San Francisco Treat

Writing now from Starbucks... enjoying my tall mocha... and "looking" for a job... I finally decide to contribute to this blog. Too much time has passed since the last time I wrote, I know. But I have good excuses... wanna hear?

1) Life just got too busy and I was having fun :)
2) We packed up and moved from India ... first stop Virginia for a few weeks... final stop San Francisco where G's job has an office
3) Packing and moving is such a headache and I can only focus on the stress that it brings and nothing else
4) Finding a new home, a new school for Sofia, a job for ME!
5) I'm lazy.

So, we've found a nice split-level apartment with a fireplace... nice! We're still sitting on the floor because we can't convince ourselves to spend $500 on a couch! I guess the inflatable twin mattress will have to do for now ;-) Everything else seems to be in somewhat of an order. I want to buy some nice house plants.. but I'm hesitating because I can never really remember to water them.... hmmm... maybe I can just teach Sofia to do it and then SHE'LL have to be the one to remember! We'll see how that one goes.

I have mixed feelings about our move from India to San Francisco. Since we're still new to the area, a few things come with the territory like not knowing many people, not having the regular doctor to go to (which is IMPOSSIBLE to find in this city), and being away from friends and family that can sometimes feel a little lonely. But I'm sure with a bit of time we'll make new, regular friends. I miss our friends in India and just the laid back life there.... the cheap chai sold for 25 cents at any corner, the heavenly and inexpensive day spas, the spicy paneer tikka masala with fresh hot naan, and even those crazy, cock-eyed rickshaw drivers. We'll go back there again, I'm sure...

The city is proving to be really great in things like getting around by public transportation. We decided not to buy a car because parking anywhere in this city is just horrific and not worth the hassle. G and I each got one of those monthly passes so we can ride any bus or trolley or train simply by flashing it to the driver.. really convenient and makes life simpler. And those times that we need to leave the city or we need to do some heavy grocery or house shopping, we just take advantage of this great program the city has called City Car Share. They have their own cars parked everywhere around the city, and after you've applied and been approved you get hourly or daily access to any of them. You just go online and reserve the car for a certain time period and you're good to go! You don't have to pay for gas either because they provide a credit card in the car that is used just for filling up your tank... AND it's only $5 an hour!!! (and $10 a month) How simply wonderful!! We even rent the car to go to the airport if one of us ever needs to go since it's so much cheaper than a taxi ($10 for two hours compared to almost $40 one way!).

Since Sofia started school this week I've been roaming around finding new stores, resources and interesting places. On the same road I found a cool shop that teaches sewing, a knitting store, and a yoga place. That's the one nice thing about living in the city. You can find EVERYTHING here and they're all pretty close together. I'm looking forward to discovering new gems :)

The highlights of the rest of this week? Sofia's Spanish class at school today, gymnastics tomorrow, and ballet on Saturday :) What a city!