I'm writing this blog sitting next to Oz on a Greyhound bus that's going from LA to San Francisco. We're in the middle of fuck-knows-where-ville driving next to what looks to be thousands of cows, and trust me =, you can smell them! After a lapse of an hour or two, we made it back to civilisation—for a moment at least—before being plunged back into the dark highway. There is a strange cackling man sitting next to us. So instead of getting freaked out by the cackling man who occasionally decides to stare at us I'll recount what has been going on in the past week or so.
As soon as my exams finished I had the joy of moving and Oz had the joy of helping me. Having none of my friends with cars around at this point we had no choice but to carry all my stuff (and I have accumulated a lot of it over the past four months!) the five or so blocks to my new apartment. But alas, if only it had been that easy. We expected to move in straight away, but my new room mate was still in residence, so we were in limbo for three days not being entirely sure where our possessions were.
On the subject of room mates I appear to have moved from an anal one into the room of a stoned, permanently hungover one. Of the three days we moved my stuff she was hungover on each of them, the mornings were spent with her make-up smeared over her face, lying in bed, with the covers pulled over her head. Its going to be an interesting two quarters.
I have vowed to move as least often as possible following this experience. We were generally ill prepared in every possible way and it was a complete nightmare that led to us setting of for our travels three hours late,
Oz has written a guide to easy moving. Here it is:
Step one: Have a friend with easy access to a car on standby at all times.
Step two: Do not acquire any personal belongings, so they do not, as a result, need to be moved in the first place.
Step Three: If you ignore both of the first two steps, make sure you do not try and move two person's belongings from different houses at the same time, mixing the items up as much as possible.
Step Three and a half: If you are trying to live in two residences at once do not move many of these items back and forth several times before they find their final resting place.
Step Four: If at all possible, do not move house.
Anyway I am now 98% in my new apartment (a few last minute items were discovered and stowed away in a cupboard to be moved when we get back. We were so disorganised that we had to get a later bus and arrived in LA in the pitch black.
The next day was our first proper day in LA and what did we do? Spend the entire morning trying to get a bus to the Natural History Museum (don't go if you don't have a car - totally not worth it!) because Oz wants to do a PhD with one of the big shots there and went to butter him up. The result being that Oz had lots of Palaeontological conversations and spent hours looking at casts of bones (not even the actual fossils!) whilst I sat in the corner of an office knitting and bored out of my mind. I'll let Oz justify himself. As is widely known, palaeontologists are teh coolest people alive. I need just two words to justify this bombastic claim: T. rex. To my great delight, I discovered that there was a largely-complete skeleton of this iconic creature in the draws of the lab we were visiting. There is also considerable merit in long, convoluted and technical conversations on extinct creatures that no one cares about, besides the select few geeks who live and breath this stuff. What more reason does one need for such a laborious trek?
Anyway, after about five hours of being cooped up in this office (or "lab") we eventually escaped, only to spend the next hour or so on the buses in the pouring rain (oh yes, it does rain in LA!) so that we couldn't actually see where we were supposed to get off. I eventually forced Oz to come food shopping with me (Oz: I wasnt forced; she persuaded me with her silver tongue) and the actually began to become enjoyable. We got our hands on some hot chocolates and some beautiful French bread (that reminded me of Sunday breakfasts with my family) and we sat in a cafe dipping the bread into our hot chocolates. Beautiful. We also were able to get some red wine and the night began to look up.
Having vowed not to step foot in any more palaeontology based attractions on this trip it was with surprise and some annoyance that I found myself outside the La Brea tar pits, where a long time ago a lot of boring animals met their untimely end and now some geeks dig up their bones and make a big deal out of something that matters very little indeed. So I ended up trawling around a museum that Oz theoretically wasn't even interested in, he prefers the Mesozoic period, these animals weren't even dinosaurs! (See, I am learning things about dinosaurs slowly, I embarrassed Oz in front of some PhD students the day before by calling something a dinosaur when it wasn't. Served him right for boring me stupid!)
After getting high off the tar fumes we finally were released and we went shopping on Melrose Avenue, I don't even particularly enjoy shopping but it was my highlight of the day so far. I got a cool t-shirt with the picture from earth beamed out to aliens with Jesus in the background, sounds strange but I like it. I wanted to get a Mary is my Homegirl t-shirt but they didn't have the right size. I also got an amazing t-shirt fro a friend of mine, but its a secret so I shan't tell you just how amazing it was.
Once Oz got scared at how dark it was getting and how much our chances of mugging has increased we went back to our hostel and has a pitifully small dinner. After complaining of not having eaten enough we put ourselves at risk of mugging by venturing outside to get some more dinner. We also attempted to see the Hollywood sign, but no buses were going the right way and after waiting for half an hour we gave up waiting and strolled to Santa Monica Boulevard. Having decided against about half a dozen restaurants we eventually ended up in an Italian and had a beautiful Bruschetta and cheese free pizza. But even more excitingly than that I got served! I had two glasses of wine in a restaurant underage! I actually felt like an adult for the first time in four months. Was fantastic.
