New Year, New City

Hi Friends,

I've only been here two days, but I can already tell I'm going to be doing a lot of smiling and nodding.

"Do you mind commuting to the Peninsula?" - Uhhh....
"There's a job in the dogpatch!" - Puppies?? Oh...it's a neighborhood nickname? Huh.
"I live by Octavia and Van Ness." - Neat...

In other news, I rode the bus (aka the Muni) for the first time today and didn't get lost! Gotta thank my smart phone for that one. What a life saver. It also allowed me to listen to some sweet Bieber tunes during my commute downtown.

I've already noticed that people in SF are definitely more friendly than in Seattle. Whenever I rode the bus in the 206, people just sat quietly without making eye contact and generally minded their own business. Not quite the case down here - seems like people are more inclined to chat with their seat mates.

For instance, I eavesdropped on a lovely conversation between Frankie and Joan today. Frankie was an adorable 79-year-old lady sporting silver chucks and some trendy cats-eyed sunglasses. She leaned over the aisle to Joan and began questioning how old she was (77) and why she looked so great. Joan seems to be quite the philanthropist - volunteers 3 days a week and walks a mile in the morning and a mile at night every day. You see, she used to be in a wheelchair, but got sick of sitting all the time and resolved to change her life around - one step at a time. 100 pounds down, she's quite the spunky lady. Frankie was quite jealous and couldn't stop gushing over how phenomenal Joan is.

...it's clear I need to make some friends. Until then...I'll just keep being creepy on the bus.

What else...

I joined a gym less than 24 hours into living in SF. A girl's gotta have priorities, right? It's only a 5 minute jog away from the apartment and I can see the Golden Gate Bridge on my way. But of course, I appropriately divert my eyes whenever it comes into scene since ya know, I'm not a TOURIST...(aka I get giddy and have to refrain from snapping a picture every time)

"New kid" moment of the day:
I was riding on the bus enjoying the sunshine (btw - definitely have to get used to actually having my sunglasses with me at all times) when the bus stopped and literally everyone got off. It wasn't my stop and wasn't the end of the line, but I got all nervous so I jumped off at the last minute only to realize I was a good 15 minute walk from the apartment still. I played it off by telling myself I got off early on purpose to explore the 'hood. Good thing I was wearing flats...

Stay tuned for more highly sophisticated adventures and Bay area observations. It's gonna be a fun ride, kids.