Burqa please

Roma and I were told that we needed put on the abaya (black robe) and head scarf before getting on the plane to Saudi Arabia.  We were also informed that we needed to wear this the entire time in Saudi Arabia.  That small piece of information managed to completely freak me out about my short trip to Saudi.  But I was so thankful that Roma was going with me.  Even though we were traveling with Jonathan, it’s always easier to have another woman with you in that kind of environment.  

Roma and I put on our abayas and we were completely hysterical.  I felt absolutely ridiculous.  And the ironic thing is that the abaya and headscarf are meant to make women, more or less, non-existent.  And yet I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb.  To put it bluntly, I was embarrassed.  Furthermore, Roma and I are both fairly loud women.  We talk loudly, we laugh loudly.  We were totally not meant to wear the abaya.  So even while we were on the plane, everyone was looking at us because we were audible. 

One interesting thing that I noticed and wasn’t expecting is that despite the abaya, headscarf, and burqa, women like to be individuals.  Some of the coverings were completely blinged out with jewels or embroidery.  Furthermore, the women wore such heavy eye makeup… even in the case when the only thing you could see was their eyes.  I was surprised because I didn’t know what to expect and was even concerned about wearing makeup and bringing too much attention to myself.  But makeup apparently isn’t an issue. 

Upon arriving in Riyadh, we had VIP service in immigration.  They took our picture and our fingerprints.  I was starting to get freaked out with all of this and then I remembered that the U.S. has the same process for all immigrants not from North America.  So that put me a little more at ease.  But it was difficult because none of the immigration officers spoke English and none of us spoke Arabic.  So it was a lot of hand gestures and movements in order to communicate.

We stayed in a gorgeous hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  The finishing details were exquisite!  And the bathtub was to die for!!!  The evening we arrived in Riyadh, it was almost 1am by the time we checked into the hotel.  But I had to splurge and take a bath that evening… I’d never seen a bathtub that invited me into it more than that one.  So I bathed in rose petals and ate dates and pecans.  I felt like a queen… which completely set the stage for the rest of the trip and my soon-to-be nickname of maharani (Hindi for “queen”).

Riyadh was so interesting.  In my mind, Saudi Arabia is very backwards and old school, especially considering their views on women.  I expected to see sand and ancient buildings.  And I certainly didn’t expect the luxurious hotel room or that they would know how to pamper people.  But what I saw was one of the newest and most modern cities in the world.  Almost all buildings were under construction… either newly being built or renovated.  Saudi Arabia is one of the fastest growing countries in terms of mobile technology.  I expect that we will see huge growth in that region over the next two years.

And yet, despite all of this modernization, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA for short) has a “progressive” king who allowed women to start working only a couple of years ago.  In all office buildings, it is required to have a separate area where only women can have desks.  Men are NOT allowed.  Moreover, women must go through separate security and immigration lines in the airport.  Everything is segregated.

The only evening that we were there, we went to dinner at a restaurant.  Roma and I traveled in a separate car from Jonathan because he was meeting with a family-owned traditional Saudi Arabian company and women weren’t allowed in the meetings.  So we worked out of the office in the afternoon while Jonathan went to the meeting.  Anyway, Roma and I traveled to the restaurant and arrived there before Jonathan.  We tried to walk into the front door and were vehemently told to go to a different entrance.  We realized quickly the door we tried to enter was for men only.  We were ushered to the “family” side of the restaurant.  Women were only allowed on that side.  There were even curtained off areas so that women who wore burqas and wanted to dine with their families could sit behind the curtains and take off their burqas and no one would see their face.

Furthermore, since Roma and I were there before Jonathan arrived, the staff wouldn’t serve us or take our order until he was there.  It was all very surreal because it’s just not what I’m used to.  As soon as we ate dinner, we were whisked off to the airport again in order to fly back to Dubai for another day of meetings.

While at the airport, we had a Saudi Arabian police officer threaten us for bringing our carry-on bags through security because they were too big.  Yet, we didn't have problems on any other flights.  Of course, I would have felt confident telling a security officer that in the U.S. but Saudi Arabia is an entirely different story.  In the end, because we had already passed security, he let us go.  Phew!!!  But he told us if we ever came back, our luggage was prohibited.  Hmmm... don't think that will be too much of a problem for me.

