Where are we again?

Last night we hit the cinema using the voucher Rob and Sandra got us as a present (we left the popcorn and candy at home just in case we were asked to share) - thanks you guys !  Anyways, it turned out we were just shy of the ticket price, so Alma whipped out the old debit card and proceeded to ask if she could "PIN" - the Dutch equivalent of using your debit card.  Oddly enough the lady behind the counter didn't immediately cop exactly what she had in mind and proceeded to question Alma's true intention.  As is typical in a foreign land, when one doesn't immediately understand you, it MUST mean they're deaf, so Alma again repeated that she'd like to "PIN" but obviously this time in a much louder voice.  At this point I decided, to give her an auld nudge and whispered "debit card". 

Clearly shook by the whole incident she then proceeded to try to slip past the guy collecting the tickets ... even though she had just bought them.  Old habits die hard - you can take the girl out of Glynn, but you can't quite take the Glynn out of the girl.

Halloween Party

Last Saturday we hosted our very first Halloween Party (and judging by how long it took to clean up afterwards it will definitely be our last ... only messing !).  Harm, (of Neerhof heritage) helped us out with loads of ideas to scare both children and adults alike.  We were very pleased with the result but what was even better was that everyone (the dudes from work together with their families) put a lot of effort into their costumes - which really added an extra dimension to the atmosphere.  I'm not normally short of a word or two at this blogging thing, but I think in this case the pictures say more.

 

The host and hostess.  Finally I got to dress up as my all time favourite super hero - Dr. Sheldon Cooper.

 

Freke's buns.

A small selection from the not really all that scary room.  The brush keeps moving around the floor while laughing like a witch.  Funny for about the first 5 seconds.  After that you just want to smash it.

 

Frankie says, "Relax" (or perhaps - put your hands up in the air)

 

A glimpse of the "oooh my underpants are starting to fill up because it's so scary in here" room.

 

 

Harm arrives in style at the party.

 

Spock and his fairy God wife.

Now I've got you, you wascally wabbit.

 

They say these parties can put years on you and judging by what happened to Thijs, I'm inclined to believe it!! (Above: the 'before' shot)

The 'after' shot.

 

Everyone - tucking in !

Alma in her finery ... and many of her finer creations - which in all fairness ooohed and aaahed the trick or treaters this evening.

Taking a walk on the wild side

We went all outdoorszy today and headed to the San Diego Safari which is affiliated with the world famous San Diego Zoo (couldn't resist getting that little plug in there at no extra cost to the world famous San Diego Zoo).  We're already members; it's only a stone's throw away and it read fricking hot on the thermometer so we thought, "why not"?

The main event was the cheetah run - a must see by any stretch of the imagination.  The official start time was 3:30pm, but already the crowd started to gather at 3pm like a crowd of dirty old dads outside 'Hooters' on Sunday afternoon, so we decided to join them - no not the dads !

What started out as a wait slowly turned into a penance, and finally felt like a prison sentence in the "can".  My God - the heat !  Sweat trickled down my back for the second time that day (see previous post with sweat ridden face close up for reference purposes), but there was no way we were giving up our viewing point at that stage in the game.  And it was well worth it !  The trainers, handlers, their mothers and a couple of friends put on a good show overloading us with facts and figures about how the cheetah was built for speed; could run faster than the cars in California are SUPPOSED to drive etc.

To help build up the tension they asked for a volunteer from the audience to run in front of the cheetah.  Oddly enough quite a lot of hands went up and I thought to myself - "didn't they hear / understand the question?".  It turned out that a 7 year old was picked - a light snack for even the skinniest cheetah I thought to myself, but what they meant was that the poor guy got to run the track BEFORE the cheetah was even brought out.  I don't mind telling you - he took it pretty hard, but picked himself up and headed to the start line.  He was a pretty fast little guy - don't get me wrong - I'm pretty sure I could have taken him, but he managed 21 seconds for the 100m.  Next they brought out a dog to do the same track.  Turns out he was the cheetah's best friend - and looking at how slow he was I wasn't surprised (they might as well have called him "dead meat").  Still he managed a respectable 12 seconds.

