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.

Just in time- for football season!

So, most of you probably don't know it but I'm a closet football watcher and fan. The preseason just started. Farve just signed with the Vikings. Can it get any better than this?! Ahem, for you South Africans out there, I am referring to American football, not soccer. And yes, I know what else you are thinking, "football players are wimps, what's up with all those pads?...". Sorry, you can't compare football and rugby; they're completely different. Trust me. One you throw the ball forward, the other you throw the ball backward to move it forward...still not sure about that one.

Cash for Clunkers

The first thing on my list of things to do to 'settle back into life in America' was to buy a car. Well, I may be going to plan B. The timing of my arrival coincided with the start of the government's Cash for Clunkers program which was so successful, it is shutting down on Monday. Everybody's buying cars, trading in their clunkers. The inventory is little to nil, especially for the Toyota Rav4. And the incentives and rebates I heard about the entire time I was in South Africa, nearly non-existent. This is crazy. So, I'll either have to custom order and wait a couple of months or wait for new inventory to arrive and make sure it includes the car I want for the same amount of time. Decisions decisions. On to looking for a house to buy in the supposed current buyer's market. Although, I just saw that it seems the housing market is recovering?! What timing.

Mangwanani Spa Day- Baie Baie Lekker!

I heard about this fabulous spa retreat (good and relatively cheap) outside of Pretoria (close by) but never had the chance to visit. So, I finally brought up the subject with some coworkers and we had a girls Saturday at Mangwanani. It was originally supposed to be a night spa but for whatever circumstances we made it a full day. And it was completely worth it! Thanks Danielle for the treat. (If you have never experienced being pampered for a day, I highly recommend it at least once in your lifetime!)

Our welcome upon arrival.

The bed for my first treatment.

Relaxing between treatments.

Sonja, Danielle, Yolande.

Aliwal Shoal with the Sharks

We took a weekend trip down to see the ragged tooth shark at Aliwal Shoal. I didn't think I would get a change to go shark diving as 1. The best time to go is July/August 2. My time in South Africa was running out. But, my friends Dewald and Heidi graciously invited me to go with them one July weekend. This was my chance to dive with the sharks. And no, this was not cage diving. To be honest, I was not scared at all. And while down below, they just seemed like big fish. With big, ragged teeth. The picture below shows one smiling at us, showing off his teeth :)

More pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/backroads.traveler/AliwalShoalSharkDiving?authkey=Gv1sRgCOesuI_O4YXifA&feat=directlink