Apr 2005 Update

Hi there

Can you believe we've been in San Francisco for 5 months ?? we can't ! where has the time gone ??

On the 13th of March we celebrated St Patricks day by attending a parade in downtown SF.

We got into the spirit of the day by purchasing some themed hats from a street vendor (much to the amusement of the locals who weren't as enthused by the day as we were), then we met up with some friends (Goce, Stacey + their 3 kids and Georgina & Bryce). It was quite a good parade with lots of marching bands, cheerleaders / dancers and floats of various descriptions, the big score of the day was for the kids (big and small) who enjoyed the toy and lolly (candy) giveaways.

Following the parade we decided to break with tradition and instead of attending an Irish bar to partake of a Guinness (so old school) we attended Wendys and partook of a traditional American burger combo

After the meal Anita excused herself and went for a walk to the restrooms, only to find (on arrival) that the door needed a quarter to gain access. As she was about to turn around and walk back an American gentleman seated close by informed her how to gain access to the restrooms, he then started relaying a story about some hilarious 'foreigners' who had also been confused by the door. He didn't get far into the story before he realised that Anita was also a 'foreigner' and the 'foreigners' in
his story were her friends who had been to the restrooms earlier - he cut his story short, proceeded to turn a kind of beetroot colour and waved her through.

The Monday after the parade, Manu had the good fortune to start a new role as a Project Management Office assistant. Not entirely the technical work that he likes so much but at least it was a project. He spent 3 weeks commuting to LA but unfortunately at the end of 3 weeks the client decided they didn't have the budget to continue the project, so it was put on hold . Which means, Manu is back on the bench waiting to hear the outcome of the LA clients decision and being interviewed for new projects. The excellent thing about his stint in LA is that he's becoming more visible to the company as he expands his network of internal company contacts and he's having a great time dining out with his Deloitte friends, so all is not lost!

While Manu was away Anita was home alone in SF, so she decided to spend a few days in San Mateo (1/2 hr train ride) with friend Stacey & her 3 kids mentioned earlier. Anita learnt some invaluable lessons about how to change nappys (diapers) and found out what the day looks like at 5:30am - something previously foreign to a self professed unemployed bum.... (or as Manu likes to say House Executive).

That is about to change as Anita received her work visa a couple of weeks ago. She has been busy applying for jobs, out of 14 applications submitted to date she's received 1 request to attend a job interview, so we are quickly learning that it's all about who you know, not what.

Last but not least was our adventure last weekend, when we met up with a group of friends from Manus work to take a 2 hour hike to some waterfalls in Mt Tamalpais (known as Mt Tam). The drive up to the track was fantastic - see the photos for the views - the weather in SF has been spectacular lately so it was a perfect day for a hike. The really lovely bush setting reminded us of home, after the hike we went to a local cafe for some lunch and a couple of Mamosas (see description below) - it was lovely !!

American lessons learnt:
* Champagne mixed with orange juice is called a 'Mamosa'
* To get your license in California you need to take a written & practical test
* You can't take your driving test in a rental car without prior written consent from the rental company (a friend learnt this lesson the hard way)
* Americans love any excuse for a parade and will submit items which have absolutely no relevance to the theme of the parade - case in point were the girls dancing to "Cotton Eyed Joe" in the middle of the St Paddys day parade - what the !!

An expensive lesson learnt which we omitted from our last update:
* American snowfields don't offer clothing hire, so if you want a jacket, waterproof pants or gloves you need to purchase or borrow them before you go up the mountain.

That's all from us for now friends, hope you are all doing well, drop us an email if you get a chance we'd love to hear whats going on.

Love and big Manu hugs
Manu and Anita

PS - big congratulations to Matt & Moni on the birth of Oliver and Tiff & Scott on the birth of Meredith - scary that our friends are having kids does this mean we'll have to grow up soon.....??!!