What a small world this is.
Over the past week, I've had two experiences where it really hit me that the world isn't such a big place. After writing my Christmas email, I got a reply from Jed and Peta, friends from Okinawa. It turns out they live 10 minutes away from my Uncle who I visited over Christmas. I had the chance to go catch up with them and meet their adorable son, Kai. The second happening was at lunch today. I went into a cafe, ordered a calzone, and then sat down. As I start reading my book, a lady next to me starts talking to her friend about Holland, Michigan . I do a double take that she notices and we start chatting. It turns out she had gone to West Ottawa high school and her dad was a professor at Hope. She was a bit older than me so besides both of us coming from Holland, there was no other connection. It still blew me away that I would randomly meet somebody from Holland in San Francisco. Well, that's my story for the day.
Christmas was a truly wonderful experience this year. I spent a night in Napa at my friend Dave's place and the rest of the weekend at my Uncle's with his family. It was awesome hanging out with family and friends. I got some presents, played a lot of games (tennis, bachi ball, ping pong party game, game cube, blurt...), and also had some delicious food. It was my first Christmas in America in 6 years and I loved it!

San Francisco, the most visible homeless crisis in the nation.
It's something you become used to, people asking you for money. Homelessness, it transcends gender, race, background... Everyday on my way to work, to a friend's place, to the gym, to anywhere, I walk by somebody with a cup, a sign, an open hand asking for money. At first it made me really uncomfortable. I'm from Japan where contact with somebody you don't know will be a young lady handing out tissue packets advertising a company. I'm still uncomfortable but I'm slowly getting used to it. I don't consider that a good thing but I've come a long way from when I would have my headphones in and look down when passing by a homeless person. Now, sometimes I give a little or at least tell them sorry but I no. My thoughts change daily. I become sad, numb, angry... Why are there so many and why don't they get a job, get help? So I decided to research a little. I wanted to know their stories. The SF Chronicle had a great series that opened my eyes. San Francisco has apparently let the problem get out of hand and one of the reasons it's gotten worse is politics. People don't agree on how best to solve the problem. I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with somebody asking me for money on the street but that's a good thing. Over the next year, I'll try and get involved in different ways. There is a volunteer organization here called One Brick that helps in different ways.
For now I end this post with a heavy heart, seeing somebody else's suffering is not something one enjoys. Here is a link to the article about homelessness in San Francisco.

Homeless

On the weekends, I've been going for runs from my apt. to the Golden Gate bridge. Well, actually no to the bridge but below it where the path ends. There is this sign on the fence that says Hopper's hands and I've been wondering who is Hopper. Everybody running touches it when they turn around. So I did a bit of research ( aka googled it) and here is the story

Hopper's Hands


By the way, the run from my apt to the Golden Gate bridge is ridiculously awesome. Anybody is free to join me.

I don't know how many people out there have ever gone to a spinning class but I partook in my first one last night. One word, INTENSE! I don't think I would have been so exhausted afterwards if I hadn't gone for a swim and run beforehand. I didn't plan on doing the spin class, I kinda just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Or the wrong place at the wrong time. 6 months ago it wouldn't have been a problem but I'm in the process of getting back into shape. Needless to say, last night I had trouble sleeping. My legs were sore but in the way where you feel it but no amount of stretching will help. They still feel out of sorts.
I never thought there could be so many hills when riding a stationary bike. AND when you ride a spinning bike, you can't just stop peddling like a normal bike. Everything is connected so if you stop peddling, everything stops which is like trying to put your car in reverse when driving down a highway. I'm sure I'll get used to it and learn to enjoy the intense burn when climbing those imaginary hills. It's great because as soon as I walk out the gym, I've got a 70 degree hill to climb on my way home.

It's about lunchtime so I think I'll share a bit of what I've learned today.
1) Did you know that solar energy is dependent upon nuclear power? Solar Energy's nuclear power plant, though, is 93 million miles away.
2) The earth receives more energy from the sun in just one hour than the world uses in a whole year.

Link