Stop. See. Smell. Smile.

Walking the streets of a bustling city, there is always something that is bound to grab your attention, pulling you away momentarily from listening to your iPod or thinking about which great restaurant you want to try next. Maybe it's a small dog with big brown eyes gazing up at you outside a local grocery store or the clicks of bike shoes on the sidewalk worn by bikers strolling into a cafe to order a cold one after a long day's ride. Perhaps it's the screaming baby being pushed in an overpriced buggy by its' super athletic mother or the dancing hippies in the grass at mid-day. 

Whatever it may be, sometimes that momentary interruption is so captivating that you can't help but stare a little longer. Other times, and more often than not, we continue bustling, continue shuffling away quickly on to our next destination, our next task. But for those rare occasions, the enticing vision pulls you in and you pause, just a moment out of your busy day, to acknowledge that one thing that is so very important at that moment. 

And maybe you laugh or smile or think, 'dude, that is crazy!' and quickly pull out your iPhone to take a photo.

Well I had one of those moments the other day (not a dude that is crazy moment but the other kind). I set out for an afternoon walk in Golden Gate Park and the colors quickly caught my eye. Each one was so perfect and so uniquely different, I had to have a closer look. So I decided that at the end of my walk I would reward myself with a longer gaze and the next day I went back with a camera. 

There's something to be said about taking a moment to stop and smell the roses. Well, these are actually dahlias (not roses) and I didn't smell them (they were guarded by a steel fence) but anyway I enjoyed their beauty for a few minutes. 

Hope you enjoy as well :)

Two Feths In A Nest

It's official - these two Feths have found their temporary nest in San Francisco! This past Tuesday we looked at a variety of apartments throughout the city and it was the very last one that sealed the deal. 

It's close to our old neck of the woods, North Beach, on Telegraph Hill with a lovely view of the bay near the Vallejo street steps. Unfortunately no parking is available but that is the price you pay for living in this city. 

The place is owned by a lovely couple from Napa and we hit it off right away. The apartment is cozy with a lovely garden patio out front and we look forward to having folks over for some good chats and good eats soon! 

View of the Bay Bridge down Vallejo Street Steps

Me on the Vallejo Street Steps

View the other direction down Vallejo St.

More photos of our new place can be found here: 

http://thegordongallery.com/LeNid

Adaptation

As one begins to adapt to any new environment they are at first highly sensitive to the sights, smells and sounds around them. Things are still new, fresh and sometimes funky (in both that cool trendy outfit hairdo combo and foul odor sort of way). 

Kind of like this guy...

Just as we experienced with adjusting to Kenya, Ghana, Morocco and India we are taking in all that San Francisco has to offer and adjusting as best we can. 

Here are just a few of the new, fresh and funky things witnessed over the past couple of weeks: 

• 'So according to his Facebook status he's in a relationship....' a young twenty something rambles to her girlfriend at a bus stop on Market St. 
• 'Spare some change!?' random homeless people shout to passersby on Haight St. 
• 'So it like takes something like 650 gallons of water to make one cotton t-shirt' girl behind counter at the Buffalo Exchange clothing store bellows. 'No way, for real!?' customer responds. 
• Everyone has a dog in the city and they are seen everywhere shopping with their owners: grocery stores, clothing stores, pharmacies, you name it
• Crazy homeless lady laughing from the pit of her stomach at nothing and nobody as she happily meanders down the sidewalk; her laugh can be heard from yards away
• You know a group of tourists when you see a family of four all wearing shorts and newly purchased San Francisco sweatshirts - this isn't LA people, it's cold here!
• Most people carry around their own green grocery bag 
• People seem to be constantly hyped up on caffeine, everywhere you look someone is holding a coffee cup at all times of day (sure do miss those tea breaks in Kenya!)
• Cars will stop even if they see you on the side of the road just considering the thought of crossing the street. I actually forgot about this and was waiting at a crosswalk and a whole group of cars came to a halt and I quickly realized 'oh yeah this is San Francisco - cool!'
• Today I saw blue hair, purple hair, yellow hair and orange hair and that was all in the same neighborhood
• The fresh floral and fauna scents throughout Golden Gate Park can really calm your senses but a quick whiff of the homeless guy peeing in the bush throws everything off 
• I've heard several different languages spoken over the past week: Mandarin, Italian, French and Spanish
• The clothing style is really tight skinny jeans of which not everyone should participate in wearing; for what appears to be a lack of comfort mostly
• Everything is organic, green, local and/or made from hemp
• And finally people can been seen all over the place picking up the feces of their beloved dog. I still find this hilarious and know that folks back in Kenya are just floored by this concept as pets aren't even a part of the culture in any way, let alone cleaning up after them

