Checked in at DFW airport at around 10:45 a.m. and waited at Terminal C26 for my 12:15 p.m. flight to SJC. Plane delay, switched to terminal C29 with a departure time of 12:50. During my flight, I sat in seat 25A (window seat) next to a man named Kelvin from Arkansas. He is visiting San Jose for a conference before he goes on to travel through most of Asia looking for new electronic suppliers for his company.
Arrived in San Jose, CA at about 3:15 p.m. PDT, took a $45 taxi ride to my apartment in Sunnyvale and found an awesome view from my balcony (photo above). I call these raised bits of earth 'mountains.' My taxi driver called them 'hills.'
"Go further east and you'll find the mountains," he tells me.
"We don't have mountains in Dallas," I explain. "These look like mountains to me."
The temperature was about 64 degrees all day. Definitely not used to this nice, cool climate. My A/C isn't even running right now and it is awesome. I wore a sweater... in May; everyone was wearing sweaters or jackets... in May. Even the joggers.
There are also a lot of pine trees here. Or whatever they are. And with the clouds and the mountains, I kind of feel like I'm in a David Lynch TV series. But this moderately creepy feeling is negligible.
I also walked into my apartment and found an awesome bicycle (photo to come later perhaps). Unfortunately, the bike is too big for me. Story of my life. I appreciate that they assumed that I was a man of average height. I really do. Not sure if I will ask them for a shorter bike or if I should just try this on for size (no pun intended).
Because I could not bicycle, I walked to grab some noms. I found a taqueria (a piece of home!), where I found myself being laughed at by all of the workers. Then I went to a nearby market. Boxes of cereal that I could buy in Texas for ~$3 are ~$5 here. Completely absurd! I left the store with 5 bananas and a half-gallon wax-carton of mango juice. I wonder -- will I starve?
Regarding the photos: I'm shooting some stuff with my DSLR , but I can't/won't upload those because it takes far too long, which means you all will only get to see those taken on my BlackBerry.
To view a couple snapshots of my apartment (and I literally mean a couple), go visit my flickr. Less text in future posts perhaps. Just depends on the amount of free time I have.
Tchau amigos,
Dave
Super excited for you! I love San Francisco!
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