First Glimpse

As most of you know, I have relocated to not-so-sunny California to take a job. It's been a week and a half since I've been here, and already things have changed since that Wednesday morning I arrived in Oakland Airport. These first few blogs will be about my experiences in those first few days, and random thoughts and questions I ask myself throughout the day. This blog is really for me more than for anyone else. I figure it will help express how I'm feeling better than just thinking about things as I walk through the streets of Berkeley.

That's where I live-- in Berkeley, California. I find it humurous and encouraging to be moving from Rush Limbaugh's hometown of Cape Girardeau to the hub of the biggest Liberals in America. I used to think I wanted to get involved in politics, and maybe one day I will. However, after the hype of this election wore off, I realized no matter who we get in office some things will never change. People are not going to agree. While I love politics, I just don't want to argue with anyone about them anymore. Good thing I moved here then, right?

Anyway-- back to what's been going on. From Oakland Airport, I took a Supershuttle van to my home about 25 minutes away in Berkeley. Literally a minute before I pulled up at my new home, my boxes of clothes were being delivered to my new front door. So my first day was pretty uneventful other than walking up the street to the Berkeley Bowl, which is pretty much an all-organic grocery store. I bought just a few things to hold me over until I could go with my Aunt's friends, Jan and Dave, to the store in their car. I got all my stuff unpacked my first day also.

My first experience riding public transportation came the next day when I rode BART(Bay Area Rapid Transit) into San Francisco to find where I work. It was pretty simple because I get off right at my building pretty much. I walked around for about an hour or so, but decided to come back a different day because I was freezing without my coat(didn't think I'd need it bc it's 30 degrees warmer in Berk it feels like) and the backs of my heels were bleeding onto my brand new tennis shoes from walking so much. I walk everywhere because I didn't bring my car out here. While it can be a big inconvenience, it is actually pretty amazing-- except for when I might miss the train. It's a 15 minute walk from my house to the BART station, and then a 20 minute ride to my stop infront of my work building. Pretty much the best commute time I could have living anywhere in SF.

On Friday and Saturday I took myself on a tour of Berkeley. I live by Berkeley High which is bigger than MAC, and Cal-Berkeley is bigger than our whole town of Bonne Terre it seems like! So I walked through campus, along Shattuck where I stopped at their movie theater to watch "The Blind Side," which was pretty good. Later I found out we have a theater that someone actually comes out and introduces the movie to the audience like in the olden days-- might have to go to that theater next weekend! Per advice from Marilee, the woman I live with, I walked up to Telegraph which is pretty much where all the old hippies are. They were all setup along the sideswalks selling their crafts like jewelery, shirts, hats, etc... I went and ate lunch at this awesome place called Ann's where they had the most amazing burger of my life. haha They also apparently have great breakfast food so I think I'll take mom and dad there when they come to visit.

On Sunday, I rode BART in to meet Jan and Dave for a lot of sightseeing! They were so awesome, and took me to see pretty much everywhere I wanted to go. We went to see the sea lions, the tourist trap of Pier 39, on a 4D Polar Express ride which was so much fun!, out to lunch in the fisherman's wharf, across the Golden Gate Bridge, the palace of the fine arts, and of course the Tanner House!! They even took me to SafeWay to go grocery shopping for all the stuff I needed that I wouldn't be able to carry home.

It was a great first couple of days of on-the-go, but it was time to get into a routine with work coming that Monday(a week ago, today). I'll get more into work later, but this is kind of a first look into my transition from a Show Me girl to a California lady. :)

Wasn't as entertaining as I had hoped, but there will be more opportunities for that soon.