Today we had very little time, once we'd packed up and got to the Greyhound station our time in LA was over. We've done none of the usual LA things, although we did go along Hollywood Boulevard and saw the stars names on the pavement. But this was only because the Greyhound station was on a road off of it. I didn't leave LA with a particularly good picture of it, it seemed sprawling and full of palaeontology. I'll be very glad to get to San Francisco, which I can now actually see!
Greyhound weirdoes - 1, LA muggings - 0, LA sights seen - 0 (Although insists we've seen at least 1, I dispute this entirely!), Oz: disgustingly unhealthy fast food pitstops - 1
Showing posts with label Greyhound buses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greyhound buses. Show all posts
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
San Diego, the Grand Canyon with a Mexican and Japanese twist
Since writing last I've been on a five day trip to San Diego and the Grand Canyon with Claudia (who I mentioned last time) and Hanayo (another exchange student, this time from Japan). At first things were a little bit difficult, although there English was good it took them a little while to get used to me (I must learn to speak slower!) and there were lots of words I used but by the end of the trip their English had improved loads and we had gotten to know each other really well. Its great having another cultures viewpoint on things, you learn lots of strange things (the Japanese have a different counting system for different things - the way they count birds is quite different to the way they count pencils).
We first went to San Diego because Hanayo wanted to go, we had left the organisation till very late but managed to get beds in what a good friend of mine described as a party hostel where an awful lot of drinking goes on, so we thought we'd be right at home! It was also just off the beach. We spent the later part of the afternoon body boarding and then watched the sunset before heading off to buy alcohol (the most important part of the early evening). The three of us quickly got through a bottle of red before a guy came round wanting to see who would put $7 down for a share of a beer keg (which you can buy in supermarkets!), by this time I was just drunk enough to agree quickly (the other 2 declined just as quickly!). The keg arrived an hour later and the drinking games began in earnest started off by the traditional game of flip cup followed by a nation vs nation beer pong tournament. Thankfully there were already 2 other Brits because I'm crap, was already quite drunk and would let my country down, so I was a cheerleader.
When I eventually stumbled into bed I found the large room pitch black with a single central light and my stuff spread all over my bed. Trying to sort that out whilst sober is difficult enough, imagine trying to do it inebriated. I couldn't find my sheet and was very grateful that I happened to have a sleeping bag with me because it was surprisingly cold. Naturally I woke up the next day with a slight hangover, but was proud to be able to send a postcard to my friend half jokingly, half proudly blaming her for my hangover.
I recovered quickly and once we had checked out we decided to leave our bags in the lockers at the Greyhound bus station and then go on to the Old Town area of San Diego. We quickly realised that Old Town is understood entirely differently in American English to how it is understood in British English. I would assume that the buildings themselves would be old, but oh no, this is America - nothing is old. Old Town does rest upon the oldest part of town, but it consists entirely of replicas of the original buildings, it is one fat tourist trap. They proudly claim that there is over 800 years of history on this site, that Native Americans once inhabited it, but that is all they can tell you about them, ask anything more and the tour guide looks blank. We took a tour (complete with actors in original clothing - Hollywood rejects), went to a dull museum about stagecoaches, checked out the overpriced shops full of Mexican tat ("In Mexico things would be a third of these prices!" cried Claudia) and ate an overpriced Mexican meal (we were starving). The Old Town was keen to stress their Mexican heritage, just not the Native American part.
We then wondered around Gaslamp quarter (v.pretty and at night bustling with people and street performers) and the harbour area before falling tired into cinema seats. After a bit of shopping we headed back to the bus station and caught our overnight bus to Flagstaff, Arizona.
During the trip we had to stop at an immigration check point (we were only a few miles from Mexico) and were told that if we weren't American citizens we should get our papers out. I got really concerned, I had left my visa and passport at home thinking them far too valuable and unnecessary to bring. I hastily got out my provisional drivers license and my UCSB student card and hoped they wouldn't kick me out of the country (Hanayo was fast asleep and blissfully ignorant of all the goings on). When the officials boarded the bus they told us to get documents out and then repeated it in Spanish, they walked quickly down the bus asking anyone who looked Mexican for their papers (which they all had) - except thankfully Claudia, who despite looking Mexican was ignored and so we were allowed to stay due to government over site.