Then we were back on the plane to Dubai...

Doin' it Dubai style!

*Disclaimer: this is my American point of view on the Middle East and India.  Please do not think of me as ignorant or pompous… my eyes have since been opened.

Some people envy my job because it seems I get to travel a lot.  Just to put it into perspective, I work, on average, 14-16 hours per day.  That's a normal day.  I have very little time for a personal life during the week.  I live for the weekends and the time I spend with my boys in San Francisco.  While on business travel, my day increases to 19-20 hours per day on average.  On this trip, I even had one 24 hour day.  So while I get to travel to various countries and stay in beautiful hotels, it all comes at a price.  But I'm not asking you to feel sorry for me.  It's not that at all.  I chose this job, and I continue to choose this job.  If it were that bad, I wouldn't do it. But I just wanted to put it in perspective for you.

With that said, this was one of my favorite business trips by far.  I still had those long, long days, but boy, it was absolutely fantastic.  We traveled to three countries, four cities, in five days.  So as you can imagine, there was a lot of plane hopping going on.

I arrived in Dubai a day before my boss so that I could do a little bit of sightseeing before our business trip officially started.  I used my Marriott points to stay for free at a hotel on the Dubai Marina… and it was gorgeous.  However, the only room that was available was a two-bedroom, three bathroom suite.  And it was just me staying there!  I felt like I was rattling around in my hotel room.  There was so much room!  I encouraged my colleague, Roma, to stay with me but she has family in Dubai and wanted to stay with them instead.  I'm hoping she just doesn't think that I smell. ;-)

Driving through Dubai from the airport to my hotel, I noticed many familiar things: a restaurant called “Livin’ la vida loca,” Tim Hortons (my absolutely fave coffee and donut place in Canada), McDonalds (of course!).  In my opinion, Dubai is a perfect combination of the U.S. and Europe.  Moreover, there are so many expats from all over the world that live there.  Out of the hundreds of people that I met, only one person was born and raised in Dubai.  The rest came from across the globe, many from England, Australia, and New Zealand.  In some ways, I felt like I was on a cruise ship.  If you’ve ever been on a cruise, all of the staff come from all over the world and on their name tag, their home country is listed.  I felt like it should be the same way in Dubai since people are from all over.

While I was in Dubai, I had my sights set on several tourist attractions: Burj Al Arab, a seven-star hotel that is shaped like a boat sail; Burj Kalifar, the tallest building in the world; Dubai Mall, the largest mall in the world.  Unfortunately there was a sand storm so visibility was limited and I didn't get to all of the attractions – but two out of three isn’t all that bad.

The Burj Al Arab is such a prestigious hotel that people can’t even walk on the property without a reservation.  So Roma and I made a reservation for lunch.  And let me tell you, that lunch was NOT cheap!  But the ability to just walk into the hotel was totally worth the price.  Take a look at some of the pics and video of the hotel (to be posted soon).  For lunch, we dined on the 54^th floor and you could only see the ocean.  It was just incredible!

We also went to the Dubai Mall, did a little shopping.  That place is massive!!  I tried to haggle with some jewelers for some gold.  But in the end, I just walked away because I couldn’t get the price that I wanted.  At the Dubai Mall, I got to see the water show, which was a lot of fun as well. 

After my one day of fun in Dubai, Roma and I met Jonathan at the Dubai airport and we were whisked away to Saudi Arabia…

A Fellowship Kind of Weekend

I named this blog post a fellowship kind of weekend because I spent the entire weekend with some of the other people who are here in Palo Alto for the fellowship program.  Actually, many of you may not know why I'm here and for how long, so let me explain.  My company, SAP, likes to recognize top performing employees - so we have a special group called Top Talent.  Every year, all managers go through their employees and decide if any of them meet the "top talent" criteria and nominate them for this group.  Upper management has to sign-off on who gets to be part of the Top Talent group because they try to restrict it to approximately 2% of the employees worldwide.  Part of the Top Talent program is the fellowship program, which allows the employees to apply for a six-month fellowship in a different area of the company.  The idea is that the people who are top performers are more proactive with their career and are quickly moving to the top.  So by allowing them to work in an entirely different area of the company without any risk, they are able to build up their skill set faster and advance their career more quickly. The fellowship may or may include relocation, it depends on the receiving team's requirements and budget. 