Finally, they brought the big guy out and let him loose only to strip him of his dignity and force him to chase a rather discheveled cuddly toy - which he did in style !  As usual the film doesn't do it the justice it deserves, but I can tell you it was rockin' to see.

Afterwards we did a round of a couple of other areas at the park before it was closing time (5pm).  Below is a flavour.  In the pluralised immortal words of Arnie - "we'll be back".

Mr. Cheetah lashing on the brakes after reaching 70mph.

This little guy (well actually he was quite large) made us feel really welcome by shouting "goodbye" as we came in.

Following the example of Jesus can be difficult

Since we got here I've managed to make it to the gym twice a week.  The very first time (for those of you that remember) I attained a state of somewhere between, "Oh my God I'm going to puke" and "Have I passed out?" within the first 7 minutes.  It's still pretty gruesome but only for lack of Oxygen (could be worse me thinks) - and it's all thanks to my special trainer Jesus or for those more phonetically inclined "Hey-Zeus" - a wirey super fit "I've been boxing all my life" Mexican-American dude who likes to see people suffer.

So anyway, most times I come back from training Alma has a good laugh at me ... who am I kidding - she always laughs at me !  So this time she decided to take a 'before' and 'after' shot.  The results are below.  Bear in mind that I wasn't ready for the 'after' shot so that explains the daze look - right ?!?

Did that just really happen?

33 degrees and getting hotter, the mind can start playing tricks on you in that kind of heat..  I had my very first Californian massage today and it wasn't quite what I had in mind......

I have to be honest in saying the massage was excellent.  The experience was something else.  NEVER trust an internet site, judge a book by its cover and all that!!  After entering the nicely lit reception, we faced a very long, dark corridor with little rooms off each side… reminded me of something I didn’t want to think about.  With almost no English, the lady insisted we paid first and also wanted to have the tip.  Now, how can you give a tip when you don’t know if you’ve enjoyed it or not??  We politely told them we would tip after the massage.

We were then shown to our separate rooms which were lacking in something… oh yeah, flowers, pretty candles, nice scents, oh and clean sheets!!  I know, we could have left but we went with it, you can always take a shower right!

There I was lying on my belly, eyes closed, trying not to think about the bars with hand grips which were hanging above me, that’s normal, isn’t it??  My masseuse entered and immediately began working on my head, this was quiet nice actually until she asked “ok baby?” in a thick Asian accent.  Did I hear her right?  Yep there is it again….  “ok baby’’.  Ok, ignore that and concentrate on the lovely massage…..  Just starting to relax, thinking maybe William would like a massage then…. Oh My God, is she on the bed with me?? Oh My God, yes she is and she is straddling me…. Ok don’t panic, I’m a grown woman just please don’t say “ok baby” again.  (Claudia, we need to talk!!)

It gets weirder, I’m trying to stop myself from laughing (thank God for a sense of humor) when she decides to teach me some Chinese.  Ok, “hello” is fair enough, “thank you” also fine, “I love you’’ over and over again… now I’m starting to feel weird again!

As I said, in the end it was a great massage.  Would I book one for William? certainly NOT.  Will I go again? Maybe………

Hyperbolization

They say in life that everything is relative and last night on the news we saw living proof (not that TV = reality or anything).  Yesterday it rained all day.  When I say rained, I feel obliged to put it in a little bit of context.  Here they measure rainfall to within 1/100th of an inch.  So by those kinds of standards - yes, it rained quite heavily (or for those of us familiar with a drop or two, it was a bit misty).  So on the news last night they were talking about the, and I quote, "storm slamming San Diego" and warnings to "avoid heading out if at all possible".  Really guys - really?

