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Ok, so not a very positive response at my shortening blog comment, so maybe a bit longer today :)
Also guys, I encourage you to leave a post when you read my blogs! It's so lovely finding out who is keeping track of my travels, how I can improve what I'm writing, and so on!
First of all, funny story time! I don't think you will all find it funny as it may be a 'need to be there' thing. So Matt and I are currently in a seven bedroom dorm on Venice Beach, so we are sharing with others. We got home at about midnight last night, and snuck in and got to bed without waking up the others. BUT there was one guy, I think he was middle eastern, who was snoring so violently!!! Then all of a sudden, mid-snore, he jumped up, went out of the room (banging in to the door) first, and then two seconds later tried to come back in but didn't have his key. No one could obviously be bothered to get up straight away, and he didn't knock again, so we all started laughing - even though Matt and I had thought everyone was asleep! It was so weird how he went from mid-snore to jumping up straight away and leaving the room. He didn't come back until 8am with a coffee apparently, but the one guy who saw him didn't speak to him.
Second funny story - Matt warned me that there are a lot of ridiculously dumb people in the U.S. but I assumed the girls he was talking about were just doing it for attention. But yesterday I witnessed it first hand. There was an American girl talking to an Argentinian girl. To cut the story short - basically the US girl was adamant that the U.S. is bigger than all of South America (Just U.S., not including Canada!). When she was shown a world map, she realised she was mistaken because she thought Mexico was South America.......
Last night was a very interesting evening! I didn't write about it much yesterday as I was trying to keep the blog short. We ended up talking to a guy from China in our dorm for ages and went out for ice cream etc. He has his own translation business which recruits Chinese students studying in English speaking countries to come back to China and work as translators. He is here to visit the universities to try and recruit potential employees! We talked to him ages about western cultures because despite owning a business focusing on English language, he had never been outside China before. We showed him different apps on our phones, and he made a Facebook page. We also learnt a lot about China from him, such as how important it is in China as a young person to own a house. He was surprised when we told him that buying a house is not a priority for young people in most western countries!
Last night in our dorm we had: 1 x NZ, 1 x UK, 1 x Australian, 1 x Middle Eastern, 1 x German, 1 x South American, 1 x Chinese. It was a very interesting mix :)
Today we socialised quite a lot. Firstly, we overslept and missed the yummy pancake and waffle breakfast at the hostel :( So we headed to one of the restaurants on the beach in Venice. It was an interesting experience as we realised we had to add both the tax and tip money on top of the usual cost of the meal. For those heading to California, apparently it's typical to add between 15-20% of price of meal for tips when eating in a restaurant!
When we had finished the meal, we saw a movie being filmed on Venice Beach! There were so many trucks with all the props etc, but we couldn't get too close :( I wanted to see who the stars were, but at least we can tick off 'see a movie filmed in L.A.' off our list ;)
Afterwards we headed to Santa Monica again to meet one of my distant relatives. Basically, we share the same great grandad - she is my dad's dad's brother's grandaughter... But we have been friends on FB since she lives in Sydney (so pretty close to NZ). It was really cool as she had a male friend with her so her, her friend, Matt and I hung out for the day checking out the beaches and talking about travelling. Both Carlie and her friend are very well travelled so they were giving us lots of advice for when we go to countries like Amsterdam, Bangkok, etc! They were both very inspiring. Carlie has already done a lot in her life including travelling to a ridiculous amount of countries, as well as living in both Australia, England and teaching English in Japan! It was definitely a great day hanging out with them so thanks guys!
Another cool thing that happened whilst we were walking around is when we checked out the canals I ended up talking to a girl from Serbia. She was surprisingly very well travelled, and I was telling her all about how much I want to travel to that part of Europe! She is in L.A. for three months as she has been considering moving here - so wanted to check it out first!