Previously I worked in product development.  I'm not a software engineer, but I'm part of the product management team.  I met with customers to understand their business processes for their sales teams and then designed the software to meet those business requirements.  Part of my product slightly touched the marketing teams, but it was primarily focused on sales teams at larger consumer products companies.  However, I wanted to understand the big picture better and get hands-on marketing experience - after all, that was my major in university, and yet, I've never worked in marketing.  So I applied for the top marketing position which was available - working as the assistant to our Chief Marketing Officer.  Just to be clear, I'm not a personal assistant but an assistant who helps our CMO manage projects, gather information from all of his teams, give strategic advice, etc.  It may sound like a sexy job, and I've already had some pretty cool experiences so far.  But it's not all glamorous. Anyway, I digress, but that's the background as to why I'm here and the small group of fellows who have bonded so far.  I will be in California only until mid-February when I will return to my love, Montreal.


So last Friday I took myself out on a date, and I finally discovered an amazing restaurant here in the area.  Everyone I speak with tells me how incredible the food is around here, but I was really struggling to find a place I considered fantastic.  I've found it now!  Flea Street Cafe - they have a seasonal menu which is to die for!  In Montreal, there is an Italian restaurant which makes a Gorgonzola gnocchi that just melts in your mouth.  I haven't ever tasted anything which rivals it... until now. :-) I'm so excited that I have a place to introduce to people when they come to visit. :-)  And it rained for the first time since I arrived in California - a heavy downpour which is apparently quite unusual around here.  I thought someone was watering the plants outside of the restaurant and turned to look out the window and saw a wall of water coming down.  It was both surprising and refreshing.

On Saturday I rode my bike to Philz - he's becoming my weekend habit. :-)  That was the farthest I've ridden a bicycle in a long time.  While I was in Montreal, I would try to bike to work on most days but it wasn't very far - I think just 8 km.  But Philz's is about 10 km from my house.  I was all nice and sweaty when ordering my cup of joe, but who cares.  The bike ride was so enjoyable!

Saturday afternoon I spent with Barbara, another fellow from Germany.  She's pretty cool.  We did a tour of some of the Silicon Valley towns and ended up in San Jose at Santana Row.  I don't know if this place is well-known outside of the area, but wow, this place is unreal.  Fendi, Louis Vuitton, Tesla, Gucci, and many more.  There were Ferraris and Lamborghinis lining the road.  I really felt like I was under-dressed in my shorts and t-shirt.  As Barbara and I were walking, we saw all of these really tall women walk past us.  We guessed that they were models.  Two blocks down, there was a very tall woman modeling in front of said bright yellow Lamborghini and some photographer taking her picture.  Then several more blocks down, we see a runway.... ooooohhhhh... FASHION SHOW!!!  Barbara and I were elated.  While it was a "private party," there was only a waist-high fence separating the public from the party.  So we could see everything.  We staked out our spots and watched the fashion show... in honor of Fashion Week in NYC.  It was so much fun!

I spent Sunday at the beach with some other fellows, Roman and Celeste (from Montreal - I previously worked with Roman on a project) and the "other" Roman, from Germany.  Roman and Roman took wind surfing lessons while Celeste and I baked on the beach, reading fashion magazines and talking. It was a beautiful, relaxing day... even if I did bake my boobies (first time in a bathing suit all season - they were not prepared for the California sun!).  Afterward, we munched on some yummy Italian food and walked around Alameda before returning home.

After last weekend, I finally felt like I was making some friends that I could hang out with during the week.  Don't get me wrong - I LOVE Mikey and Brett, but it's hard to see them during the week with my demanding work schedule.  So it's nice to be able to expand my friend network here. 

Palo Alto Personality

I typically blog when I travel.  And when I travel, I'm able to see the cultural differences between myself and the place I'm visiting.  Usually it makes for some funny fodder, if nothing else, but also a worthwhile experience when learning about and adapting to other cultures.

