Getting the hang of it!

Its been 7 weeks since I left home, and I can confidently say now that I'm getting the hang of things!  I pretty much know my way around the city using the car, as well as the public transport system (otherwise known as MUNI)  I'm meeting a lot of girls, going a lot of places and have found a really nice church that I have started going to:)

So, things I have been up to in the last 2 weeks...

Well last weekend was memorial day weekend, so I had Sat, Sun and Mon off.  Was so good to know I had nothing to do and could just wonder the city, sleep in, see friends, explore or simply do nothing!  I decided to a bit of all the above throughout the weekend, so I called Nicky (my friend from the Netherlands) and asked if she wanted to come stay over on Friday night.  We  met downtown and went to a piano bar that evening called John Folly's.  It was a lot different to what I expected, but was super fun! There are 2 piano players and they play any song you request them to.  SO we had some rap songs, such as Thrift shop being played all the way through to the good old favourites such as Journey's Don't stop believing! People dance to the piano's and it becomes kind of like a club...so was different, but we had a lot of fun.
Sat morning, we went down to Le Boulange for breakfast.  Its a French cafe a block from my house.  They serve coffee in a bowl, and have THE best pastries!  We then decided it was a day to relax, so walked over to the Golden Gaet Park and spent the rest of the day there walking around, soaking up the sun and chatting.  

I visited Cornerstone Church on Sunday which is where iv been going and joined a small group on Monday nights.  This is HUGE for me that I'v finally found some Christian fellowship!  It kind of feels like I have a weight lifted off my shoulders, and every week I can not wait for Sunday to go hear what message there is.  The series they doing at the moment is called Moving Forward. I feel like its so relevant to where I am at the moment. Its all about moving forward with God and how amazing life can be with Him in the center.  Its been so encouraging and uplifting to hear every week a message confirming what has been on my heart, and that is that life is so so much sweeter with Him in it. Whether you're in your small home town surrounded with friends and family, or in a big city all by yourself far from home.  I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength.Phil 4:13 <3

Monday I visited the Academy of Sciences. Its this awesome museum here in the city.  There's a planetarium, a rain forest (literally!) a huge aquarium and a whole lot more to see. I love visiting places like this, so it was a great day

Oh and I PASSED MY CA DRIVERS LISENCE!! WHHOOOOOPP!!  So now I have an American ID, and am 100% legal to drive anywhere in the USA! BRING ON ROAD TRIPS!!


This weekend has been a lot more chilled.  I met up with 4 other girls yesterday and we had brunch in the city and then walked around.  I calculated-we ended up walking about 10km in total-just wondering the SF streets.  I love the fact that you can do that here!!
So we walked past Lombard street (steepest street in the world) and down to Fisherman's Warf.  We did'int do too much, but the day was so quickly over it was frightening!  It just ended up being a day filled with friends, laughter and new memories.

Today I was on my way home from downtown.  I beeped my card through the subway and went down to wait for the right train. As I was waiting I had some papers and that to throw away so I did so.  I then got onto the train and as we started moving a police officer came up to me and asked to see my ticket.  I could not find it anywhere (and realized I most probably threw it away with my other trash). As I was looking she asked to see my ID and then started asking me all these questions as it was my SA drivers.  The train was coming to a stop and she said that I have to get off with her and she has to give me a citation. (WHAT IS THAT?????) so in front of a jam packed subway, I am highly embarrassed not knowing what is going on and being pulled off the train by a cop!!  We get onto the platform and she starts questioning me again and then whips out this book.....she was writing me a ticket, and said that it is highly serious that I dont have my ticket with me and she is fining me $103!!  (R1041.00 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I was SOOO upset. I had shopping bags with me and started unpacking them praying that my card was in there. LUCKILY I found it! phewww! She gave me this stern lecture and told me to wait for the next train and then she walked off and that was that?

If you're in SF-ALWAYS remember to keep your train ticket with you!!

So its been an interesting week, but things have been good and have been getting better :)

Roxy
x

 

Golden Gate Park

Japanese Tea Garden

 Stow Lake

White Alligator-Academy of Sciences

 Rain Forest

Brunch with the Ladies

Lombard Street

S.F<3

COLOUR RUN

This week end I went with 4 friends to San Jose and we did the colour run!

It was more fun than I thought it would ever be, and SO SO much more messy than I ever thought as well!

It started at 9, but as there were so many people, we only started running at about 9.20 as they were only letting a certain amount of people start at once.  The vibe was amazing! Everyone was so pumped up, they were blaring funky songs, throwing out freebies, conga lines and so much more!

There is a colour station every 1km that you run through where there are people with colour guns and powder just lashing it out at you.  We went through Pink, Yollow, then at the water station were people throwing green water, then orange, blue then the finish. 
The finish was the best part!  They had a stage with music and seemed like a concert as everyone was around the stage having loads of fun.  They were throwing colour packages off the stage and every so often they would have a countdown and everyone would throw their colour into the air! Was very cool!

