done after going to bed at 3:30 am the night before and starting to work at 9 am. I think my body is SERIOUSLY fighting a major sickness from lack of sleep. At least I have eaten good food every single night. Monday – Italian, Tuesday – Mexican, Wednesday – Spanish tapas, Thursday – Southeastern Asian and Friday – French Californian. Wow. Seeing Jay yesterday was great. And even funnier that my Mom was there too. Maybe completely inappropriate – (she hasn’t stopped texting him) - JUST KIDDING. Today we rode the cable car. A must do in San Fran. And then we ate and drank more. I love this city.
FEB 2010: Welcome to San Fran!
San Francisco’s sure got charm and character. I just arrived today half-awake and already I can tell I will be enjoying my stay. I stayed up last night a little too late (well, it was a crazy weekend and to top it off I went to an Ani Difranco concert which got me home at 11pm but had my body all out of whack since my body was in super-excited mode to see her. We got home around 11 and I spent between 11 and 4 finishing up a few things and especially finishing packing. This left me only an hour for sleeping. I didn’t realize how little sleep it would actually end up being. I didn’t get a ride from my regular taxi buddies this time around cause I tried contacting them too late. But, thankfully I made it on time to the airport and I had to fly United and it was a mess. The system for checking bags in was down so once checked in, we all had to make a very narrow line to check in our bags before we could make our way through security (which hasn’t changed at all despite everyone’s worries, in my opinion). I got an omelet for breakfast (it was so nice to not have to spend my own money once again), got on the plane, and passed the f out for the whole 6 hours. I can’t say that I was refreshed when I awoke, but I felt a little better than I did when I was getting on the plane. But, my skin still hurt, all over. Since your skin is an organ it just makes me shudder as to what this lack of sleep and screwing up of your whole system actually does to your body.
Anyway… I arrived at the Westin hotel and have a cute little room with two queen beds (which is convenient for Mom’s visit) and a much too comfortable bed. I got organized and set out to get some work done at my first grocery store. I walked around in amazement at what was in arm’s reach of my hotel room – including many of the major targets I needed. I had a good vibe, and it made me smile. I ventured to use the local bus system to get to the grocery store – successfully. Meanwhile, as I stood there waiting for the bus to approach with my $2 in hand a man walked up to me and gave me his transit card which he said was good until Feb. 3. I made it clear to him that I was very thankful and he made my day. It’s things like that which make the world go round, happily. Already I was noticing the interesting characters. But with these characters came unpleasant smells (like the man who sat near me with the long, pee-looking stained gray hair). Ewww… a hippy gone old and bad.
After (nearly) finishing my first grocery store, I met up with Mike and Nicole and saw their super cute apartment and then we ate down the street at a super delicious Italian restaurant. It was so nice to have some company (especially friends that I know I don’t get to see often). I felt good, I felt comfortable and I feel happy to be away from home for now. I’m excited for this week, let’s just hope I can get all the work done in good time.
Anyway… I arrived at the Westin hotel and have a cute little room with two queen beds (which is convenient for Mom’s visit) and a much too comfortable bed. I got organized and set out to get some work done at my first grocery store. I walked around in amazement at what was in arm’s reach of my hotel room – including many of the major targets I needed. I had a good vibe, and it made me smile. I ventured to use the local bus system to get to the grocery store – successfully. Meanwhile, as I stood there waiting for the bus to approach with my $2 in hand a man walked up to me and gave me his transit card which he said was good until Feb. 3. I made it clear to him that I was very thankful and he made my day. It’s things like that which make the world go round, happily. Already I was noticing the interesting characters. But with these characters came unpleasant smells (like the man who sat near me with the long, pee-looking stained gray hair). Ewww… a hippy gone old and bad.
After (nearly) finishing my first grocery store, I met up with Mike and Nicole and saw their super cute apartment and then we ate down the street at a super delicious Italian restaurant. It was so nice to have some company (especially friends that I know I don’t get to see often). I felt good, I felt comfortable and I feel happy to be away from home for now. I’m excited for this week, let’s just hope I can get all the work done in good time.
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