We eventually got into Flagstaff (the nearest town to the Grand Canyon - a mere 80 miles away!) just before lunch and made our way to the tourist information centre. We had assumed that we'd be able to get hold of a camping spot easily and the bus to the Grand Canyon would have plenty of space. After many phone calls I was proved wrong on both counts. We had no way of getting there (besides hitching) and no where to stay when we were there. Eventually we discovered we could hire a car and planned to drive it up that day and sleep in it overnight. Again this proved to be too easy and we were told we had to get it the next morning so we spent the night in a local hostel (a really cool 1920s motel just off of Route 66!).
Knowing that food would be expensive in the Grand Canyon we set off for the nearest supermarket about a mile down the road and set off for supplies. We ended up buying 2 x 2.5 gallon containers of water because the bumpf we'd been given about the Grand Canyon encouraged people to drink as much as possible. Setting off we quickly realised they were far too heavy to carry and so decided to hitch hike. Fairly soon a man and a woman in a pick up truck picked us up and we got to hitch hike down Route 66 in the back of a truck. It was so cool! Definitely something to drunkenly boast about!
During our afternoon it rained and I mean really rained, as bad as it has done in England over the last summer. I had mistakenly believed that Arizona would be all dry desert, but apparently not, we were 7000ft up in the mountains and they had monsoons every summer. I thought monsoons belonged to the area around India, but apparently not. Being English I didn't mind the rain too much and happily jumped in the large puddles that had formed.
The next morning we packed up and went to breakfast, we were all set for hiring our car when we started chatting to a couple who were about to head off to the Grand Canyon and come back that evening, out of the blue they offered us a lift and so instead of hiring the car and sleeping in it overnight we booked and extra night at the hostel and piled into the back of their tiny car. They were lovely and refused to let us pay for either some off the gas or the park entrance fee ($25 per car), so we ended up getting to and from the Grand Canyon for nothing.
When we drove down I was expecting to see the lush mountainous forest landscape change into a desert and the pine trees did get smaller and it got a bit drier but the desert wilderness I had been expecting never appeared, instead the Grand Canyon is in the middle of a forest, it just suddenly appears, this great abyss. We spent our morning and early afternoon walking around the rim taking lots of photos and marvelling at the remarkably varied landscape. Later we went to a talk about the geology (as the ranger put it - "its all down to DUDE!", a wonderfully patronising acronym for the stages of the creation of the Canyon) before realising we were knackered and getting some food.
After recovering slightly from the ridiculously tiring walk we went souvenir shopping, somehow I managed to resist buying the Grand Canyon coasters that fit inside most cup holders in vehicles (what more could you want?) but did buy a postcard and native American ghost beads - meant to protect against bad dreams, a good addition I feel to my religious paraphernalia collection. Later on I also brought a book on the lives of native American women which had proved to be fascinating.
After our little spending spree we went to a talk that "Ranger Bob" (what a great name!) put on just prior to sunset about how the Grand Canyon has inspired people throughout the ages. He had poetry, paintings, music and short readings. He got really into the music and he stood there hugging his little portable hi-fi chest puffed out, eyes closed and lips pursed. He got people to do some of the readings (good thing too - he rushes through poetry and removes most of the beauty of it) and I volunteered. Apparently I was really good and I was asked to do it again later on and later people came up to me and told me I was good and should do it for a living! I was surprised to say the least, but it could be a good little earner and I am living near Hollywood. For doing the readings he gave everyone a fake tattoo that said the "Grand Canyon" and had a picture of the California Condor on it. I got 2 and gave Hanayo one. We decided to place them in tacky "sexy" places just to bewilder people and so I had mine on my lower back, just above my bottom (where lots of people have those horrible Celtic style tattoos) and Hanayo had hers on her leg. Unfortunately I spotted no surprised looking pervy old men.
Anyway back to the sunset - when Ranger Bob had finally stopped massacring poetry we got to sit, watch and take photos of the sunset, it was beautiful. Strangely you could actually see more of the canyon when the sun had set that when it was up. After this we met up with the couple who had given us the lift and we piled in the car again. By the time we had gotten into the car (no more that 45 minutes after sunset) it was pitch black and I was grateful that we weren't spending the night in the car.
On the way back I could see some amazing stars, they were so big and there was so many, it was stunning. If Claudia had been driving I'd have asked her to pull over and would have gotten out but all I could do was look through the glass. When we got back to Flagstaff we discovered that the stars were prominent here too so went for a walk to a place with fewer lights and looked up. I swear we could see the milky was, there were a couple of slightly lighter patched in the sky, almost like thin clouds, but not. I'm fairly sure they were made up of distant stars. It was stunning. The stars seemed so close that the constellations were too big to recognise easily. I now really want to go camping in the middle of nowhere and star gaze properly.
