San Franciscans are really nice.
Not doing no better with the writing, but I'm on vacation! These days I pick my spring break locale based on where I can sleep for free, and I hadn't seen Heather and Cristy and Mike in about three years. In fact, Cristy and Mike were the ones who waved me off at . . .I think it was 3 in the morning or something like that. . .so I could get the morning train to Budapest to get my afternoon flight to Dublin and sleep for free at Marybeth's. So I'm in San Francisco, actually just north of Berkeley tonight as I stay with Cristy and Mike. I walked through the campus and checked out the pottery sale, looked at used books, ate too much at a Persian establishment. Oh, and the people here are really nice. I dropped a quarter under the bus and the bus man said don't worry about it. And the shaowarma guy, and all the waiters and waitresses!
Other adventures included Golden Gate park and the botanical gardens, a tour of Alcatraz, and a sampling of the local clam chowder in sour dough. We also went down to the beach so I could dip my toes in the Pacific. We went on a fabulous hike through a redwood forest and did something called "geo-cacheing." It's like treasure hunting, sort of. We went to Chinatown and a restaurant called the Stinking Rose that uses lots of garlic in its dishes. Excellent gorgonzola gnocchi with asparagus and pine nuts. Heather and I got shaorma before going to see the romanian movie 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days. Shocking, frighteningly realistic, wonderful. Heather and I started having flashbacks as the girl yelled at her roommate to close the door for fear of the current. I foresee good things though because someone was telling me that with Romania's admittance to the EU, Romanian filmakers will now be allowed european grant money to develop the industry there.
Before Heather left this morning she made me peanut butter toast like old times and tomorrow I'll fly back to my home where it is warm and the wind only blows when we're having a tornado watch. A lot of the time was a big nostalgia fest, but it reminded me how much I missed everybody. And unlike my students I will not return from spring break sunburnt.
Other adventures included Golden Gate park and the botanical gardens, a tour of Alcatraz, and a sampling of the local clam chowder in sour dough. We also went down to the beach so I could dip my toes in the Pacific. We went on a fabulous hike through a redwood forest and did something called "geo-cacheing." It's like treasure hunting, sort of. We went to Chinatown and a restaurant called the Stinking Rose that uses lots of garlic in its dishes. Excellent gorgonzola gnocchi with asparagus and pine nuts. Heather and I got shaorma before going to see the romanian movie 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days. Shocking, frighteningly realistic, wonderful. Heather and I started having flashbacks as the girl yelled at her roommate to close the door for fear of the current. I foresee good things though because someone was telling me that with Romania's admittance to the EU, Romanian filmakers will now be allowed european grant money to develop the industry there.
Before Heather left this morning she made me peanut butter toast like old times and tomorrow I'll fly back to my home where it is warm and the wind only blows when we're having a tornado watch. A lot of the time was a big nostalgia fest, but it reminded me how much I missed everybody. And unlike my students I will not return from spring break sunburnt.