It all happened in California

Soon, I will have been living in California for 2 years; 2 whole years, people! I can hardly believe it myself. I feel time has gone by so slowly and so fast at the same time; does that make any sense? But anyway, the longest I'd ever lived abroad before moving to the States was a little over 1 month (once to England and once to Japan). Those experiences were very fulfilling and taught me a lot. I stopped for a little bit wondering what things I have learned by living in California. I guess the fact that I'm not going anywhere anytime soon led to my forgetting that I'm constantly discovering new things (but, aren't we all, regardless of where we're living, actually?). This is the kind of shit that goes on in my mind as I'm shelving books or commuting, by the way, haha.

So, I've written down quite a few things that have happened and that I've learned here, most of which are probably not amusing at all, but I decided to make them a blog post.

* I got to see a man-made colorful mountain. Geez, visiting Salvation Mountain was such a unique experience! 

* I set foot on a ghost town. For reals. And a Renaissance fair, too (a very Gilmore Girls experience if you ask me).

* I've tried foods I'd never eaten before: chili and Mexican food in general, real pancakes and waffles, peanut butter, American candy (Jelly Bellies, jaw breakers, dots, candy corn, etc.), marshmallows, Pop Tarts, Twinkies, buffalo wings (why are they called that?!), Sriracha (I'm addicted to it!), pumpkin. Foods I am yet to try that I'd never heard of before moving to Cali: Korean BBQ, Pho, Pay Day, Ding Dongs, Lucky Charms.

Sriracha goes with everything. I use it on polenta, rice noodles, beef ...

The best chili cheese fries from The Hat.

Raspberry M&Ms, coconut M&Ms ...

* I wore sunglasses for the first time. Seriously, I had never needed/worn sunglasses before. One of the first things I noticed when I moved was that the clouds look completely different, like real cotton clouds that pop out from the sky! And the sun is oh-so-shiny; like insanely shiny.

 

* The 101. Oh, had I heard about it in songs (like Phantom Planet's) and movies! We've experienced it with and without crazy traffic; I prefer the latter, naturally.

* The weather. Dry summers and bearable winters? Yes! They do exist. The weather is something I definitely do not miss from Buenos Aires.

* I now have dinner at 6:30 pm. Geez! I thought I was never going to get used to that. In Argentina, I ate whenever I got from work sometimes at 9pm, sometimes at 11pm, never earlier than 9pm. Now, at around 6 I start getting hungry :/.

* You can find the most creative products here such as the cutest sidewalk chalk ;). (More examples to come in a later post)

* There are drive-thus & drop-off boxes everywhere! You practically don't need to get off your car at all. Aside from the typical fast food drive-thru, the post office has a drive thru, the libray I work at has one, too, and it's common to see drop-off boxes like the one below for clothes and shoes. I wonder if it's the same in all American states.

* Vintage stores are the best! Love Melrose Avenue.

* Dimitri moved from being anorexic (that's what his medical history states!) and having a chronic kidney disease to being a chubby, healthy kitty :p.

* I got to meet Meiko. She was really cool and down to earth; there's a picture of us together, but unfortunately I don't like the way I look in it :/. Speaking of music, I think I now hate the Red Hot Chilly Peppers, well, hate might be too strong of a word, but they play them so freaking much on the radio! Why?! Whyyy?! I'm so sick of listening to their songs. I bet you're ruining it for a lot of people, radio stations!   

I guess I've experienced a lot of neat things! It's funny how sometimes you get caught up in a weird spot where you tend to focus on what you want and don't have instead of realizing that you actually have a lot of good things going on. Now that I have a job, I feel more laid-back and can look back and enjoy things I've done in a different way. Funny, huh?

And before I leave, here's a video from an SNL skit called The Californians; have you even seen it? I really didn't think Californians had a funny accent; if anything, I feel it's one of the mildest American accents there are. But after watching these skits, I guess they do kind of talk like that, haha! I say "they" because I have a weird foreign accent of my own, ha.

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend! ;D

Hugs!