Adapting to San Francisco is like adapting to any other place one decides to hang their hat for a while. It's definitely a bit easier because we are coming back to familiar grounds but the conversations, the sights, smells and sounds are certainly different from the ones we experienced in Africa and quite honestly the Midwest, our birthplace, for that matter :-P

Summertime Hot Cocoa

No it's not lemonade. Nor is it sweet refreshing iced tea. No it isn't even a cold brewsky or thirst quenching water. None of these things occupy the green mug enveloped in my hands in the middle of summer. Instead it is a warm, rich and creamy cup of hot cocoa. While folks in other parts of the country bask in the summer sunshine, here in wintery San Francisco I spend the afternoon making a nice piping hot cup of chocolatey goodness, one because it is so yummy but two (and most importantly) because it is so cold! 

source: Richmond Public Library

Today is one of the cooler days since returning to SF over a week ago now. It is so chilly that the cute little yellow butterfly I found fluttering around our friends apartment had second thoughts about leaving. I saw him floating around the kitchen, let him land on my hand and as I opened a nearby window to allow him to fly away into the wonderful outside world of flora and fauna he began to retreat. Peddling his tiny legs backwards, I could see exactly what he was thinking, 'are you kidding me?' 'You except me to go out there?' I couldn't blame him. So I placed him next to the window leaving it open a crack just in case he changed his mind. 

He was still sitting there last time I checked....

Brian and I got a glimpse of summer yesterday when we visited a friend in Woodside, located about 45 minutes south of the city. Wow it was so warm! I had to leave my scarf and jacket in the car and I probably could have worn shorts had I known about such weather. 

When in Nairobi I used to dream about the cool breezes of SF, envisioning me walking around all trendy like in the city with my trench-coat adorning a colorful scarf. But not in the summertime - what was I thinking! I guess sometimes we tend to remember things all perfect and pristine when we miss them. And now here I am missing Africa. Missing the bigger than life sunrises and sunsets, the laughter of colleagues and friends and the adventure. Now I know Kenya or Ghana weren't perfect and neither is SF but any place you call home will always be remembered with warm fuzzy feel good memories, especially when you are so far from it.  

Picture of a warmer time in our lives on the coast of Ghana

Ghanian sunset

So as I think back fondly on so many wonderful experiences in Africa, the hot blooded mammal sitting next to me spouts, "I'm cold! Feel my arms they are so cold, I'm like freezing!' And sure enough I touch his arm and it was like ice. I go to the kitchen to make him some coffee and hot cocoa for myself and on my way back to the living room I check to see if my little fluttering friend is still sitting near the window only to find that he's gone, off on a new adventure.

Trying to stay warm in SF,
Team Feth

Team Feth Walk/Run

There are a lot of things Team Feth has encountered over the past year while living in Africa. Through our adventures we faced adversity, extreme danger while rafting down the Nile (mainly on my part given my fear of water and plunging over waterfalls in a small plastic boat), difficulty maneuvering the sly escape from the sights of a buffalo and many other things like falling in sewer trenches on dimly lit streets and other such calamities. But through all of the hardship we came away knowing each other much better and understanding each other’s limits that much more. 

