Secondment - The one with everything else I did in San Fran (Chronicle 2.2)

GOOOOOOOODDDDDDD MMMMOOOORRRNNNINGGGGG!!!!

Too soon? Need coffee first?

Alright, let me change it to... Good morning and how are we today? Enjoying some coffee or tea? Still too much? Alright, i'll just go with. Hope y'all had a good weekend! I can't believe it's Monday already!

So, my last two chronicles 2 posts were about being a typical tourist in SF and then my food adventures. Now i'm just going to write about all the other interesting things I did in SF. You never know, this could inspire you to head to SF and try these things too.

Living the park life

There are so many beautiful parks in the San Fran area. Whenever the sun was out, I loved heading to a park and just chillaxing and people watching. What? I know you do it too. I bet you also imagine what the people are saying to each other to just make it that much more interesting… wait you don’t? It’s just me… Don’t judge me! Accept me for who I am alright. 

Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah, I loved my days at the park. It's nice to just head out on a nice day with a picnic blanket or just a blanket and just sit and chill just like everyone else. Grab a book, pack some snacks and drinks and just chillllllllllllllllllllllllllll. 

Nearly every major district in SF has a park, which I thought was really cool. They did this because most houses don't have backyards, so to compensate local parks were built.

I had a few favourites which I would frequently visit, but my absolute favourite would have to be Delores Park. It was nice and big, easy to get to with Muni and the view of SF from here was simply amazing. There was also this amazing jungle gym set which had this awesome slide.

Delores Park, Mission District - Catch J line from Muni 

That jungle gym. Yup I went down that slide.

Immersing myself in nature

Being in the state of California I also had to visit their National parks. Like c’mon, I couldn’t come all the way out here and not admire all those beautiful natural landscapes. One of the more popular ones which I had to visit was Yosemite National Park.

Can I just say, just standing there, in between all these large rock mountain things, made me feel so miniscule and so insignificant. I just had to admire what nature has developed for us over time.

Muir Woods National Park. This place is surrounded by massive red woods. It was insane. I don't think my photo does it justice. But I do remember this, the day that I came here, I was just strolling and enjoying the sounds and smell of nature when I overhead two friends arguing. One was trying to tell her friend to enjoy the moment, while the other was just grumpy and wanted to go home. She admitted to her friend that she was hangry. Girl!!! I can emphasise, if i'm hangry I would be grumpy too.

One day after work, my friend suggested that we go hiking just off Highway 1. There wasn't much I could do, I was the passenger in her car. So I agreed. The hike wasn't difficult and the view was astonishing! 

The other things I did

Participated in the Colour Run at Candlestick Park. I did this in Sydney in the prior year and had so much fun, so I figured "why not do it in SF". So I took Muni to get there, got off and was immediately lost. But I saw a whole bunch of people walking in a certain direction. I asked them, they told me to follow them. So... yeah... I ended up at the right place and was colourified.

Checked out the CAAM film festival in Japan Town. Why did i go to a film festival, well, basically, I found out that this particular film festival would show Wong Fu's Shell and well I love Wong Fu. So why not. It was actually really interesting and cool to see the other films about love. I think the theme was Love... Anyway, what topped up the night was actually getting to meet Wong Fu. Ahhh... =D Also, I made new friends while lining up and we bonded over our love for Wong Fu. Hehe.

Saw creepy dolls at the Musee Mecanique Arcade at Fisherman's Wharf. This is an old arcade with old pin ball machines and other old style games. Definitely worth a peek. The dolls were freaky though... like real FREAKY!

Saw the Warriors win against the Clippers. Being in America, I had to watch at least one NBA game. Thanks to my cousin, she brought us these tickets and boy was it fun! The atmosphere was awesome and the Warriors won.

Also saw the Giants play. Yup, totally immersed myself into the American sport culture. Can I also add that AT&T Park is a beautiful ball park.

I hope you enjoyed that little summary of my time. I wanted to try and keep it short. 5 months is a long time and I did a lot. But I didn’t want to drone on and on and on and on and on… well you get the point.

So, all in all, my secondment to San Francisco was an amazing adventure and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If I had to live anywhere else, I think San Fran is definitely an option.

I'm pretty sure I took this from a client office. Like look at that view!

Until next time peeps!