However, I really haven't done the same since I've been here.  In part, it's because I'm back in the States and feel like I should already know the culture and know what to expect.  And for the most part, I do.  Furthermore, it almost feels like a betrayal to my home country to critic the culture... especially when for so long I was part of it.  But since I have lived in Montreal for the last four years, I think I am able to compare and contrast.  So I will try to be diplomatic... but really... I am just speaking about Californians... I mean, they are a different breed, aren't they? ;-)

I have noticed that Palo Alto, and the greater Silicon Valley, is nothing like anything I've experienced.  The people are nice and open but disingenuous.  And while the scenery here is beautiful, you could go from one Valley town to the next and you wouldn't know the difference - you would have no idea where you were at!  It all looks the same, feels the same, smells the same.  Every place, every day is exactly the same.  I feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day sometimes.  That's kind of how I see the people here as well.

There seems to be little personality reflected in the people - how they dress, the homes in which they live, the cars they drive.  You know the saying that "all Asians look a like" or "all white people look a like" or "all Indians look a like"?  Well, I believe that all Silicon Valley people look a like - it doesn't matter their race, skin color, or hair color.  You can't tell them a part.  However, you can tell when you've met one.

There doesn't seem to be any individuality around here.  Coming from Austin, where originality is abundant, or Montreal where they live to separate themselves from the rest of the country, I've become accustomed to being different, to speaking freely, dressing freely, acting freely.  And yet, here, I feel very stifled. The air is clean and the skies are blue and clear (partly because Californians are very eco-friendly), but I feel like I can't breathe.  I just don't get the impression that people are who they present themselves to be.  I feel like there is an entire community here that needs to be liberated and set free.  They need to escape from this bubble they've built around themselves and just be.  I see that the people around here fill their days with many activities, but they don't look like they're really having fun.  I get the impression that they're doing those activities because everyone else does them and it's been deemed acceptable.

One last story and then I will stop my rant... Many weeks ago when I was shopping for my 49ers shirt, I went to the outdoor shopping center that is right by my apartment.  It's a very nice shopping center that includes stores such as Burberry, Kate Spade, Michael Kors, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's... the list goes on and on.  But I couldn't find one single athletic store or sporting goods store.  However, I finally came across a Nike store, and thought, "this place must have something!" 

I asked the girl at Nike if they have any "team gear" like the 49ers.  She looked at me like I was crazy and in the snottiest voice said, "no." And that was it.  She didn't elaborate.  So then I told her that I was new to the area and did she have a suggestion as to where I could go to find something like that.  She said (in the snottiest, snobbiest voice you've ever heard), "Oh. You'll have to go to Eeeasssttt Palo Alto.  You know, that's on the other side of the highway.  They may have something like that over there."  Hmmm...ok.  I found out from someone that East Palo Alto is considered the "ghetto."  Maybe there are poorer parts of the area but what I saw looked like suburban middle class to me.  I mean, there was a Sports Authority, IKEA, Home Depot, Best Buy... the list goes on.  It looked like a normal neighborhood to me.  I didn't even see any clunker cars or cars with hydraulics.  I'm not quite sure what world these Palo Alto people live in, but it certainly isn't my world.  East Palo Alto seemed perfectly acceptable to me. :-/

Anyways, there's my two cents on the personality and culture of the Silicon Valley.  It could just be that I haven't met the right kind of people yet.  And luckily, I have the other people who are in the fellowship program here to help ground me.  They are an incredible group of people so I still get a sense for what's "real."  Plus, I have Mikey and Brett and all of the Castro.  If I ever want originality and authenticity, I just need to travel 45 minutes north. :-)

Hiatus with the Hubs

Yes, I'm a little behind again. Yes, I'm a little slow.  However, better late than never, right??

The hubs was here over Labor Day weekend.  We thought we'd be really smart and use the only time off that we have in common until Thanksgiving to visit each other.  But alas, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  We were able to spend time each other but the time went much too quickly.

I introduced Esteban to In and Out Burger upon his arrival to California.  However, some of you may know that my husband grew up in the Oakland area when he was younger and then returned when he was in the military. So California is not as foreign to him as it feels to me. But needless to say, he had never been to In and Out Burger before. 

On Saturday, I introduced Esteban to my other love, Philz, and Esteban, too, had a coffeegasm.  Hmmmm... love me some Philz! :-)  I also introduced Esteban to my girlfriend, Pamplemousse, where we chowed down on some yummy French pastries in the glorious sunshine.  Speaking of sunshine, I find it so incredible how gorgeous the weather always is!  I think this must be the weather in heaven because it doesn't get any more perfect than this.