After getting a lot of sleep we woke up refreshed and did a bit of exploration of downtown flagstaff which turned out to be a cool spiritual place. They seem to be very proud of their native American heritage and there were lots of shops selling native American wares. There are also apparently Shamans on top of the nearest mountain who prevent anyone from climbing it and cast spells over the area, Hanayo loved this idea and couldn't find out enough about them.
Soon enough it was time to leave, but when we got to the bus station we were informed that the bus was running over an hour late so we went to a nearby fast food restaurant (if they really deserve that definition!), had some lunch and whiled away our time. Hanayo taught us some Japanese and showed us how to write our names. We were by far the liveliest people in a place otherwise full of unhappy, overweight people.
The bus seemed to take forever, we finally reached our apartments at 7am. I met my flat mate Lieke for the first time when I had to ring the doorbell because I didn't think I had the key for the security latch (turned out it was the same one as the normal key). Thankfully she is jet lagged and was awake anyway. I was getting quite concerned about the introduction, she wasn't aware that I was arriving so early and might think she was being burgled or something. In the end it was a congenial meeting that quickly involved tea. She seems nice.
And so Claudia, Hanayo and my adventure ended as quickly as it had started. Tomorrow there is the introduction for international students which will inevitably prove to be unbelievably boring, but will at least be a chance to meet new people and afterwards I'm hosting a party!
We first went to San Diego because Hanayo wanted to go, we had left the organisation till very late but managed to get beds in what a good friend of mine described as a party hostel where an awful lot of drinking goes on, so we thought we'd be right at home! It was also just off the beach. We spent the later part of the afternoon body boarding and then watched the sunset before heading off to buy alcohol (the most important part of the early evening). The three of us quickly got through a bottle of red before a guy came round wanting to see who would put $7 down for a share of a beer keg (which you can buy in supermarkets!), by this time I was just drunk enough to agree quickly (the other 2 declined just as quickly!). The keg arrived an hour later and the drinking games began in earnest started off by the traditional game of flip cup followed by a nation vs nation beer pong tournament. Thankfully there were already 2 other Brits because I'm crap, was already quite drunk and would let my country down, so I was a cheerleader.
When I eventually stumbled into bed I found the large room pitch black with a single central light and my stuff spread all over my bed. Trying to sort that out whilst sober is difficult enough, imagine trying to do it inebriated. I couldn't find my sheet and was very grateful that I happened to have a sleeping bag with me because it was surprisingly cold. Naturally I woke up the next day with a slight hangover, but was proud to be able to send a postcard to my friend half jokingly, half proudly blaming her for my hangover.
I recovered quickly and once we had checked out we decided to leave our bags in the lockers at the Greyhound bus station and then go on to the Old Town area of San Diego. We quickly realised that Old Town is understood entirely differently in American English to how it is understood in British English. I would assume that the buildings themselves would be old, but oh no, this is America - nothing is old. Old Town does rest upon the oldest part of town, but it consists entirely of replicas of the original buildings, it is one fat tourist trap. They proudly claim that there is over 800 years of history on this site, that Native Americans once inhabited it, but that is all they can tell you about them, ask anything more and the tour guide looks blank. We took a tour (complete with actors in original clothing - Hollywood rejects), went to a dull museum about stagecoaches, checked out the overpriced shops full of Mexican tat ("In Mexico things would be a third of these prices!" cried Claudia) and ate an overpriced Mexican meal (we were starving). The Old Town was keen to stress their Mexican heritage, just not the Native American part.
We then wondered around Gaslamp quarter (v.pretty and at night bustling with people and street performers) and the harbour area before falling tired into cinema seats. After a bit of shopping we headed back to the bus station and caught our overnight bus to Flagstaff, Arizona.
During the trip we had to stop at an immigration check point (we were only a few miles from Mexico) and were told that if we weren't American citizens we should get our papers out. I got really concerned, I had left my visa and passport at home thinking them far too valuable and unnecessary to bring. I hastily got out my provisional drivers license and my UCSB student card and hoped they wouldn't kick me out of the country (Hanayo was fast asleep and blissfully ignorant of all the goings on). When the officials boarded the bus they told us to get documents out and then repeated it in Spanish, they walked quickly down the bus asking anyone who looked Mexican for their papers (which they all had) - except thankfully Claudia, who despite looking Mexican was ignored and so we were allowed to stay due to government over site.
We eventually got into Flagstaff (the nearest town to the Grand Canyon - a mere 80 miles away!) just before lunch and made our way to the tourist information centre. We had assumed that we'd be able to get hold of a camping spot easily and the bus to the Grand Canyon would have plenty of space. After many phone calls I was proved wrong on both counts. We had no way of getting there (besides hitching) and no where to stay when we were there. Eventually we discovered we could hire a car and planned to drive it up that day and sleep in it overnight. Again this proved to be too easy and we were told we had to get it the next morning so we spent the night in a local hostel (a really cool 1920s motel just off of Route 66!).