After four hours of walking pretty much solidly, Matt and I headed back to the hostel for dinner. We got talking to a German guy for ages and once again started finding out heaps about another culture. He is living in L.A. for a few months but recently got kicked out of his apartment for partying too much, so is temporarily living in this hostel! But we had a great chat about travelling, comparing NZ to Germany and so on, so that was definitely cool. Another important thing for me in regards to what I expect from travelling is to meet lots of people from different corners in the world. I'm learning so much just from talking to people, so that's great. It's a great part of staying in a hostel so guys if you plan on doing some travel, definitely stay in a hostel. It's very easy to make friends that way!
The biggest challenge I have faced so far in America is the roads! It's a nightmare. I'm so used to cars driving on the left hand side. Whenever I go to cross I automatically look the wrong way, take a step and realise actually there is a car there, I just looked the wrong way! Also, cars are very, very patient with pedestrians! For example, if you stand by the road waiting cross, or put one foot on the road getting ready to cross, the cars always stop for you and let you cross! Even if it isn't a crossing!! My mind is blown.
Few other cool things I noticed/discovered today:
- Weed doctors everywhere here. Honestly all along the beach are stores that have these big signs
- A food outlet we went to yesterday called In and Out apparently has a secret burger (local Californian informed us today!). When we went there we were surprised because there were only three burgers on the menu, but apparently that's because they have a secret super fatty menu, i.e. a 4 x 4 burger which has four patties. I think it's something to do with health laws?
- I'm so glad I worked so many hours before leaving New Zealand not just because of the money, but because it has made me so fit! We literally spend all our days walking for hours and hours, and I'm so glad my legs are strong from being on my feet all the time in Dunedin!
I think that's all for now. Tomorrow we are checking out and leaving Venice Beach for Hollywood! So there will definitely be heaps of new things to write about! Matt has a friend who is a local here in L.A. and has very, very generously offered to show us around L.A! So keep watching this space!
- comments
Celia Hope you got to use all that fantastic German we learnt in GERM131 with that guy. Did you ask what he was wearing?
Laura Ramsay I am so jealous of you guys! Venice beach sounds so cool I really want to go there now I'm glad you are really enjoying your trip I miss you!
Mum When you are you going to put photos on your blog? You have all of those beautiful Kiwi ones and none of your travels on here yet!
Melissa Loving the blogs hun, every morning i wake up and the first thing i do is check to see your updates, its funny because I have never felt any desire to go to America, but you are slowly making think maybe i'm missing out on something and you have only been there a couple of days. I Can't wait to see the pics and see what your next adventure brings Take care and enjoy yourselves xxxxxxxx
Aunty Claire Another awesome blog hun. Really glad you are making so friends and loved Matts picture of the cops outside your hostel. It made me chuckle. By the sounds of the food out there you are going to need to be doing that amount of walking to walk of the calories........four patties in one burger!!! Really looking forwad to seeing some pics of your adventures, especially pics of Hollywood... how exciting. Take care sweetheart and love to you both xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Stephanie Celia! The problem with Germans is that their English is so good there's no need to embarrass myself by trying to speak German, woo! Laura I miss you too :) mam, photos will all be up soon! I was thinking it would be easier to upload them after each country! Melissa, I know what you mean! I wasn't really bothered about travelling here - we only really came to US at all to visit matts town but we got a bit carried away. Now I'm so happy we did because its amazing here! (Mum, I know you'll be shaking your head and mumbling I told you so). Claire don't worry I'm not being too much of a fatty! In fact I'm probably eating less calories as I'm not snacking at all really! And spending a least four or five hours a day walking! Definitely exercising a lot more than in Fiji where we were too scared to walk around!
Nan Sounds like you are having fun in LA, the hostels seem like a good idea, lots of interesting people. Only three stages in and lots of experiences already. Off to Hollywood soon will be interesting to see if it is very different from LA or more of the same. Safe journey look forward to the next blog. Love you xxxxxx
Em I hope you're having an amazing time stephie! Im so jealous of you and you're amazing travels, I'm living vicariously through you at the moment haha. Following your blog religiously :) Everytime I blink now I see white lines.... Look forward to hearing your next adventures! Love Em xxx