We drove up to San Francisco and hung out with the boys, Mikey and Brett.  We all went to gay beach at Dolores Park where I saw more than my share of nakedness - pictures were sent to a select few. ;-)  In addition, I got sunburned again... no surprises there so I don't even know why I mention it. ;-)  However, you all should feel kind of sorry for me because it blistered and now I have scabs on my back - not sexy but that's life.

Then we met up with some boys who were in town with the gay rodeo. (Note to self: I don't think I will ever escape from my Texas roots.) ;-)  Apparently they liked me and started giving me free jello shots.  I think it was only 5pm or 6pm and I was already schnockered... to the point where Esteban said I was just saying random words like "bubbles" and "rainbows" and "puppies."  I think I was living in my own fantasy world.  But I don't remember a thing about that... maybe he's just teasing me.  But if not, when I go crazy, at least we know I will be a happy crazy. :-)

We ended the evening with some yummy Mexican food and a drag show.  I made Esteban hold my purse during the show so he would fit in with the rest of the boys there. ;-) Hahaha!  The only problem is that now every time I hear the song "Extraterrestrial" by Katy Perry, I think of the drag queen who performed that song.  I can't get that performance out of my head.  So my apologies, Katy, but a drag queen upstaged you. ;-)

Both Sunday and Monday were pretty low key.  We visited Esteban's dad and stepmom in Oakland on Sunday.  I was surprised at how pretty Oakland is!  I just assumed by the bad reputation that Oakland has and the ghetto people I witnessed at the 49ers/Raiders game, that Oakland would be the armpit of America.  But that's not true.  It has the hills of San Francisco and lots of green.  It's actually quite beautiful.  We enjoyed dinner at Le Cheval, a Vietnamese/French restaurant that Esteban has been telling me about since the day I met him almost 11 years ago.

On Monday we enjoyed more Philz :-) and hung out around Palo Alto.  I thought that by having Esteban here, it would help make me feel more at home.  However, the longer I stay in Palo Alto, the harder it is for me to imagine myself here.  I think San Francisco might be a different story but can't quite say for sure since I don't live there.

So there was my Labor-less Day weekend (for once, a weekend that I didn't work!). 

Showgirls? Fo' Sho!!

Crazy, crazy week. That's all I can say. So very little sleep... I was a walking zombie. My colleague even so kindly informed me that I looked exhausted. Thank you for reminding me, as I forgot how incredibly tired I am. :-/ But I was able to participate in some cool things. My boss gave a keynote speech at Levi Strauss, and I had to prepare his speech and presentation. It was a learning experience for me, to say the least. I'm quite adept at preparing my own topics and organizing how I want to present to a customer. But it's an entirely different beast altogether to do it for someone else. Then I was preparing for other meetings and "putting out fires." Very, very little sleep.

So when the weekend rolled around and Mikey said that I should spend the entire weekend in San Francisco for my birthday, I was both excited and exhausted just thinking about it. Given our history, I knew that Mikey and I would get intoxicated over the weekend, and I would have very little sleep. And I'm an 8-hr sleep kind of girl. Without that, I feel like I'm dragging and my head is unclear. However, on Friday morning Mikey suggested that I just come up on Saturday afternoon because he already had some house guests at his place earlier in the week and he and Brett needed a night to recover. Oh I was so relieved!

Speaking of earlier in the week, I completely forgot to mention my fantastic experience at the SF Giants baseball game. It was the complete opposite of my experience at the 49ers game. Yes, I know, different sport but I can't help but to compare. The Giants' stadium is beautiful - clean, new, good beer, good food, cleaner bathrooms. The crowd was so calm. Yes, there was an energy in the crowd but it was so pleasant. There were people drinking wine in the stands. It was just so polar opposite of the previous weekend. I think I'm now a baseball fan and am looking forward to going back soon. Plus, after the game, we all went to this bar called 21st Amendment, and I tried this amazing Watermelon Wheat beer that comes with a slice of watermelon. Yummy!

So back to birthday bash weekend...

Friday night was uneventful and spent at home. I did a quick run, spoke with Ann, and relaxed. I also caught up on some of my shows such as Drop Dead Diva and Rookie Blues. All in all, it was a successful evening and exactly what I needed. Saturday morning was fantastic. I went running, went to Philz coffee (YUM!), and took my bicycle out on her maiden voyage. Then I drove to SF. Upon I arriving, we immediately had drinks at Toad Hall, went shopping, and then had sushi for dinner. It was already the perfect day... and the REAL fun hadn't even begun yet.

