2nd day - SeaWorld

If only three grown-ups go to SeaWorld, do they enjoy themselves? No worries! We did...
My parents and I went to SeaWorld today which is the world famous adventure park. We haven't even gone to Tokyo Disneyland together, so I was wondering if my dad could have fun himself in this kind of amusement park. It turned out to be okay except one ride attraction called "Shipwreck Rapids®" by which we were soaked to perfection.
In SeaWorld, we can see various kinds of show, and the highlight is Shamu show (killer whale). "Soak zone" where you will be highly soaked lies in front. We took seats on the last line of the soak zone and were prepared to be soaked to some extent, but it's quite something. My mom bailed out before Shamus come to our front. As a whole, we had a grand day.

There was another big event today. It's Halloween :))
Since I did not decorate the outside of my house, the children who knocked our door saying "trick or treat" were only two :(
There are three big bags of candies left over ...

Visitors

My parents are visiting from Japan and are going to stay here for 10 days.
They arrived at the SD airport safely, but with 2 hours delay. It is the first trip to abroad for my mom and the 3rd for my dad, and both of them don't speak English, so when it comes to an overseas travel, they are novices. Here's what happened.
In LA, they had to change to domestic flight to San Diego, but their airplane didn't wait for them lingering over an immigration & a baggage claim, i.e. they missed their flight.
It was the kind of superhuman strength that had my 100%-Japanese-speaking dad communicate with a person from United Airlines and obtain two seats for the next flight.
It's grateful for small mercies ;)

2006 World Day

One of the things I was impressed by this country is the number of the adult school where you can learn anything you want at reasonable price, and if what you want to learn is English as a second language, they give you various kinds/levels of classes for free and have open-door policy. One of the reason they can operate that way is the U.S. Government supports them. They want immigrant to learn English to meet vocational demands and let them work as a part of the nations.

I'm attending one of English classes every morning and this class is for people who want to take a TOEFL test and go to university. However, more than half of the students are wives who joined husband's job transfer and most of them are not in a serious vein in learning English. It means, I guess, that they are not going to take a TOEFL. Even so, we are welcomed by the school ... (I hope so :))

Let me come to the point... Today was '2006 World Day', the biggest festival of the year in my ESL school. Everybody brought his/her national food and some students performed a fashion show and a live entertaiment such as their dances and songs♪ I was amazed to see quite a few people had a talent performing in front and a great number of people had their traditional clothes here. When you think of Japan, what kind of song is you think the most suitable? National Anthem? No way!! Maybe, the easiest way to show JAPAN is Bon-dance in Yukata.

Food is a zest to attend the international festival. Doubting if non-Japanese could taste Dashi (soup stock) & Mirin (sweet sake for seasoning), I cooked Shinoda-maki :(
At least the appealance was pretty :)

It was a blast!!

Trick or Treat

Halloween is just around the corner.
The supermarkets started selling pumpkin for jack-o'-lantern a month ago and candies & chocolates are on sale everywhere. The decor of neighbors' houses arouse my curiosity.

Garbage container

Since I've lived in the U.S., I have experienced a few(or maybe a lot) of surprises that were different from my country.
One of them is the garbage pickup from residents in San Diego. A large truck from waste managenent company goes around rumbling loudly once a week and collects garbage. We usually keep our own garbage container inside a garage and bring it out of the garage to be collected only on Wednesday. But I was wondering how it could be collected by a worker because the container was too big and heavy to be lifted by a person. The height of the container is approx. 1.3 m.
Unlike the garbage pickup in Japan where garbages are picked up by hand, I figured out that the truck here had metal arms that came out, grabbed the container, lifted it up and flipped it over on the back of the truck. Ah! there it is. Everything can be done only by machine here. I think American people are good at inventing anything that makes them have an easy life or be lazy ^^

This goes off the topic a little bit, but the other day, the strange thing happened when I was about to leave my house. Our garbage container which should have been there disappeared. I first thought someone took it into their garage by mistake, so waited and waited; however, no one didn't put it back. I assumed nobody didn't want our container... it's not such a beautiful and valuable thing that you can make a mint. Only thing that I could think of was that the garbage truck ate it. I called the WM company and explained the situation. They consented to give me the other one readily. I made out that the worker drop it into the truck and it's not unusual. Just tell me what happened from now on!!!!!