Knowing that food would be expensive in the Grand Canyon we set off for the nearest supermarket about a mile down the road and set off for supplies. We ended up buying 2 x 2.5 gallon containers of water because the bumpf we'd been given about the Grand Canyon encouraged people to drink as much as possible. Setting off we quickly realised they were far too heavy to carry and so decided to hitch hike. Fairly soon a man and a woman in a pick up truck picked us up and we got to hitch hike down Route 66 in the back of a truck. It was so cool! Definitely something to drunkenly boast about!
During our afternoon it rained and I mean really rained, as bad as it has done in England over the last summer. I had mistakenly believed that Arizona would be all dry desert, but apparently not, we were 7000ft up in the mountains and they had monsoons every summer. I thought monsoons belonged to the area around India, but apparently not. Being English I didn't mind the rain too much and happily jumped in the large puddles that had formed.
The next morning we packed up and went to breakfast, we were all set for hiring our car when we started chatting to a couple who were about to head off to the Grand Canyon and come back that evening, out of the blue they offered us a lift and so instead of hiring the car and sleeping in it overnight we booked and extra night at the hostel and piled into the back of their tiny car. They were lovely and refused to let us pay for either some off the gas or the park entrance fee ($25 per car), so we ended up getting to and from the Grand Canyon for nothing.
When we drove down I was expecting to see the lush mountainous forest landscape change into a desert and the pine trees did get smaller and it got a bit drier but the desert wilderness I had been expecting never appeared, instead the Grand Canyon is in the middle of a forest, it just suddenly appears, this great abyss. We spent our morning and early afternoon walking around the rim taking lots of photos and marvelling at the remarkably varied landscape. Later we went to a talk about the geology (as the ranger put it - "its all down to DUDE!", a wonderfully patronising acronym for the stages of the creation of the Canyon) before realising we were knackered and getting some food.
After recovering slightly from the ridiculously tiring walk we went souvenir shopping, somehow I managed to resist buying the Grand Canyon coasters that fit inside most cup holders in vehicles (what more could you want?) but did buy a postcard and native American ghost beads - meant to protect against bad dreams, a good addition I feel to my religious paraphernalia collection. Later on I also brought a book on the lives of native American women which had proved to be fascinating.
After our little spending spree we went to a talk that "Ranger Bob" (what a great name!) put on just prior to sunset about how the Grand Canyon has inspired people throughout the ages. He had poetry, paintings, music and short readings. He got really into the music and he stood there hugging his little portable hi-fi chest puffed out, eyes closed and lips pursed. He got people to do some of the readings (good thing too - he rushes through poetry and removes most of the beauty of it) and I volunteered. Apparently I was really good and I was asked to do it again later on and later people came up to me and told me I was good and should do it for a living! I was surprised to say the least, but it could be a good little earner and I am living near Hollywood. For doing the readings he gave everyone a fake tattoo that said the "Grand Canyon" and had a picture of the California Condor on it. I got 2 and gave Hanayo one. We decided to place them in tacky "sexy" places just to bewilder people and so I had mine on my lower back, just above my bottom (where lots of people have those horrible Celtic style tattoos) and Hanayo had hers on her leg. Unfortunately I spotted no surprised looking pervy old men.
Anyway back to the sunset - when Ranger Bob had finally stopped massacring poetry we got to sit, watch and take photos of the sunset, it was beautiful. Strangely you could actually see more of the canyon when the sun had set that when it was up. After this we met up with the couple who had given us the lift and we piled in the car again. By the time we had gotten into the car (no more that 45 minutes after sunset) it was pitch black and I was grateful that we weren't spending the night in the car.
On the way back I could see some amazing stars, they were so big and there was so many, it was stunning. If Claudia had been driving I'd have asked her to pull over and would have gotten out but all I could do was look through the glass. When we got back to Flagstaff we discovered that the stars were prominent here too so went for a walk to a place with fewer lights and looked up. I swear we could see the milky was, there were a couple of slightly lighter patched in the sky, almost like thin clouds, but not. I'm fairly sure they were made up of distant stars. It was stunning. The stars seemed so close that the constellations were too big to recognise easily. I now really want to go camping in the middle of nowhere and star gaze properly.
After getting a lot of sleep we woke up refreshed and did a bit of exploration of downtown flagstaff which turned out to be a cool spiritual place. They seem to be very proud of their native American heritage and there were lots of shops selling native American wares. There are also apparently Shamans on top of the nearest mountain who prevent anyone from climbing it and cast spells over the area, Hanayo loved this idea and couldn't find out enough about them.