Basically you can sum us up like this:

Brian

-    Likes taking risks and pulling me along for the ride

-    Likes running

-    Likes winning

-    Likes touching things that look poisonous

-    Likes probing animals with sticks

-    Likes meat, lots of it at one time and often

-    Likes adventure and whatever comes along with it

-    Likes to debate

Brian found this little guy in our hotel room in Uganda, put him in this  glass and stared at him for a while

 Self explanatory

He's kind of a big deal.....

Jalyn

-    Doesn't like taking risks but always goes along with what Brian says because he looks into my eyes and says 'trust me' making it hard to resist

-      Likes walking

-    Likes when everyone wins, especially the underdog

-    Likes only looking at things that are poisonous and would never think to touch them

-    Likes saving animals from Brian’s probing sticks

-    Does not like meat, vegetarian all the way!

-    Likes safe adventure that is well planned out and organized

-    Likes to calmly discuss and share opinions

This is a picture of a Hibiscus flower I took because I am at peace with nature

Here I am holding a cute baby in Kenya

I perceive this as risky behavior

As you can gather from the above, you will see that on many levels Team Feth consists of two opposites. But it is the very fact of us being opposites in certain ways that makes our team work so well. If it weren’t for Brian tricking me into going white water rafting down the Nile I would have never known the challenges I could overcome and what a wonderful experience I would have missed out on. If I weren’t there to protect Brian from himself he would surely be bitten and stung by tons of poisonous snakes and insects.

Returning to San Francisco makes us no different. Of course we aren’t concerned about predators lurking in the trees of Golden Gate Park (not that the thought hasn’t crossed my mind….oh my imagination sometimes!) And generally there are no poisonous creatures slithering around for me to worry about Brian picking and probing (I still need to wikipedia that one just to be sure….)

Yes, we are still opposites in many ways.

Currently living so close to Golden Gate Park, crashing at a friend’s place, we both decided to take advantage of nature and start exercising regularly again. Brian’s a runner and tries hard to convince me to run but I like to take things slow and build up to them. Right now I am what I like to call ‘champion walking’ which is basically walking as fast as I can.

He’s a runner and I’m a walker but together we always finish the race (I know so cliche but I couldn't resist). That’s the most basic way you can sum up this little team of ours and we wouldn’t have it any other way!

For those interested here are Brian’s amazing-awesome-way to go dude running stats:

 Brian 'Butters McMeaty Chuck Norris' Feth

 

San Francisco

Team Feth has officially landed back in the foggy city with the big red bridge by the bay - SAN FRANCISCO! It's so crazy to believe that it was over one year ago that we were walking around this insanely pedestrian friendly town full of yuppies and hippies. 

We drove up from San Jose yesterday afternoon and to our delight we were quickly reminded of 'the city' while viewing puffy white waves of fog rolling over the hills along Interstate 280. The enchanting clouds pointed the way north until we were finally enveloped within their moist cold air. Nothing says welcome to summer in San Francisco like the bitter cold!

As we ventured through the city, making our way to a friends house we’ll be staying at for the next few weeks, we noticed everyone was layered up in warm jackets and hats. Such a contrast from sunny San Jose! But I guess that’s the sacrifice one makes for living in such a cool city. Although, it will take us a while to adjust to the climate once again. Mark Twain had it spot on when he noted, “the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”

Speaking of that quote, it got me wondering a bit. Most folks have heard of that statement by Mark Twain about San Francisco but what sort of information is out there about SF and Chuck Norris?

Well, I didn’t come across much, other than this little nugget of knowledge:

Chuck Norris made a guest appearance in a film called Slaughter in San Francisco where he plays a guy called Mr. Bigshot who helps out a kung fu mastermind who recently got kicked off the SF police force for killing some guy. The reviews on-line about this movie are hilarious, 'its so bad it's good!' It apparently is horribly dubbed over making it seem like one of those old kung fu movies. Sounds intriguing doesn't it!?