Beaches still bustle with San Diegans

La Jolla which means 'Jewel' in Spanish is one of the most fascinating place in San Diego and very popular amoung tourists.
What it makes famous is, I guess, Children's pool which is the small beach seals and sea lion's are basking on in the sun. This time, however, we didn't go see Children's pool but just hung out on the beach called 'La Jolla shores'. Despite the middle (or end?) of October, the beach was still crowded with people who indulge themselves in getting sunburned, just shooting the breeze, sipping a glass of wine (illegal though) and even practicing backflip. Also, I came across three weddings and some crews of photo shoot. All these make La Jolla more attractive.

Balboa Park

Balboa park is the largest urban park in the U.S... I don't know for sure if we could describe SD as urban though...It is located near down town and includes widely known San Diego Zoo & 15 museums. They offer free admission for museums every Tuesday on rotated basis, and below museums were free today (3rd Tuesday).

- San Diego Art Institute/San Diego Museum of Art/San Diego Museum of Man/Japanese Friendship Garden/Mingei International Museum -

I visited all above other than San Diego Art Institute today.
As soon as ESL class dismissed, my friend and I headed for Chi Chocolat in Little Italy to grab a bite. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home again and didn’t take a photo of the plate I had. Grr.

San Diego Museum of Art was the one I expected the most, but contrary to my expectations, Museum of Man got me interested. This is maybe because of the interpretation by my friend who's taking an anthropology course at college.

Exploring the museums, chatting with my good friend at ease, feeling a great deal of crisp air of autumn, I felt I couldn't be happier.

Foursome

I visited a friend of mine who gave birth a baby girl in the end of August with other friends and chewed the fat today. It was the fourth time for all of us to get together for potluck luncheon, and this time, I cooked some fried chicken with spicy sauce, some salad and a green-tea rolled cake. Too bad, I forgot to bring my camera...and couldn't photo the splendid dishes :(

Miramar Air Show

The Miramar Air Show was held at MCAS Miramar (Marine Corps Air Station Miramar) on Oct 13-15.
This place is located 15 min. south driving from my house and is famous for the movie TOPGUN set in here.

Although Saturday morning started with the overcast sky, the weather turned out to be almost perfect by the time we arrived at the venue around 3pm when the Blue Angels took off. Six aircraft dazzled us with its perfect performance in the blue sky.
To tell you the truth, I had little interest in aircraft itself as most women do, but this big event enchanted me a lot and I felt like coming back on the following day. It was hindered by my partner who is always cool off and can't be easily hooked on anything, though...
What's certain is that I will be on the preferred seat next year!

The O.C.

I'm into 'The O.C.' now and just can't stop watching it :(
'The O.C.' is a teen-oriented American sitcom. The 3rd season ended already and 4th season is coming up very soon here.
When I first heard of this, I assumed it's not my cup of tea, it should be some boring story about the snobbish people living in the O.C. and it's hardly possible to exceed 'SEX and the CITY' which I'd been crazy about...
But as you may know, the O.C. stands for the Orange County and it's a stone's throw away from San Diego. When I found its article in VERY (Japanese ladies' magazine), it looked cool unexpectedly. No wonder I was tempted to buy it as soon as I discovered the DVD at incredibly low price!!
I'm still on the 1st season and it's pretty good so far!!! Mischa Barton stars as Marissa and Ben McKenzie as Ryan, and she is so pretty and he is so cute that I can't take my eyes off. What's adding nice taste to this drama is the character of Adam Brody as Seth.
Take my word and try to watch it ;)

Hillcrest

Hillcrest is a stylish area where you'll see classy restaurants and bars along the streets.
It is also known as a gay community. Last time I ate out there, I found two guys at a table facing each other, pecking at desserts on one plate together, and talking intimately. The distance between their faces was surely less than 30cm. They should be....
It was also Hillcrest that I saw three guys walking around snuggling one another at the farmer's market in the early morning. They made a nice picture though...

Speaking of the farmer's market, it is one other thing that I have to mention. It's organic market which is open every Sunday from 9 am to 1 pm in the parking lot of the DMV. The products vary from fruits, vegetables, herbs to ethnic clothes, bags, artworks, and just prowling around the market will be fun!

When my partner and I visited there the other day, we grabbed a bite at a Mexican Taco shop. It was a hit! It's an authentic Mexican taco and not Tex-Mex (I guess). We enjoyed it and could not forget the taste for some days. It goes without saying that we tried to cook the same thing at our kitchen, and failed :(

Japchae

A friend of mine, who is also a study buddy, kindly cooked Japchae for me yesterday! Japchae is a Korean fried noodle with vegetables, and she added shrimp and fish cakes called Oden in Korea. This is just an aside, but what is called Oden in Korea is 'Satsuma-age' (fish cake) in Japan. It's weird... because 'Oden' in Japan is a name of a dish, not an ingredient; but in Korea, all kinds and shapes of Satsuma-age are called 'Oden'.
My favorite part was the chewy noodle made from sweet potato!! Anyway, her Japchae was more than scrumptious. Thank you, MK! you are such a great cook ;)

Meantime, I'm the kind of person who gets very excited about things quickly and moves into action fast. Today, I rushed into Zion Marketplace (Korean Supermarket).
In San Diego where various races exist, you will find the supermarkets from all over the world. It is one of the benefits for those who live here and are curious about other cultures.

