Beach and Bicycle.

I think I'm doing rather well! This is my 22nd post for August! Those 22 account for almost a third of my total posts so now I just need to keep it up :-) Keep your fingers crossed!

Today I met most of the new Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars for 2008/09. Maureen Eberle organised a great picnic at La Jolla Cove which is one of the prettiest areas of San Diego. We are a rather diverse bunch! Aside from Aadila and I there was Giovanni from Italy, Robert from Germany, Wadri from Uganda, Julie and Rebecca from South Korea and Qiuwan from China. There's also going to be another scholar arriving from Japan in the next few weeks. Here are some pics of the day.

I got my birthday present from Mom and Dad early this year. That probably has something to do with the fact that I chose and bought it. It's a wonderful bicycle (and helmet of course)! The Trek 7.2 FX WSD to be exact. If you're interested in the technical specifications here's the link. Otherwise if (like me) you don't speak 'bicycle' then it's what's called a hybrid bicycle where it has the majority of features like a road bike but you have straight handlebars and sit more upright like a mountain bike. It's also a very pretty light blue! I went for a ride on Friday and it's really comfortable and easy to ride. I'm just working on getting my foot back into the pedal straps after stopping and trying to put my water bottle back into the cage without wobbling! We'll get there. Thank you so much Mom and Dad for my wonderful present! Here are a couple of pics for you to see.

Don't you just love the sexy cycling shorts? ;-)

Close up of my bike!

and of my helmet! (Safety 1st don't you know?)

Other updates - my computer is fixed! I'm very happy! I'm still not too sure exactly what they did but it works and all my software is there so that's ok by me. Unless anything changes in the next few days I'll be moving to Crown Point on 8 Sept. Seeing that that's a Monday I hope it's actually the weekend before but we'll see.

Photos.

I'm tired (it's 2:20am) so I'll update you on my computer and bicycle etc tomorrow. In the mean time here are some links to some of my other facebook photo albums which I put up recently-ish.

Rotary Photos (including the LA convention)
Ambassadorial Scholars at the Corvette Diner (a classic 50's style diner with great burgers!)
My best friend Katherine's wedding in Durban in July #1 and #2

Wild Animal Park

Today Nicky and I went off to the Wild Animal Park because I had free tickets that expire tomorrow so we decided we should use them! The Wild Animal Park is the breeding grounds for the Zoo and a tourist attraction in it's own right.

Some of the park is very similar to the Zoo where you just walk around and see the different types of animals individually in their (sometimes very large) enclosures while in another areas they have habitats that simulate the plains of Southern Africa or the deserts or North Africa and a bunch more. Unfortunately most of these aren't accessible unless you arrange one of the (expensive) photo safaris or something along those lines which sucks because there were some really cool animals that we missed out on! We went on a tram tour which took you past the South African savannah mostly.

The savannah is pretty much as close as you can get to going on a real safari without leaving America (which no doubt is good enough for some). They have all your major herbivores in a large enclosure together and so you get to see the animals interacting 'naturally'. Well natural is entirely relative if you consider the fact that there are no predators in sight, only a couple of each type of animal and the grass is super green. We did see some cool stuff though - like a 3 week old baby black rhino and the northern white rhino which is the most endangered rhino in the world - there are only 7 left and 2 are in San Diego which is pretty cool. Aside from that we saw some interesting Californian animals (the Californian condor and big horn sheep among others).

Here's the link to my facebook album. I put the pictures at the end of the Zoo and Seaworld album so you may have to scroll through to get to them.

A Kate Update (I quite like this as a title for general posts).

I hope for America's sake that Obama wins the election and that he does something to reform America's healthcare system. I spent 8 hours in a hospital Emergency Room yesterday. Before you ask, I'm fine! My friend Nicky had chest pains and so went to the SDSU health centre who did a bunch of tests and then sent her to the emergency room. They did the all the exact same tests that SDSU had just done plus a CT scan and couldn't find anything wrong so that was that. It was a very long and boring experience. I was productive however! I took my cellphone apart completely and cleaned it with the disinfectant wipes kindly provided by the hospital. I have also discovered that you can fit a purple rubber glove over your head and then you look quite similar to a chicken. I have photos to prove it but I don't think I'm going to post them on here.

Otherwise life's been all about getting everything sorted out for starting classes next week. Luckily I logged onto the SDSU system this evening because I discovered that it was the last day for registration! I registered very quickly so that's all sorted out now. I'm also in the process of organising my internship. I have one more elective to do and none of the ones on offer appealed in the slightest so instead I've organised a to do a special study on household economics and the economics of marriage. It's my Professor's area of speciality and she's done some really interesting work so I'm really pleased.

