December to Remember (6)

9:05 AM by Ren , under ,


Miho flew in from Tokyo on the 10th of December, just a couple days after turning in her graduation theses back in Tokyo. I had anticipated her arrival ever since she had to go back to school in September. Unfortunately for her, she arrived right when I was my busiest with school (which honestly wasn't terribly busy). One of my classes I almost stopped attending all together, and just did the online materials, which was the most important thing. My Japanese literature class was tough, and the teacher was very strict, in my opinion. We were reading short stories from the late 1800's to the early 1900's, which were sometimes difficult to understand, and almost impossible to write about analytically.



Classes ended on December 18th, and I could finally be free of sitting through lectures, something I have grown tired of, doing it since September 1990! I had anticipated getting out of school very much, I was just through with it! It really started to hit me in Japan, actually. My second semester in Tokyo, from April to July, was like torture, even though I loved Waseda University and had many great friends there. I simply had "senioritis", just like I had in my last semester of high school. In the end, my grades this semester were A-, B+, and C (the C was from the literature class). This puts my all-college GPA at 3.20, and my SFSU GPA at 3.07. I have completed my Bachelor's in Japanese and my minor in International Relations! I am hoping to find work using my Japanese Bachelor, but I will take anything I can get right now. I might get a month of work for a month on the set of a movie being shot in Carmel. I will keep you posted!

Fort Funston


When Miho wasn't helping me with my homework, we managed to find some fun stuff to do. We finally went to Fort Funston, a coastal park in the south-west corner of the city where many people walk their dogs. The rough, raw power of the Pacific Ocean in the San Francisco is something I love very much. It is what makes hiking around at places like Fort Funston so worth it. There landscape can almost be described as sand dunes. It is quite a unique spot, and I highly recommend it, especially if you like dogs, because there are many!

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Twin Peaks


We spent a few different days soaking in the holiday cheer to be found in the Fisherman's Wharf and Downtown areas. I saw Disney's Bolt in 3D, which was my first time to watch a 3D movie. I also granted one of Miho's wishes to see the city from Twin Peaks at night. It was as beautiful, and cold as one could expect. I love how you can easily distinguish Market Street as it goes from the Castro, past downtown, all the way to the bay.

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End of Semester Dinner


The only real end of semester celebrating I did was with a couple of classmates of mine who I worked together with on a lot of projects last semester, and two who I studied in Tokyo with, Alex and Davida. We went to the Park Chalet brewery and ate and drank for a few hours. I haven't seen them since the semester ended, but I hope we can hang out again soon! I know that Alex is back in Tokyo already. He is going to go to grad school at Waseda University.


California Academy of Science


Davida, Miho, and I went to the newly renovated museum and aquarium in Golden Gate Park, which I think is called the California Academy of Science. We went on the one free day of the month, as opposed to paying $75 for the three of us on any other day. It was pretty crowded when we got there around 10:30, and by the time we left around 2, there was a two hour wait to get it. Obviously, this is because it was the free day. Anyway, the museum and aquarium are incredible! It is the perfect place to take kids, adults, friends, and family. It is incredibly modern, and is the "greenest museum in the world." The cafeteria looked like it had excellent food too!
After that we took the leisurely trail in Lincoln Park. This trail offers some of the most beautiful views in the Bay Area, and it is never crowded. One time my dad and I were walking on this trail and went down to a beach where we saw a woman on a very dangerous looking rock surrounded by water who was just sitting there hugging her knees. We ended up calling 911 because we both thought she was suicidal.

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This reminds me of back in November when I was making a long bus transfer by foot through a neighborhood and I look ahead one block and see an old man fall really, really hard. I was the only one around so I called 911 because I was sure he was injured. He was in the middle of an intersection too, so it was dangerous. I was told that an ambulance was sent, but it didn't come for the twenty minutes I was there. The man started to seem alright, but he couldn't communicate with my because he only spoke Spanish. Some high school aged kids came and helped me and we stood him up because he wanted to go home and then he fell again, hitting his head really hard! He kept telling me "No telephono", and finally revealed a Coca Cola bottle from his jacket which looked like it had liquor in it. I couldn't smell liquor on him, but I was sure he was hurt. Finally, one of the man's neighbors came and notified his family who came and picked him up. Oh ya, this was on the way to another free concert in Golden Gate park which was a real let-down. It was supposed to be Mos Def, backed by a symphony, but it was just him and a DJ and the show was really short.

Illuminated Yacht Parade


Another night we went to watch the illuminated yacht parade in the bay. It was a very unique way to ring in Christmas, but was very beautiful. The night was cold, as expected, and there weren't many people out. This was during the cold-spell that even put frost on my car here in the city.
That concludes most of our adventures in the Bay Area, I will put up more soon!

I'M OFF TO THE BEACH!!



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6 Reply to "December to Remember"

Anonymous on January 11, 2009 at 9:15 AM

Renn! I read an article about the Academy of Science a while back. It looked really neat! Do they still have an albino alligator there?

Matt Cocking

 

Ren on January 11, 2009 at 9:23 AM

Matt> It is a great place and there is an albino alligator there! The coolest thing is that depending on which floor you are on, you can see the alligators from above, or from underwater!

 

Kym on January 11, 2009 at 9:56 AM

I'm going to have to go there again. I haven't been since High School. Your photo made me want to go and take my guys.

 

Ren on January 11, 2009 at 3:38 PM

Kym> The new one has been open for only six months so it will be nothing like what you remember. If you liked it then, surely you will love it now.

 

Anonymous on January 11, 2009 at 4:47 PM

I tried to post my link but does it work?
I gotta continue writing about after christmas:)

 

Ren on January 11, 2009 at 5:54 PM

Miho> It worked, but I already found your blog on Mixi

 

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