Although most of the products in Zion were displayed in Korean character, I could find out what to buy with the help of affable other shoppers. Whenever I was standing in a quandary, they talked to me first in Korean, and then changed to English as soon as they realized that I didn't speak Korean. They helped me out a lot and even advised the brand names to buy!

Let me show you what I got today; noodle for Japchae, powder for Jijimi and other noodle for Raengmyeon.

Farewell

Parting is always sorrowful.
One of our ex-classmate will be leaving San Diego this month and we had a farewell lunch at Panera Bread Cafe. A stunning Brazilian, two charming Taiwaneese and four attractive(^^) Japanese flocked.
She was a close classmate and we always had a seat next to each other in the afternoon class whenever we attended. So, having heard of her move, I was floored. She is gorgeous and comes across as showy lady, but in fact, she is calm and stable kind of person, and I admire her skill of speaking English.
Although her move saddens us, she still remains in the US and it's not impossible to see her again. Be sure to keep in touch ;)

Chit chat

I thought this day was almost over after my friends and their kids left my house around 5:30pm, but I was wrong. It was just in the middle of the day. Out of the blue, I was invited over for dinner from a friend of mine (aka my teacher).
She proposed I come over her house to have dinner together if I don't mind their Middle Eastern food. Of course I don't! She knew I was alone tonight and she's such a sweet woman. In addition, my partner must be eating Ramen, Sushi, Yakiniku and ummm Tenpura or anything else he loves in Japan using this opportunity of his business trip. I didn't hesitate to say YES.

Tonight she had a company who worked in the same field as her as a realtor, and these two's dialogue was interesting... They seemed to hope to make a killing as a realtor.
Anyway, we talked a lot over dinner. Then we, three women from different countries, watched a movie on TV eating cheese cake from Marie Callender's after her kids went to bed. The movie was 'Meet the Parents'.
One thing I realized was that they were just like us, I mean Japanese women. I thought Middle Eastern women were somehow shy and reserved kind of people. But they were not!! Is this because they have lived here more than 30 years? I don't know... They sat back on a sofe with their legs on a coffee table and laughed aloud, and our funny bone was just same :)

I managed to come back home by the end of the day hoping my partner didn't call me.

Tennis & Practical English training

Since I've been posting only about restaurant for past few days, I will change the direction today.
From the fall semester, I've been attending a tennis class belonged to an adult school with my partner. The class is every Saturday and we finished 4 classes out of 10 so far. I will touch on it sometime later.

And today, some of the students from the class, maybe around 4 people including me, were supposed to gather at a tennis court attached to one of the students' condo. My partner wasn't able to join it, for he left for Japan today on his business trip, but I did join it after seeing him off in the early morning. However, the member who made it was only the guy living in that condo and myself. The person who strongly wanted to practice and suggested this get-together didn't show up, and didn't even call him. Why? Isn't it impolite as an adult in this culture? I don't think so, though...

Anyway, after waiting for the others show up (they finally didn't come) for an hour on the street gabbing, we started hitting a ball against a wall and began a rally on the court. We trained ourselves for 2 hours including 2 short breaks and it was a blast! I realized that practicing with someone who you barely know of was not too bad. You try to be courteous and cannot show the white feather even though you are exhausted...
Thanks to this exercise, I could satisfy my hanger with Haagen-Dazs and took a long nap after a shower.
Thank you 'J', you made my day!

Via Italia Trattoria

I didn't notice the name of the restaurant was "Via Italia" until I posted it here. I heard about this authentic Italian restaurant from one of my ESL classmate, and I still believe she pronounced 'Viva Italia' instead of 'Via'. But never mind! It doesn't matter as far as their food is good. The reason why she recommended it was the portion that I was always grumbling about.
Regardless of the fact that it might not be her recommendation, 'Via Italia' was just awesome ;) They didn't betray us and this is the very best of the Italian restaurant in this area I've ever had. All of their salad, soup, pasta and tiramisu were superb.

Via Italia Trattoria
565-569 S. Coast Highway 101
Encinitas, CA 92024
Tel: (760) 479-9757
Fax: (760) 479-0880