shewasavisitor

Here it is: the First Post. No photos yet as we’re still living in the hotel.

Breakfast is included in our stay and every morning it’s the same: breakfast burritos. I am amazed at how “normal” the burrito is in this neck of the woods. Everyone wants their meal wrapped in a tortilla. It’s charming?

I have eaten two new items. 1) boba: nothing but a slushie/bubble tea combination (a big let-down; I’ve had much better bubble tea) and 2) cherimoya: “the most delicious fruit known to man” (Mark Twain; again and again).

We move into our new apartment when the shippers arrive sometime on Wednesday morning. I am so excited about this! The place is really nice with a big lofty area on the second floor. Yesterday in Japantown I bought a carp flag for the loftspace as we’re moving in around the May 5th start of Golden Week.

Burbank is actually really beautiful (I throw “actually” in there because I have been told to avoid The Valley and so therefore was skeptical of our new home) but the people in this town really keep it together. Yesterday on my run, I ran through the neighbouring cities of Toluca Lake and North Hollywood and from what I saw of them, Burbank at least waters their plants. And what plants they are! Roses, orange/lemon/grapefruit trees and cactuses in every yard, all that sort of stuff. I expect it’ll take me a while to tire of the flora. I’m already thinking of what we can grow on our balcony (everything). Burbank is also really nice because we are surrounded by mountains. E and I drove through a bunch of “hotspots” and both agreed we felt at ease in the sleepy Valley ‘burbs. We’re not very exciting.

We have been told by 3 people: the best thing about LA is that you will likely own a car, and so on weekends, you can drive that car to “better” areas of California like San Fran or San Diego “you’re only 3 hours away from everything!” …I found this a little disconcerting.

It’s Obama’s 100th day! Swine Flu is in full force. South Central Compton is really something else with all its barred windows and souped SUVs + rims. We got out of the car once so E could get some fried chicken from a really dodgy mini mall.

E is blown away by the salsa availability (think the soy sauce aisle in Chinatown grocery stores). The night I arrived he showed me some notes he was taking about all the different salsas he’d tried. He’s going to start a salsa blog! I’ll keep you posted. xo