Out and about with Karen and Duncan
The Shanti fundraising event I’ve been helping to plan took place last Thursday. It was a tough day – I had to make all the Silent Auction signs (about forty of them) plus sort out a number of other things before I even got to the event space. When I did arrive, I was amazed by how beautiful it looked: the Silent Auction displays looked gorgeous, my PowerPoint was running on the back wall, the plants we’d borrowed and the flowers were all looking lovely. It was a very successful event overall, although the co-ordination of volunteers was a bit of a shambles and we didn’t end up with quite enough attendees.
On Friday I had a job interview at a translation company in the attractive Fillmore district. I thought I had it in the bag, because I got on very well with the people there and am really well qualified for the job, but they want me to go again on Friday and meet someone else, so I’m not too sure how it will turn out!
Karen and Duncan, our friends who are immigrating back to the UK from New Zealand, arrived on Saturday. We picked them up from the airport, then went out for a stroll and a coffee. The weather was not nice, though: foggy, windy and really cold. Unfortunately, it was not much better on Sunday either, and I feared that the famous Summer fog was already upon us and that I wouldn’t see the sun again until September. We had a good time doing touristy things, though: went up Lombard Street, ambled through North Beach, had dim sum in Chinatown, shopped in Union Square, took snaps of the Painted Ladies in Alamo Square and soaked up the atmosphere in hippy central, Haight Ashbury. On Monday I went to school in the morning, then met up with Karen and Duncan for a quick trip up Coit Tower. We had dinner in the apartment, then travelled to the Mark Hopkins Hotel on snooty Nob Hill by cable car to have cocktails in the sky at the bar known as “Top of the Mark”. The visibility wasn’t that great, but it was a lot better than the last time Jon and I went (thick fog!).
On Tuesday we got a hire car and headed to the winelands with a brief stop in Sausalito for breakfast. We began in Sonoma with Ravenswood, famous for its Zinfandel, taking in Benziger, the beautiful Château St. Jean and finishing with Serghesio in Healdsburg. We had an excellent dinner at a restaurant in Santa Rosa, where we also stayed overnight in a rather less than inspiring motel. The next day we visited the lovely Hanna winery near Russian River and then crossed over into Napa, stopping at well-heeled St Helena on the way. We took in three wineries in the Napa valley before heading home via Domaine Carneros, a champagne maker with a very flash HQ enjoying lovely views. There we were able to sit outside in the sunshine and have the range of champagnes and pinot noirs brought to us. It was great to go with Duncan, who knows his stuff because he studied viticulture in New Zealand, worked at a winery and is now looking for a job in the industry in the UK.
I’ve really enjoyed having friends to stay, but it’s back to reality now: I need to head to Shanti this afternoon and go to a second interview tomorrow. Still, at least the sun is shining again!
On Friday I had a job interview at a translation company in the attractive Fillmore district. I thought I had it in the bag, because I got on very well with the people there and am really well qualified for the job, but they want me to go again on Friday and meet someone else, so I’m not too sure how it will turn out!
Karen and Duncan, our friends who are immigrating back to the UK from New Zealand, arrived on Saturday. We picked them up from the airport, then went out for a stroll and a coffee. The weather was not nice, though: foggy, windy and really cold. Unfortunately, it was not much better on Sunday either, and I feared that the famous Summer fog was already upon us and that I wouldn’t see the sun again until September. We had a good time doing touristy things, though: went up Lombard Street, ambled through North Beach, had dim sum in Chinatown, shopped in Union Square, took snaps of the Painted Ladies in Alamo Square and soaked up the atmosphere in hippy central, Haight Ashbury. On Monday I went to school in the morning, then met up with Karen and Duncan for a quick trip up Coit Tower. We had dinner in the apartment, then travelled to the Mark Hopkins Hotel on snooty Nob Hill by cable car to have cocktails in the sky at the bar known as “Top of the Mark”. The visibility wasn’t that great, but it was a lot better than the last time Jon and I went (thick fog!).
On Tuesday we got a hire car and headed to the winelands with a brief stop in Sausalito for breakfast. We began in Sonoma with Ravenswood, famous for its Zinfandel, taking in Benziger, the beautiful Château St. Jean and finishing with Serghesio in Healdsburg. We had an excellent dinner at a restaurant in Santa Rosa, where we also stayed overnight in a rather less than inspiring motel. The next day we visited the lovely Hanna winery near Russian River and then crossed over into Napa, stopping at well-heeled St Helena on the way. We took in three wineries in the Napa valley before heading home via Domaine Carneros, a champagne maker with a very flash HQ enjoying lovely views. There we were able to sit outside in the sunshine and have the range of champagnes and pinot noirs brought to us. It was great to go with Duncan, who knows his stuff because he studied viticulture in New Zealand, worked at a winery and is now looking for a job in the industry in the UK.
I’ve really enjoyed having friends to stay, but it’s back to reality now: I need to head to Shanti this afternoon and go to a second interview tomorrow. Still, at least the sun is shining again!
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