Soon enough it was time to leave, but when we got to the bus station we were informed that the bus was running over an hour late so we went to a nearby fast food restaurant (if they really deserve that definition!), had some lunch and whiled away our time. Hanayo taught us some Japanese and showed us how to write our names. We were by far the liveliest people in a place otherwise full of unhappy, overweight people.
The bus seemed to take forever, we finally reached our apartments at 7am. I met my flat mate Lieke for the first time when I had to ring the doorbell because I didn't think I had the key for the security latch (turned out it was the same one as the normal key). Thankfully she is jet lagged and was awake anyway. I was getting quite concerned about the introduction, she wasn't aware that I was arriving so early and might think she was being burgled or something. In the end it was a congenial meeting that quickly involved tea. She seems nice.
And so Claudia, Hanayo and my adventure ended as quickly as it had started. Tomorrow there is the introduction for international students which will inevitably prove to be unbelievably boring, but will at least be a chance to meet new people and afterwards I'm hosting a party!
Monday, September 10, 2007
Back to Goleta after a long Greyhound bus with yet another weirdo..
Do I have a sign on my forehead that says "Strange men please talk me!" because I seem to attract them, I guess I should be pleased, at least men are! This particular weirdo was a poor helpless 54 year old divorcee who appeared to be drug addled and entirely dependent on other people. I initially got whiff of it because he had to have a woman help him onto the bus, seriously. Despite the fact he could walk perfectly adequately he needed someone to hold his hand. He spent a good part of the journey with a phone attached to his ear discussing ridiculous bits of the journey and his emotions with 3 poor women - Anne, Diane and his 80 year old mother - I felt so sorry for them. He kept asking whether this was the bus for Santa Barbara ("yes."), did he need to get off here? ("No. You stay put for the 10 hour journey.") Where are we? ("Bloody well listen to the driver, he just told you, or look out the damn window, its written just there!" Or politer words to that effect) Can he have a cigarette here? ("Yes, the driver just told you that you could. Use your ears man!"). He also kindly woke me up when I had just managed to doze off. Bastard. He was such a strange man that he told me Jesus had some to his front door and he had met him (no joke, he honestly told me this and this is a man who is so messed up that lying would stretch his mentally capacities to their limit) and that he could immediately trust me because I study religion (no mate, its because you are a needy sap who requires a mother figure to tell you what to do). He admitted that he had got married at 19 and his wife was more like a mother. At one point his stupid ex-wife was typing a love email for him as he dictated it - I mean good God! I was so pleased to get off the bus and be shot of him.
This afternoon I met some Mexican students, on of whom I'm travelling with. The girl (Claudia) who I'm travelling with has been in the US for 2 weeks but hadn't really spoken English until she met me. There is clearly a cliquey thing going on there, but it was really nice to make some new friends. We went to the thrift store - a second hand shop that doesn't give its profits to charity. I had hoped to buy an electric kettle (they are rare in America), a teapot (how can I cope without one?) and a clothes horse. I failed on 2 of 3, but I did manage to get hold of a teapot and so was able to have a good brew later.
We also went to a supermarket and I finally got hold of some good fruit and veg! After travelling for a week and a half I was gagging for some fruit and veg, my body was crying out for healthy food. So I spoilt myself - nectarines, melon, avocado, bananas, apples, tomatoes, courgettes (in American - Zucchini), lettuce, green peppers, chilli's, so nice! It was an absolute bargain too - I only spent $20 but I also got 2lbs of pork and some rice. I can be healthy again!
When I got back laden with shopping (I also brought back an iron of mine that UPS were holding hostage) I met my room mate for the first time. Lisa is lovely, we seem to get on well although there are a fair few cultural differences! We made a curry together (the first she'd ever had!) and it was really nice. More important than the curry she brought a bottle of red wine with her and I got the first wine I've had since I've been here and its so good! I've really missed full bodied red wine! We might go out and meet some of her friends and continue the drinking. The more people I can meet the merrier.
After a shaky first few days in Goleta I seem to be steadying out, I'm meeting lots of people and I haven't got to worry about buying lots of things because I've done it already, things can only get better! (Now there's an opening line for a horror story...)
This afternoon I met some Mexican students, on of whom I'm travelling with. The girl (Claudia) who I'm travelling with has been in the US for 2 weeks but hadn't really spoken English until she met me. There is clearly a cliquey thing going on there, but it was really nice to make some new friends. We went to the thrift store - a second hand shop that doesn't give its profits to charity. I had hoped to buy an electric kettle (they are rare in America), a teapot (how can I cope without one?) and a clothes horse. I failed on 2 of 3, but I did manage to get hold of a teapot and so was able to have a good brew later.