Aside from that my time has been taken up with looking for a bike! Yup, I know, not something you'd ever expect to here from me! But I'm moving to Pacific Beach which is a very pedestrian/bike friendly area so I plan on riding to the shops and the gym etc. There are also a whole lot of bike trails around the bay area so it's a great place to start cycling a bit more seriously without having to be on the road with all the scary cars! As I typed this it seemed rather familiar so if I put it all in a previous post then I do apologise. This hunt is proving to be a bit more tricky than I'd like because I seem to have hit the 'black hole' of the bike buying year. Most of the old models are all sold out (especially since the oil price went up apparently so have bike sales) and the new ones are just starting to trickle in. But I will persevere!

New driving licenses, blue toenails and dead laptops.

Today when the post arrived I was really excited because my California drivers license arrived! It's so cool!

The highlight of the week's post for me is usually my Time Magazine which now gets delivered to Marge's house after Sarah decided they were junk mail and started throwing them out (I was not impressed). This weeks Time is a special edition on the Democrats *groan* which means that no doubt we'll be receiving another special edition on the Republicans in the weeks to come. I can hardly contain myself I'm so excited. Not. This whole election thing is really starting to bug me. I don't care that it's the most exciting race in decades - the actual election is months away! When the story of the week is Obama pouncing on McCain for not remembering how many houses he owns (7 by the way) it really gets a bit much.

Onto brighter news (literally) my toenails are bright blue! With pretty white flowers and sparkles. I took Marge for a surprise manicure and pedicure to say thank you for having me at her house while I've been apartment hunting. While she was being pampered I had a basic pedicure and decided to get interesting nail polish. I contemplated taking a picture to show you but I figured that could be a bit odd.

I have some sad news to report - my laptop is dead. It died last night after Windows installed some updates and then told me I had to restart it for them to take effect. Well it never restarted. Luckily I had backed it up just before but still. This is one case when a 9 hour time difference is very convenient because this all happened around midnight which is 9am in SA so I could phone Warren for help and advice. Unfortunately the prognosis is not good - I took it in this morning (to the Geek Squad at Best Buy - nice name huh?) and we'll see. I should know something in a week or so. Luckily I'm can just use Marge's computer otherwise I think I may be suffering from serious withdrawal symptoms! Technology is a wonderful thing... until something goes wrong!

I am feeling exceptionally pleased with myself. Today I found a Twilight T-shirt. You really can get anything in America!

Google Maps is awesome!

I've just discovered something super duper cool! Google maps will give you directions. No, not driving directions - public transport directions! For example, to get from my new place to SDSU this is what I'd have to do.... click here

My new home!

Two bits of random info just to start this post off nicely. KFC in San Diego does not hold a candle to KFC in South Africa. I was actually really disappointed with their attempt at a Rounder. So that's an experience I will not be repeating.

Gwen Stefani has just had a son. She's called him Zuma! Seriously?!! His full name's Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale - poor kid. Not matter how famous his parents are he's still going to get beaten up at school.

Anyway, onto more exciting matters namely my new apartment! Well it's actually not an apartment, it's a house. The lady who owns it got married and instead of selling her house and all her stuff decided to rent out the rooms. You can have a look at where it is here. It's in an area called Crown Point which is exactly where I wanted to move to. It's a nice residential area just below Pacific Beach which is one of the 'party areas' of San Diego. What's great is that everything is close - I'll be able to walk or ride my bike to the shops or the gym or anywhere else I want to go around there. It's also a great area for being outdoors as there are cycling/jogging paths all around the bay areas.

Back to the house. There will be 3 other guys living there. One is the owner's son and he has the outside room and bathroom then there's a German guy and a Brazilian guy who will be living in the house with me. I've met them both and they seem really nice. The only thing is that the three of us are going to be sharing one bathroom which is not ideal but it's something I can definitely live with. Especially when I consider the fact that my rent is only going to be $625 including utilities. When I was living with Sarah my rent and utilities were about $200 more than that! The house also has a nice kitchen which the guys apparently hardly ever use and then a lounge/dining area.

Other very cool things include the fact that there is a washing machine and tumble dryer and we don't have to pay for them so I can stop saving quarters! Chris (the guy who lives outside) has a cat so I plan on making friends with it. My bedroom is furnished so I'll be sleeping on a proper bed again (which luckily is the exact same size as my bed so I'm going to use my mattress).

I'm not too sure when I'm going to be able to move in yet - it'll either be 1 September or on the 8th. I'm very, very happy though! I'm so glad that the right place finally turned up.