See the pics!! :)

Best
Roxy

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

Yosemite National Park

I am so fortunate to have been able to see so many of Gods beautiful creations in nature.  Yosemite National Park (pronounced yo-se-mi-tee) is definitely one to view in your lifetime, and I am so grateful that I was able to experience a whole weekend filled with hikes, waterfalls, walks, smores and fun in this beautiful park!

We left San Fran on Friday morning, and arrived at the park in the early afternoon. I was in such awe with the beauty of this place!  We were in Yosemite Valley, so on both sides of the valley, there are rock faces, some up to 3000f (1km) high! The park is famous for its waterfalls and hikes and I was lucky enough to walk 3 of the falls.
We set up camp and I met the other 4 families that we were with.  There were 10 kids, 10 parents and 2 au pairs, so our party was big!  The camp site was right on the river and was among tall pine trees. It was very pretty. We didn't go on a hike on the Friday, but we walked to a waterfall called, 'Yosemite Falls'.  It was exquisite!  We went off the trail a bit and walked in the forest with all the kids.

That evening we made pizza on the fire and then had smores :)

The next morning we all went on a hike up Vernal Falls through the Mist Trail.  Its called the mist trail as the falls are so heavy at one point that you get absolutely drenched walking past! The path was super steep and there were so many people on it!  We saw many rainbows in the mist!  It was a very tricky walk up the falls as it was very steep, but at the top it was BEAUTIFUL!!  The water rushing over the edge flows at super speeds and the river before it is filled with rapids and sprays!  You only realize how high you're hiked once you get to the top, and it was far!

We all had a picnic lunch at the top and relaxed there for about an hour. When you look back from where you've come, it seems really high-but when you look forward to the next fall, you look incredibly low!

The families all decided to take the kids back down, but the other au pair and I decided that we wanted to hike up to the next falls-Nevada Falls.  This hike was a lot more strenuous and we had to  hike over large boulders! It felt like forever before we got to the top, and we were finished!!!  I feel like its one of my biggest accomplishments, and I truly got to view one of the most beautiful sights of all time!  Again when we looked down, the Vernal falls looked super far down and far away!

We spent some time marveling at the view and greatness of it all!

It took us an hour to walk down back to the start.

That evening, the other au pair and I decided to go for a walk after dinner.  We bumped into someone we met on the trail, and he told us that there is a party near by.  We asked how it's possible, as you are not allowed to make a noise after 10pm, but as we came up close on the party, we noticed that it was none like we've ever been to!!
It was behind this MASSIVE rock, and everyone was wearing headphones and there was no music?  We put on a pair and heard the DJ's music playing through them-it was a silent rave!! Was so so different! the dj was jamming and people were dancing, but when you took your headphones off, it was all to no music!! But we had lots of fun anyway!

We got n early start the next day and all had a picnic at the bottom of Al Capiton.  The 1km high rick face.  There were rock climbers on it, and it takes them 7 days to ascend! So they have these tents that hang from the cliff that they sleep in every night!.

It was a great weekend full of new and exciting things!!

MIST TRAIL

TOP OF VERNAL FALLS

PICNIC SPOT

NEVADA FALLS

BEAUTIFUL STILLNESS OF THE RIVER AT CAMP

YOSEMITE FALLS

SMORES

♥San Francisco♥

This city is slowly starting to grow on me :)

The first couple of days were slightly tough.  I was overly tired, sick and the weather was horrible! I kept thinking, what am I doing on the west coast, I want to be back in Boston-but now-its a different story!
San Fran is so pretty, and there is so much to do here!! I kept wondering if things were the same this side of the county as the other, and truth be told-there are the exact stores, Starbucks drinks and left side driven cars!!
We live in a great location and I can see the subway from my window, so every time I want to go shopping or meet friends downtown-I walk about 100m hop on the subway for 15 min and pop up at a station in the middle of shopping district-it is AWESOME! SO that is very new to me as i am used to living in the suburbs where we drive everywhere, so I am going to make full use of all these new things this year!

On Saturday I took the subway to meet friends who were coming  from a town a bit south of the city.  We met downtown and decided to do some touristy things.  As we were walking we came across the cutest street market where you could buy necklaces, earrings, t-shirts etc and we ended up spending a lot of time there.  We then made our way to 'Fisherman's Wharf' or otherwise known as 'Pier 39'.  It is right on the sea and is a kind of boardwalk filled with shops, restaurants and curios.  Of course it is aimed at tourists, but its still super fun to walk around.   There's a Jelly Belly shop, a hat shop,a left hand shop and other interesting things.  You can find so many Forest Gump memoirs as well, which I did'int really understand why?  The sea life around the wharf is also amazing, and at the end you have an awesome view of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge as well as lots of Seals and Gulls.

The weather this week has been amaaaazing like SA summer and I can find my away around our part of the city.  I have been driving and tomorrow I'm going to get my CA drivers license!!! Iv already got a Social Security no and Bank of America account, so I am feeling VERY American-and Loving it!! Next week is going to be crazy busy but next weekend we are going camping in Yosemite National Park.  It is so beautiful and I can not wait!!

So until then!

Roxy

Street Market Jewelry

JElly Belly!!

A bit of SA in SF

Shopping mall!!!

*BLISS*

HATS!!