San Francisco

Wow. San Francisco is at once overwhelming in the best and worst of ways. It's now our third day here and I have a moment to blog about our experience moving from Boston to San Francisco.

By the time we arrived Sunday evening I was exhausted. I had taken two sleeping pills but my anxiety about flying and the subsequent adrenaline rush post-landing in our new home wouldn't let them kick in until we arrived at our house.

Our friends Debbie & Megan picked us up, and then picked up our friend Diego who had randomly had his flight to Hawaii cancelled - so we all got to hang out. It was super great to see everyone together.

The house is adorable, and right next to the Golden Gate Park - which we have yet to explore. It is HUGE, miles and miles long. In fact there are even Buffalo in the park not too far from here.

At first I was feeling very tired and very worried that I wouldn't love it here. I couldn't help but think about the amazing lives we led in Boston and fear things wouldn't be so good here. After a much needed nap Wing convinced me to go out for some food. I'm so glad we did!

Just a few blocks away there is a strip of cute food joints. Most of them are Asian including vietnamese, korean, japanese, and an Indian place. There are a few Asian grocery stores as well. All of the dining options in our neighborhood are about 1/4 the cost of the restaurants in our Boston neighborhood. We had a full course Korean meal with all the little dish thingies for about 10 bux each. We're both really excited about having cheap yummy food nearby.

This morning we woke up ready to get our U-haul and go to Ikea to get furniture for our new bedroom. But, the U-haul place was closed for Memorial Day so we decided to explore. First, I wanted to see the ocean. It's about a 20 minute walk downhill from our house to the ocean. On our way there we saw a vegan raw foods restaurant and a natural health store that is worker-owned and co-opt. I'm going to be purchasing my all natural bath and body products there in my canvas bags (plastic bags are banned here. )

The ocean was beautiful. Ocean Beach is a wide and long sandy beach. Although today was chilly and cloudy many people were out having picnics and surfing.

After breathing in the beauty of the ocean and mountains, watching the clouds and fog move in and out, we hopped on the train that took us downtown. The train ride took about 30 minutes.

Downtown we ate at a yummy vegetarian restaurant (Wing had "neatloaf") run by followers of a guru. There's a lot of guru following going on here in San Fran, so much so that I now have to let go of my anti-cult crusade. It just isn't worth it here. If Bostonians think Dahn Yoga and Scientology are taking over, you should see the situation here. It seems like everyone is in some sort of cult one way or another. It's like they know how ridiculous it is but they're okay with it.

Then we met up with our friend Jenn and her Girlfriend Denise who showed us through Chinatown. Huge Chinatown offering lots of our favorite things: cheap food, bubble tea, and cool stuff to decorate our room with.

We continued on to North Beach, which felt like we had arrived on a corner in Paris or Italy. Lots and lots of cafes with outdoor seating on the sidewalks. People watching. Very quaint.

From there we kept walking to the waterfront where Wing got to see the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time. It was beautiful as usual.

After that we got on the bus and went towards the Haight.

First, we noticed a park that was a big round hill. It was like a forest. We entered the path that wound up up up to the top until finally, after an intense workout, we were rewarded with a most spectacular view of the city.

The haight still has lots of vintage stores, the huge Ameoba used record store, some cheap places to eat (but the forces of gentrification are noticeable!) and a ton of hippies, people on drugs, more hippies, faux hippes, people talking to themselves, people throwing up on the street, people singing and dancing, people with piercings coming from every part of their face, people wearing animal ears, people pretending they are at a rave.... and yeah I saw all that and more today. The concept of a "character" does not exist in San Francisco. There are about 5 "characters" on every block here. In Boston, we would get to know someone if they were messed up in public alot, or if they had a unique talent to showcase, or if they rode a particular tricycle.

Even in our residential, family centric neighborhood there are plenty of queers, hippies, surfers, etc. All kinds of folks.

It feels a bit odd to not standout for my outfits or queerness. Wing and I feel almost invisible. There are many other gays, asians, and white/asian gay couples here. Wing is experiencing what it is like to be checked out by lots of other gaysians. In Boston mostly white guys would check him out.

I like feeling like we all fit in here and anything goes - but I also worry I'm unsure of my identity now that people don't laugh at my big sunglasses or mimick my feminine behavior.

And the choices for food, activities, and learning are sooo overwhelming. It is like someone took al of the things I'm interested in and built a city of things to try with them. It's hard to figure out where to devote my attention with so many options. If I wanted to find a yoga teacher I would have like 5000 to choose from. If I wanted to eat at a vegetariant restuarant in the Bay Area I would have 90 - Boston has 3.

One of my biggest fears here is Earth Quakes. The chances of a large one hitting in our neighborhood by 2035 are about 25%. This house and this area do not seem ready in the least - and most news reports of late verify it. Yikes.

I'm also anxious about starting my new job on June 2. I'm still waiting to hear if it will be full-time or not.

Wing has an interview tomorrow at a travel company. We're going to the huge farmer's market (there are tons of them here.... in fact this city is very noticeably obsessed with trying to be green) for lunch and then checking out the Castro. Wing said he kind of missed the "South End gays", so I'm sure he'll be happy with a Castro visit tomorrow where we'll have a variety of queer contingents to people-watch.

Peace!

PS: Amy Contrada /MassResistance,
If you want to continue stalking me it will have to be online unless you want to come visit me in your faaaaaavorite city! Gurl, you thought Boston was depraved... HA! (Of course your lesbian daughter is always welcome to stay with us if she wants to check out San Fran.)