I was in Sunnyvale, south of San Fran, for about 42 hours or so, and that was the most expensive taxi ride I've had yet in my life. (I was kicking myself for not thinking about the car rental option from the moment the van door shut) After about five minutes, I resigned myself to my fate and decided I'd at least get a good story out of it. And I did.
My taxi driver was a Vietnamese man of Chinese descent, around my parents' age, who had escaped Hanoi in the late 1970s (on a boat, just like in all the stories :P). A senior in architectural design at the time, he ended up spending several years in various refugee camps in China, Hong Kong and Macau. His three children were all born in the refugee camps - one per camp. The family finally arrived in San Francisco in 1983. His youngest son was 6 days old.
He and his wife set to work immediately. Janitorial work for 12 hours a day, English classes at night. Their early employers were picky and miserly, but their consistent high-quality work meant that the bosses were satisfied in spite of themselves. Within six years, he and his wife managed to buy a house... which has risen in value to $1 million today (well, before the recent economic collapse... it's depreciated to about $800). He told me about hardcore studying - five classes per day - and diligence in the taxi industry, quickly earning the "Medallion" (which is some kind of certification, I guess, allowing one to own one's own taxi and operate independently or lease out to hired drivers?) and helping various relatives do the same. He hopes to finish his degree someday. I told him he should be really proud of himself. He told me he is. ^_^
That, plus a ride with 140 pounds of luggage, is worth $120 to me. :P It's maybe not my first choice expenditure, but I sure do like human interaction. ...Also, I completely forgot to ask his name. Haha.
ANYWAY... So yeah, I saw pretty much nothing of San Francisco. It remains virgin and unexplored by me... hopefully I can go back sometime this year, maybe in the spring. It was frickin' cold when I was there... Well, relatively speaking, anyway. (It was something like 45 degrees? You northern people can shut up ;p) However, the sun came out on Sunday afternoon and it was delicious.
I did, however, see Mike and Eugene. They're both former neighbors of mine from my community in Hsinchu, Taiwan. I met Eugene when I was about 12 or so. We both played violin, and our moms decided to make us play a Dvorak trio together with another girl, Grace. Um, neither one of us was very fond of practicing so we'd play card games together instead, thus incurring maternal wrath. ^_^ As for Mike, well, I went to orchestra with his brother during my high school years and even saw Mike from time to time at the tennis court, but never met him until I walked into the Union a week after I moved to Austin for college... Haha. Then we were in the same small group, same church, same friends circles until Mike moved out to CA last year after graduation. So yes, it was fun catching up.
Mike and I saw Seven Pounds on Saturday night, then Eugene/Michelle/Mike and I went to church Sunday morning. Apparently there is a rash of these post-college-grad-Asian-American-societally-minded churches around. Apart from the faces being different, GRX is an awful lot like Vox. Haha. I kept expecting to see a familiar face materialize at any moment. After church, we went to Palo Alto (home of Google!) for yummy Thai food. Mmm, I love Thai food. We then attempted to explore the Farmer's Market, only to be cheated out of the experience by... uh, it being closed. Following that, I went home with grand plans of taking a short nap before exploring downtown San Francisco, only to pass out entirely until Olivia called me at 7:30. D'oh.
Charles came over after dinner, and we made a fire in the backyard and enjoyed using up his several-year-old stash of sparklers and firecrackers over some sweet dessert wine. Good times.
Flames. FLAMES!!!
Eugene and Charles... holding hands...?? Nah, just warming.
Mike and a toast
Liquid ruby
Uh, we don't time things correctly.
Me making a huge pyro mess... Yesssss.
Attempting to draw a halo. It didn't turn out quite right.
Circle, circle, dot, dot?
Eugene "shhhh"-ing Mike, much to Mike's dismay
Awkward cow... It really is very awkward, but funny.
We then wrapped up the night by watching half of What Women Want and A Walk to Remember on TV. :| My long nap messed up my sleeping schedule, so I stayed up until 7 or so reading (and finishing) Ender's Shadow. I also watched the first 15 minutes of 28 Days Later, but then decided that probably wasn't good bedtime material.
Before Mike took me back to the airport on Monday afternoon, he and Eugene took me to lunch at Coco's (NOT the Asian bubble tea place :P), which I firmly believe should replace every Denny's and IHOP in America. Srsly. The pictures in the menu looked delectable and the food actually lived up to the expectations raised by their descriptions. Mmmm. I'm still bemoaning the fact that I only have one stomach and not four, like a cow. Oh, and the waiter was pretty cute. XD (Sorry, it had to be remarked)
Mine. :D 12 oz. Angus sirloin with amazing mashed potatoes/gravy and veggies. I missed my big camera.
Corn chowder.
Angus steak omelette. Rawr.
Chicken tortilla soup.
Eugene, Kat, Michael.
And that's basically the account of my - layover, really - in CA. Thanks for the hospitality, guys! Be sure to look me up when you visit Austin. =)
P.S. The Southwest flight from San Francisco to Dallas was stupidly long and a little bit torturous, and I don't like their carpool method of stopping in every city on the way to drop people off and pick up more. It makes sense, sure, but I feel like I paid enough to be able to avoid that!! Oh, well. I sat next to 1) a really fat diabetic guy with leg braces 2) a garrulous Hispanic woman who preemptively admonished me to be sensitive to the needs of people undergoing psychiatric therapy and 3) a hot Asian ER doctor who liked reading People magazine and wore a gorgeous red silk blouse under a yummy leather jacket.
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