Then the real evening festivities began...

I had the amazing privilege to go with Mikey, Brett, Matt, and Darren to the historic Castro Theater and see Showgirls, a completely horrible movie with that chic from Saved By the Bell. But not only did I get to see that movie for the first time, it was accompanied by a drag show and lap dances by the drag queens. I consumed copious amounts of alcohol, ate copious amounts of popcorn, and experienced copious amounts of drag queen lap dances. Yes, you read that correctly. I received, not only, my first lap dance ever, but my first lap dance ever by numerous drag queens.

There are many things I love about the Castro neighborhood and the characters that live there. They are not afraid to be themselves. So many people wear some strange things and it's accepted. They love life, and love life to its fullest. There is so much friendliness and affection. You meet a person and you're instantly friends. Being different is good, being "normal" is boring. I just love it. There's no where else like it on the planet... at least not that I've experienced. If I ever live in SF, it will be in the Castro.

So I had the pleasure of having my face shoved into some drag queen's boobies. I saw some naked booties, some naked boobies, and some naked other things. The movie is incredibly bad, but the other aspects of the show totally made up for it. :-)

After the show, we went back to Toad Hall and had a whole lot more alcohol. Mikey, Brett, and I danced the night away. I made many friends, telling them all it was my birthday. I danced with several topless gay men. And I even managed to meet the only straight guy in the bar. I had so much fun that I don't even remember getting home that night.

The next morning I really struggled with my hangover. It was rough. I'm just not as young as I used to be. I immediately called my dad because I had missed his call... at 7:20am. Unacceptable for him to call so early. :-/ Then I called Esteban and started telling him about my night... at which point he informed that I had already told him all of this when I called him at 4am his time. Oops. Sorry babe. :-) Drunk dialing can be really dangerous.

Mikey and Brett took me to Philz coffee in the morning (thank god, I needed coffee so bad with my hangover!). We then went for brunch at a place called Tangerine, at which point we consumed mimosas... hair of the dog... I know many of you know what I'm talking about. ;-) Then we went to his place called Swirl, a super cute wine bar, picked up some wine (more hair of the dog) and went to Dolores Park to relax the afternoon away in the glorious sunshine. True to my nature, I managed to get sunburned. However, Dolores Park is fantastic. On sunshiney days, it's like a sea of topless men on this knoll in the park. Mikey and Brett call it "gay beach." Everyone is just drinking, relaxing, and soaking up the sun. It was the perfect afternoon. I'm looking forward to many more afternoons there. Furthermore, while we were there, one of the drag queens recognized me from the previous night and was like "It's your birthday!" Hahaha. :-) I'm glad I was so obnoxious that people remember me.

My birthday weekend was absolutely perfect. I was feeling really down and lonely on Friday night when I was speaking with Esteban, but the weekend totally perked me up. I still don't know if I would want to stay in Cali should it be an option, but I'm super happy I was able to spend my birthday with Mikey and Brett. They were the perfect compliment to my 31st.

Stay tuned for the next update, which includes a 3-day weekend with the hubby...

Knights in Shining BMW

I had an eventful weekend...really the last several weeks have probably been the most busy, exciting, exhausting days thus far in California.

Work is really starting to pick up, and I find that when I have colleagues here in town, it seems even busier. I like having my colleagues here because it helps me to learn my job when I can observe and work closely with others. But it seems like there is always so much extra commotion and nervous energy. It makes me feel a bit crazy and manic. It's just another thing that I will learn and get better at. You may have noticed that I don't speak much about the details of my job. That's because I work for an executive and so much of my work is "classified" information. As a new person, I haven't distinguished yet between what is ok for public knowledge and what should remain private. So at this point, I keep most of it to myself. I will start to share more later as I learn what I can and cannot share.

With that being said, I had a total of 7 hours of sleep over the entire weekend due to work (not because of too much fun). So that just gives you an idea of my schedule over Saturday and Sunday. But work just consisted of my weekend nights... but I have to tell you about my weekend days.