We also went to a supermarket and I finally got hold of some good fruit and veg! After travelling for a week and a half I was gagging for some fruit and veg, my body was crying out for healthy food. So I spoilt myself - nectarines, melon, avocado, bananas, apples, tomatoes, courgettes (in American - Zucchini), lettuce, green peppers, chilli's, so nice! It was an absolute bargain too - I only spent $20 but I also got 2lbs of pork and some rice. I can be healthy again!
When I got back laden with shopping (I also brought back an iron of mine that UPS were holding hostage) I met my room mate for the first time. Lisa is lovely, we seem to get on well although there are a fair few cultural differences! We made a curry together (the first she'd ever had!) and it was really nice. More important than the curry she brought a bottle of red wine with her and I got the first wine I've had since I've been here and its so good! I've really missed full bodied red wine! We might go out and meet some of her friends and continue the drinking. The more people I can meet the merrier.
After a shaky first few days in Goleta I seem to be steadying out, I'm meeting lots of people and I haven't got to worry about buying lots of things because I've done it already, things can only get better! (Now there's an opening line for a horror story...)
Friday, August 31, 2007
San Francisco and Scientology
I've become a tourist for a week, I'm currently in San Francisco before heading up north to see some giant redwood trees. I set off this morning at 4.30am in style - the taxi I had order turned out to be a limo! However my journey did not continue this way... The greyhound bus was about three quarters of an hour late and I had to wait in front of the bus station, even Santa Barbara is slightly chilly at that time in the morning. Eventually the packed bus set out just as the sun was beginning to rise and I was lucky enough to see it rise over the mountains. The journey was fairly uneventful, although very long (ten hours), thankfully I slept for a lot of it. We travelled up Highway 101, past many mountains, through valleys and past loads of Mexican immigrants working on farms (the Californian economy depends on Mexicans, they are a large minority and most signs are translated into Spanish).
Eventually I got to San Francisco and after finding my hostel I set about finding my first real meal of the day (at 4pm - prior to that I'd had 2 apples, 2 oranges and a packet of crisps, nothing like a well rounded diet). I walked into Chinatown and found a cheap and cheerful restaurant, I asked the waitress for the most authentic meal they have and ended up with a "Chow fun with Beef and Greens", it consisted of bean sprouts, beef, spring onions and something that I'm concerned may have been thin strips of fat. Whatever it was it was a delicious bargain - only $5! There is an Afghani restaurant near the hostel that does a lunch buffet, I have to try it. I also did a bit of shopping, buying a travel journal, a tiny statue of a Boddhisatva for my friend Rhiannon and a Christmas present for my sister.
After dinner at the hostel an Australian girl I've met and myself decided to go to a comedy club for the night, once we had go there we discovered it cost $19 and decided our money was better spent elsewhere, but we took a slightly different route on the way back and ended up walking past the Church of Scientology, that happened to be offering tours, so we decided to go in. It was fascinating - it was set out exhibition style and the first five or so boards were dedicated to the life of L.Ron Hubbard, much less time was dedicated to actually explaining what Scientology is. They had videos of various speeches all of which had massive flaws in their arguments - the assumptions just stood out. The rules Scientologists have to follow mean that they cannot discuss any problems they may be experiencing with their faith and they have to promise allegiance and devotion to any group they are involved in (which presumably includes Scientology). There is so much brainwashing, all of the exhibits showed pictures of beautiful people enjoying themselves and prospering. It was very commercial and very judgmental. They laid claim to a lot of things other people have done (such as administrative systems, drug rehabilitation, etc). It was very interesting, but at the same time very concerning. I've filled in their personality test (200 questions!), what will they make of me? They also have seminars in the day, I may pop along and pose some exceptionally awkward questions. I'm very glad I walked that way home, it has made my day much more entertaining.
As you may be able to tell I'm feeling a lot more positive today, life is easier as a tourist and I've had an enjoyable day. I've also learnt that a dime is worth ten cents, for some reason the American mint assumes everyone automatically knows what a dime is and so doesn't feel the need to put its monetary value on the coin... Hopefully these little discoveries will come easier as a tourist and I won't feel nearly so awkward as I have done recently. I think that I'll have to learn to be very patient with myself and then I'll be fine. I'll take plenty of things for granted soon enough and life will become easier.
Eventually I got to San Francisco and after finding my hostel I set about finding my first real meal of the day (at 4pm - prior to that I'd had 2 apples, 2 oranges and a packet of crisps, nothing like a well rounded diet). I walked into Chinatown and found a cheap and cheerful restaurant, I asked the waitress for the most authentic meal they have and ended up with a "Chow fun with Beef and Greens", it consisted of bean sprouts, beef, spring onions and something that I'm concerned may have been thin strips of fat. Whatever it was it was a delicious bargain - only $5! There is an Afghani restaurant near the hostel that does a lunch buffet, I have to try it. I also did a bit of shopping, buying a travel journal, a tiny statue of a Boddhisatva for my friend Rhiannon and a Christmas present for my sister.
