Northern Cali

So I spent the next few days in Northern Cali with my family. My step-sister and her husband were visiting too so it was a full house.

Joey D and Monique arrived into San Fran and so Josh and I went out one night to hang out with them.

Josh and I decided it would be best to take Bart into the city instead of trying to navigate and drive stick shift. When we got to the parking lot of Bart and out of the truck I noticed that the interior light wasn't going off. It was strange. So I got in and closed the door again. But it was still on. I sat there for a little while. But it was still on. I got back out of the truck, closed the door and waited. But it was still on. I got back in the truck and flicked the switch to the right. But the light was still on. I got out of the door and waited. But the light was still on. I got back in the truck and flicked the switch to the left. But the light was still on...... this went on for well over 5 minutes with both Josh and I examining it before I called my dad and told him that the interior light wouldn't go off and that I was nervous that it would drain the truck battery and I wouldn't be able to get home. Being the awesome father that he is he told me to go take the Bart to the city and he would come to the parking lot and look at it and get it to work and the truck will be waiting for me when I got home later that night! Problem solved!! I love my dad!! BUT I still don't understand why it wouldn't go out and what was wrong with it. Strange......

I was under the assumption that they were going to go out out with some friends that Monique had. But when we got there around 8 or 9 pm Monique was exhausted. So instead we just hung out in their hotel room and went to Carl's Jr. for dinner. Monique's friend came to the room and we all hung around talking story and laughing. It was so nice to catch up and hang out with them. It made me terribly home-sick for Japan.

Me and Monique in Carl's Jr

That night Jessica drove back into Northern California after having spent time at moms house and it was nice to hug, chat and sleep next to her. I always miss her the most! I guess its a sisterly thing.

The next day was Sunday and since Jessica was in town we decided she needed to have a fun Christmas too so we had a gathering full of pizza, family, friends and Jessica opening her Christmas presents. I invited Joey D and Monique along so that they could get a taste of what an American Christmas and family gathering was like. I really wanted to show them something real rather than touristy. I think JoeyD appriciated it, but I am still not sure about Monique. They really wanted to go to a Walmart so after dinner we all piled into my cousin's surburban (the biggest car I think either had ever been in) and headed to Walmart.

Going to Walmart with the two of them was an adventure unto its own! They were so amazed by how large it was, how many people there were, how cheap it was and everything else! Walmart is somewhere most Americans think is low class and not so exciting, but to a non-American its like going to a theme park! I had lots of LOLs watching them!

I was so excited to show them where Jessica worked and take them out for American drinks that I kind of pushed them through Walmart so that we could get to Tony Romas before they closed. I guess this pissed off Monique a bit because she said she didnt feel well and wasnt very perky while we were there. So I soon took them back to Bart where they went back into the City and Jessica and I went back out to chat with friends over drinks for a while. It was nice, especially since that was the first and last night I had to hang out with her.

Me, JoeyD and Monique at my sister's work (Tony Romas in Union City)