The Perfect 10

Having fluked a perfect score during the written part of the driving test, the pressure on Alma was immense.  Could she - a country girl from the sticks of Glynn, where roads are hard to find let alone cars - fluke yet another perfect score .... er I mean drive so fantastically well that she could stare the doubting Thomaseses (that can't be a word !) in the eye and say, "The Perfect 10".

In fairness, even if she did say that, they probably wouldn't have a clue what she was on about, so it would no doubt require just a little explanation ....

There are 3 examiners at the Poway DMV office.  You've got good cop (who looks like a fat Fresh Prince of Bel Air), bad cop (who's got the social skills of a turnip) and you've got lady cop (cos the DMV is an equal opportunities employer).  Now needless to say I got bad cop but due to my driving prowess - and the fact that he appeared to be in relatively good mood - I passed.  Alma was - to put it politely - at risk of soiling her undies at just the thoughts of having to do the driving test so we did two rounds of the course that I had done in the hope that she'd get to do the same one.  Needless to say there's no way I would have passed her but "let her off" I say.  So after downing a bottle of Rescue Remedy - which let's face it has to contain 100% alcohol - off she went on her merry way on that fateful Tuesday morning and arrived all eager beaver like 40 mins before the appointment for the test.  It must have been her destiny (cue deep heavy breathing through a large dark helmet) because Mr. Fresh decided to jump into the car with her.  Note to all - we're talking the 'tank' and not the BMW.

A couple of minutes later - and I mean that literally, because the course is quite short - His Freshness congratulated her and EVEN wrote "Good Job!" on her results form.  Yes people - another flawless round.  I dare say that < 1% of the population of the wonderful state of California can make such a claim (remembering that 80.3% of statistics are made up).

Planes, Brains and Automobiles

Saturday, we hit the highly anticipated Mira Mesa Air Show.  Having being oooh'ed and aaah'ed by the rodeo the previous week I was looking forward to something really special.  At the same time we had opted for the twilight show so I felt I had lowered my expectations in an appropriate manner.  I mean I know those guys are good but how creative can you be when it's dark?!? (Airshow Andy, I was talking about the airshow).  Well the answer came quite quickly in the form of miniscule flashing lights and the equivalent of a child's sparkler attached to otherwise invisible paratroopers.  Dis-as-ter !  Suckiest air show ever (though the truth be known it was my first - and definitely last).  If you closed your eyes and just listened to the - yet another production line DJ voiced - MC, then you could have convinced yourself that it was as exciting as waiting for the sixth installment of 'Fast and Furious' to be released on Blu-ray (oh - feel the sarcasm Luke); only to open your eyes and realise that it was about as exciting as a colonoscopy.  In fairness though, they must have saved everything (budget wise) until the bitter end because the final fireworks display was enough to envy EVEN the world renowned Wexford Opera Festival.  At that point however we were well on our way back to the car so that doesn't count on my card.

Remember the pure joy I felt at passing the 'behind the wheel' exam last Wednesday.  Well Friday that was short lived when I accidently discovered via via that I should have gone back into the DMV office to register said blissful results.  Did the guy tell me that - no !  I mean he was the one that pointed out before I even started the engine that he didn't care if I was able to drive outside the US; no, this test was to make sure I could drive safely according to the California Highway Code - and that he was in a good enough humour to acknowledge that.  In all fairness, he could have probably made the quantum leap all by himself to the realisation that I had never done this before so some tips about the process would have helped.  In any case, I headed back today with my head hung low in shame in order to rectify things.  The lady behind the counter was very helpful but insisted on trying to parallel process everyone and whilst doing so explaining at the top of her voice to everyone else in the office what I was in for.  Like thanks and stuff lady !  A good 9.3 on the muppet-ometer for me.

In keeping with the whole transport theme we're now sorted in terms of wheels.  Alma has her 1994 BMW 3 series convertible and only last Friday the lease tank ... er I mean car came in.

From the above photo, you'd almost think that the BMW is longer - but trust me - it's not !  The photo below gives a little better perspective on things.  The little kid in front is Alma for those of you who didn't look carefully enough.