After dinner at the hostel an Australian girl I've met and myself decided to go to a comedy club for the night, once we had go there we discovered it cost $19 and decided our money was better spent elsewhere, but we took a slightly different route on the way back and ended up walking past the Church of Scientology, that happened to be offering tours, so we decided to go in. It was fascinating - it was set out exhibition style and the first five or so boards were dedicated to the life of L.Ron Hubbard, much less time was dedicated to actually explaining what Scientology is. They had videos of various speeches all of which had massive flaws in their arguments - the assumptions just stood out. The rules Scientologists have to follow mean that they cannot discuss any problems they may be experiencing with their faith and they have to promise allegiance and devotion to any group they are involved in (which presumably includes Scientology). There is so much brainwashing, all of the exhibits showed pictures of beautiful people enjoying themselves and prospering. It was very commercial and very judgmental. They laid claim to a lot of things other people have done (such as administrative systems, drug rehabilitation, etc). It was very interesting, but at the same time very concerning. I've filled in their personality test (200 questions!), what will they make of me? They also have seminars in the day, I may pop along and pose some exceptionally awkward questions. I'm very glad I walked that way home, it has made my day much more entertaining.
As you may be able to tell I'm feeling a lot more positive today, life is easier as a tourist and I've had an enjoyable day. I've also learnt that a dime is worth ten cents, for some reason the American mint assumes everyone automatically knows what a dime is and so doesn't feel the need to put its monetary value on the coin... Hopefully these little discoveries will come easier as a tourist and I won't feel nearly so awkward as I have done recently. I think that I'll have to learn to be very patient with myself and then I'll be fine. I'll take plenty of things for granted soon enough and life will become easier.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Travel Plans
Instead of doing the sensible thing of flying straight to California I'm visiting a really good friend of mine, Juliana, in Cincinnati, OH first. This will be great fun, she'll help me acclimatise to the US (by showing me a gun shop!), I might get to see a bit of America and I can't wait. The only downside is that I have an environmental issue with flying (thanks mum and dad) and I will always avoid flying wherever possible, so instead of flying across the continent I have decided to go by Greyhound bus instead. I'm trying desperately to remind myself of the good points of this, the reasons that I am doing this - the environment, its cheaper, it will give me a sense of the scale of the country (which mum feels I seriously lack), I'll take in some amazing landscapes that I've never seen before, and Greyhounds are iconic, etc.
All was fine, I had successfully deluded myself that the two days and a half days journey would be fine and then, this evening, I made the mistake of looking at the details of my planned trip. It takes in a grand total of 8 states and goes through Las Vegas, Indianopolis, Kansas City, Denver, LA (not in that order) and many other little towns (there is actually somewhere called Junction City, imagine the English building a town around the Spaghetti Junction - oh, wait we did, it's called Birmingham) as well as mountains and desert. Somehow this hadn't really managed to scare me until I saw the total mileage of my journey: 2504 MILES I don't think I have ever travelled that far in my life, and that doesn't even count crossing the Atlantic. Suddenly I have a fairly accurate picture of just how far I will be from my family and friends and just how big the US really is, my mind can't quite comprehend this. I must be mad absolutely mad.
And yet whilst I am pretty scared I am also exhilerated, the idea of going on an adventure, being independent, seeing all these new landscapes, meeting new people, seeing new places. It's just thrilling. Sure, by the time I get to Santa Barbara I will be officially knackered, and yet have to find my way to my new home, introduce myself to my new housemates and move in, but its all part of the adventure, and I really feel in need of an adventure.
All was fine, I had successfully deluded myself that the two days and a half days journey would be fine and then, this evening, I made the mistake of looking at the details of my planned trip. It takes in a grand total of 8 states and goes through Las Vegas, Indianopolis, Kansas City, Denver, LA (not in that order) and many other little towns (there is actually somewhere called Junction City, imagine the English building a town around the Spaghetti Junction - oh, wait we did, it's called Birmingham) as well as mountains and desert. Somehow this hadn't really managed to scare me until I saw the total mileage of my journey: 2504 MILES I don't think I have ever travelled that far in my life, and that doesn't even count crossing the Atlantic. Suddenly I have a fairly accurate picture of just how far I will be from my family and friends and just how big the US really is, my mind can't quite comprehend this. I must be mad absolutely mad.
And yet whilst I am pretty scared I am also exhilerated, the idea of going on an adventure, being independent, seeing all these new landscapes, meeting new people, seeing new places. It's just thrilling. Sure, by the time I get to Santa Barbara I will be officially knackered, and yet have to find my way to my new home, introduce myself to my new housemates and move in, but its all part of the adventure, and I really feel in need of an adventure.
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