Week 1 of 3 Oui Oui

Geneve- Spent the week in Geneve. Didn't do much out of the ordinary. Walked the hilly streets, had some swiss fondue, worked. Forgot all the French I know (very little) except for how to say "yes".

London- Landed in London today for a 5 day visit. Found a boutique hotel on London St in Bayswater (I know, sounds like I really know the area. I was mostly crossing my fingers this place would work out. Afterall, it's not cheap to stay here!). Went running around Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. Best way to see the area! Then turns out the area I live in has a bunch of great cheap restaurants that serve Asian and Middle Eastern food- many on London Street! Plus, I'm 2 blocks from the Express Train from LHR and the tube. Looking forward to the weekend.
(sorry, no pictures yet)

Welcome back to Minnesota.

I haven't lived in Minnesota for 14 years. It's been nearly 20 years since I've been to the "great Minnesota get together": The annual State Fair. Sweet Martha's cookies, turkey drumstick for lunch, honey lemonade, key lime pie on a stick, a taste of fresh strawberries and cream, and a couple kernals of kettle corn. I also ventured into the baby animal barn- saw piglets being born!, poked our head into the cattle showing ring, saw some alpacas, perused some really good art in the fine arts building, and managed to get off the grounds once the bolus of people arrived mid-afternoon.

Good times.

Welcome back to America

The sights and sounds of America that I missed while being gone and where I've made an effort to enjoy this past 1 1/2 months since returning:

Food: Trader Joe's, Arby's, Dairy Queen and Coldstone (especially during hot summer days), dinner on Rittenhouse Square (Philly), Rita's Water Ice (Philly), cereal w/Lactaid milk, sushi (SF), iced coffee drinks

An assortment of DQ ice cream desserts.

Little Joelle enjoying some Rita's water ice.

Random: really soft toilet paper, shops open until 9pm, Target, surfing the web (not that I did it that much ever), shopping online, shopping in stores, all the great sales!

One quirky thing: One does not need to sign for a credit card charge if the total is less than $50.

One thing I still am getting used to: Driving slower. The speed limits here range from 60-70mph (96-112kph) which is way less than the standard 120kph on South African highways.

Interesting Stat

One of my favorite sections in Time Magazine is the Briefing area where they list out some stats. Here's an interesting one:
2Hr7Min
Time it took a South African company to download data using the nation's leading ISP- an hour longer than it took a carrier pigeon to transport the same data over 50 miles.

I knew the internet was slow there. This just confimed exactly how slow it is. I can't believe I lived through that. Although, life was a bit more simpler then versus now where high-speed internet/wi fi is available everywhere. I've also had to relearn life with a smartphone/blackberry. Not quite sure which life is better.

Blue Bottle Coffee

I'd like a soy mocha please. Sure, would you like vegan chocolate with that?

Vegan chocolate?! Never really heard of it. And I was worried they didn't have soy milk.

Blue Bottle- a hole in the wall (literally) coffee shop in Hayes Valley, SF.

Notice the waiting line behind us.