I have to admit the lack of juicy information on the internet about Chuck Norris and San Francisco was a bit disappointing. So my mind continued to wonder and ended up with fun and interesting nuggets of goodness about the great city we have just returned to.....SF:

There is an ordinance in SF which bans the picking up and throwing of used confetti

San Francisco cable cars are the only mobile national monuments

SF is home to the largest Chinese community in the world outside of China

Irish coffee was invented in SF yum!

Well it is good to be back in the city we once called home over one year ago. Whether we will continue to call this our home only time will tell but until then we will enjoy all of the fun and flavor this vibrant place has to offer! Good to be back :)

Whichever Way the Wind Blows

So we’re back in the good old U. S. of A. We’ve been on American soil for a week now and it’s been pretty busy so far. Our first day back we crashed at a hotel near SFO airport. The next morning we met up with family and were treated to a lovely American style pancake breakfast, outfitted with way too much food and sugar. That evening we attended a good friend’s wedding in Sonoma, a beautiful wine country outdoors wedding. The following few days we decided to transition back to the fruit forward tastes of bountiful cabernet and crispy pear pinots and chardonnays. Coupled with some brie and water crackers made for some nice Californian welcome back meals. After getting our fill of wine and cheese we headed to San Jose to spend some time with family. We have been so blessed to have Brian’s brother and sister-in-law tending to all the little details of our lives while we were away in Africa. We have been enjoying these past few days with them and their adorable children. There’s nothing like a 4 year old knocking on your bedroom door at 7am asking if you will make another train layout like the day before. Or when asked why he is wearing three shirts backwards and his response is, “because when animals wear shirts they wear them backwards to make people laugh” it puts the world into an entirely new perspective.

In addition to all the fun we’ve been having transitioning back to the American way of life, we are definitely looking at this place with a new pair of eyes. As we venture out on the highway we notice the concrete plastered on the sides of hills made to look like natural rock. We can’t help but ask questions like, “is that the best use of tax payers money?” Wondering if there are other necessary services that can be provided rather than aesthetically pleasing concrete plaster. The lenses we put on every morning are tinted with visions of a developing country where half of the people have no running water or access to medical services. While sitting in a lovely library in San Jose we look around questioning all of the comforts placed in the Internet Café. First of all, wow, there’s an internet café. Furthermore, the same question persists, ‘is it all necessary?’. Coming from a society where basic needs are not met it is a difficult transition to enter one where more than all the needs and wants are met and exceeded. America is so rich in so many ways. The other day I saw a mother standing on the side of the road holding up a sign asking for money because she was recently laid off. I hate to admit that I found it hard to feel compassion for her knowing so many more that are suffering far worse than she ever will know. The thing is that it isn't that she doesn’t have it hard but this society does provide access to services that help those in need. I guess at the end of the day it is all relative but I can't help but know that I have seen the worst, probably some of the worst living conditions on the entire planet and until I understand or experience something differently here in the US, there are no excuses, we have means and access, there is always a way in America.

I guess we kind of knew and had been told that returning to the US would be interesting and perhaps challenging. We feel very blessed to live in such a prosperous country and be able to return to it but the greater question now on our minds is this, what are we going to do with all our abundance, access and knowledge? Well, that is still yet to be determined but we’re hoping to figure that out soon J. 

Until then, we thank all of our friends and family for welcoming us back and we can't wait to see you and catch up! Thank you for following our travels over the past year, it has been one amazing journey - now we'll wait to see which way the wind will blow us next.....

And We're Back!

Hello friends and family ~

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we have arrived safely back in San Francisco! It was a very long 24 hours of travel but we along with all of our luggage made the long journey back just fine. We got into the hotel in SF near the airport this afternoon and pretty much crashed after assessing all of our inventory.

We plan to spend the next couple of weeks here and then figure out our next steps. We look forward to catching up with everyone very soon!

Big hugs!
Team Feth*