Saturday was the infamous 49ers vs. Raiders football game that I was soliciting company for. My boss gave me his two tickets because he was unable to go. Unfortunately (or fortunately - however you see it), I wasn't able to find someone to go with me. However, I really wanted to go see a NFL game and thus decided to go by myself. Plus, my boss gave me the tickets and I knew that he would ask if I went to the game. So I had to go. I knew that there would be some rivalry between the 49ers and the Raiders, but I was not prepared for what I experienced.

First of all, I took the train to the game since I didn't want to deal with traffic and parking. Plus, I thought I might consume some alcohol and decided to be safe and not drive. The train station is about a mile from the stadium. No big deal for me to walk. Except I had to walk through the ghetto. Parts of the neighborhood were just poor, but kids were playing in the streets. Other parts of the neighborhood were downright scary. Men were catcalling, people were coked out on the sidewalks, there were cars with hydraulics and rims and spinners. It was interesting, to say the least.

I got to the stadium and saw all of the crowds. The tension and aggression in the air was palpable. It's like when you're in a room with two people and they are having an argument in front you. You feel so uncomfortable, like you shouldn't be there. Well, that's kind of how I felt in the stadium. Well, no big deal. I got some beer and found my seat. Just walking around, it was so loud. There were so many people yelling and pushing. It generally felt very hostile. However, it was interesting to see that many couples, groups of friends, etc. were evenly split regarding their alliances. One person in the couple was for the 49ers, the other person was for the Raiders. I was thinking to myself that I've never seen such a mix of support amongst friends. Typically when you go to these types of events, whether it be football, baseball, hockey, etc., you see groups of supporters but they are all for the same team. You very rarely see the mix. So I thought that was pretty amazing. Until the action started...

I was in my seat and there was still lots of commotion and yelling. It was very difficult to pay attention to the game with everything going on around me. The guy sitting behind me dumped his entire hamburger on my sweatshirt during one of the plays so I was not a happy camper. The girl in front of me got into a fight with her boyfriend and spilled half of her beer on my shoes as she was waving around her arms. So of course I was getting more agitated. I looked up to see 10 policemen running in front of my row to the right. I follow their movement to see them arrest a man not far from me who started a fight in the stands. About 10 minutes later, another group of policemen run in front of me to the left and arrest another man.

With everything going on, I decided it was probably not wise for me to stick around for much longer. I already didn't feel safe since I was alone, but it seemed the crowd's aggression was escalating. I texted Mikey to see if he and Brett were home from their day at the beach. Mikey said they weren't home but offered to come pick me up on their way home, and I graciously accepted their offer.

After a closed exit on the highway and 30 minutes later, Mikey and Brett show up to rescue me. Honestly, seeing their shiny silver BMW round the corner was like seeing a knight in shining armor. While I was waiting for them outside of the stadium, 7 or 8 police cars pulled up and then all ran into the stadium. It almost reminded me of the clowns coming out of the VW bug at the circus... it was like a never-ending stream of policemen running into the stadium. So then I was really happy that I decided to leave the game early. What was going on inside???

I got in the car and Mikey and Brett informed me that I was probably in the most unsafe neighborhood in all of San Francisco and I should never go back. They checked that their locks in the car were actually locked like 3 or 4 times until we got back on the highway. The boys are a little dramatic, and I thought it was kind of funny... until Mikey sent me an article later that night saying that two people were shot during the game at the stadium and multiple people were beaten up outside of the stadium after the game. There's something to be said for one's intuition and gut instincts.

When we got back to the city, I went out with the boys to a couple of bars in the Castro. One of the bars is named Moby Dick and has a very phallic looking coral piece in the enormous fish tank. Moreover, there are many other great names of places in the Castro. There's a manicure place called "Hand Job." There's a sex shop called "Does Your Mother Know." I know I saw some others but those are the ones that stick out in my head.

On Sunday, we all went to Berkley. The boys had never been so it was a touristy moment for all of us. Unfortunately Berkley was not nearly as hippie-fied as I had been led to believe. However, I did get to see the small protest on nuclear weapons by some 70 year-olds. There was a Starbucks, McDonalds, Subway, and American Apparel. Not the original town that I was expecting. But Mikey and I both decided that we wanted to go back to college. There's something to be said about those college boys. ;-) LOL. Dang, I'm such a cougar!!

Stay tuned for my next update, covering my fantastic birthday weekend...