you've been out of the country too much when...

I just got an alert from the US embassy in Serbia about Georgia having a runoff election and my first thought was that it was Georgia the country, confusing me as to why US citizens in Serbia would need to know about such an event.

Also, today I entertained (at least I hope so) a colleague at work with my exclamations over the "new" nickels and George Washington dollar coins - there are vikings thinly disguised as Lewis and Clark on our money. Curious. Her "where have you been?" was abruptly stifled when she realized that, in fact, I've not been here.

Oh, and it's been in the 70's this weekend.

Other exciting news has me hanging out with a Serb (from Belgrade) I met at the coffee shop a few weeks ago, he's working in catering so we munched on leftovers from his most recent job as I tried to put the past few years into a succinct chronology without too many digressions. I'm excited to have someone to chat about Beograd with, he's not been back for awhile so hungry for news. Plus he knows about a big gathering that happens monthly with trumpet music, the whole party atmosphere. Woohoo ex-pat communities!

And Mike is here this week - what joy, what bliss.

Election euphoria

I'm so excited and giddy, what an incredible time. I'm glad I could be in the US for the election - walking around with my dad last night in the Mission was crazy in terms of people's excitement levels. I stayed up late to see that INDIANA IS BLUE for the first time in my life.

Apparently that absentee vote counted.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

It's madness to see so many smiling, happy people in the streets. I've never seen anything like this; makes me proud. Incredible.

These are a few....

Some things I have done:

-Worked morning shifts at a coffee shop for a week, starting at 5, 6, or 7 a.m.

-Bought a bike (that wasn't stolen) and subsequent gear (helmet, lock, lights)

-Seen Halloween costumes throughout the Mission District and had Snickers bars thrown at me in Oakland.

-Had lunch with Barb (stopping by on her cross-country trip) and Sarah at 900 Grayson in Berkeley. Chicken and waffles with gravy equal incredibly good.

-Biked practically across San Francisco (over 4 miles, it's roughly only 7 by 7 miles square) in the rain becoming super-saturated with water (I dumped water out of my boots where it was standing inside at the end), though my trusty messenger bag stayed dry on the inside (huzzah!).

-Had a job interview with a fairly major publishing company for their World Languages division (also on Halloween).

-Raided thrift stores for interview appropriate clothing that fit and came away victorious.

-Ate peanut butter M&Ms.

-Turned the clocks for daylight savings and was NOT late to work.

I'll leave you to decide what I'd do again and what I'll try to avoid repeating. Feel free to post your guesses.

Coffee and 60s...

I am now one of the gainfully employed. Got hired last week and started today slinging coffee at Peet's, a venerable coffee chain that has been around forever and sparked such things as Starbucks. Soon I will wow crowds with my espresso machine skills, but today I focused on dealing out beans (ground right then and there or whole) to the masses. And filling out paperwork.

Pretty awesome. I'm still hunting more work, but I'm excited about learning to barista.

And just in case you were wondering, it's in the 60s F here. Low in the 50s. Ahhhh, glorious.

This weekend too was fabulous in that we did everything you can think of that makes up a good weekend: going to the beach, eating out, taking a ferry ride across the bay, more good food and then ice cream, bar-hopping in the Mission with baseball and huge geeks that work for tech companies, dancing to live Brazilian music and then getting invited to a wedding afterparty in Sarah's building when we came home, dancing some more and meeting some neighbors. Exhausting and invigorating. Add to that I got to hang out with Alojzya on Thursday and Friday and actually talk for what seemed like the first time in years; doesn't get much better. I'm excited too because Barb is going to be around Thursday, my dad from Sunday to Weds and Mike moves here 19 Nov!

Now to figure out Halloween plans.