We're Not So Great at Weekends

Well I guess that's not entirely true. Though some parts of this weekend felt like total wastes, two out of the four days were ok. Fifty percent's not bad.
Friday, one of our good days, we found out we got the apartment. Then we spent the evening with some of Victor's coworkers. It was a fun night but just so different from what we're used to. I walked to Victor's office to meet him and his boss at 4:30. We took one of the MUNI trains to Reed's (the boss) neighborhood which is Cole Valley and basically lived out every person's dream of moving to a big city. We got off the train, and Reed wanted to "pick up some snacks," so he stopped in at the local wine and cheese place to pick out some very fancy cheeses. Then we walked about a block down to the local bread store and got some baguettes. On the way, Reed popped his head into the local pet store to ask if his cat food was in yet (he knows all these people by name). Then we trudged up the giant hill to his gorgeous apartment. Cole Valley is very "San Francisco" in terms of what people imagine. It has lots of large hills, and all the buildings are the tall, skinny, Victorian, Full House type houses. Reed and his fiance, Tara, live on the top floor of this house, and it's just plain beautiful. They have the whole floor so there's lots of light and big bay windows and hardwood floors and a view that overlooks the entire city.
One of Victor's other coworkers who also lives in Cole Valley came over, and we all had wine and cheese and bread and talked. Then at about 6:30, they decided to get dinner so we went to an Asian noodle restaurant where Reed ordered multiple appetizers and a bottle of sake for the table in addition to the giant meals we all ordered. After that another one of Victor's coworkers joined us, and we went to a bookstore that is my SOULMATE of bookstores. I could live there I think. Let's just say they had this book. Swoon.

Then we went to go get ice cream! These people can eat! Victor and I could not believe it. We were almost laughing the whole night. It's just so far from what we do, but that's just how they live. That night was not a special occasion. They just do that on a regular basis, hopping from place to place, eating, going into shops, talking, eating. We had a lot of fun. These people are very warm and welcoming and easy to be around.
Saturday, however, was kind of a lame day. I don't think we did anything. Not a thing. Oh wait, we did walk about 2 1/2 miles to get a cupcake at a shop that takes bitcoin. The walk was through an icky neighborhood, and the cupcakes weren't very good.
Sunday, we attempted to go to church again. We were planning on trying a different church that one of our friends from Champaign who lived out here for awhile recommended. It was about a mile and a half away, and we decided to walk. Basically what we learned from our walks on Saturday and Sunday is that from our temporary housing, you can basically go two places: along the Bay with the hoards of tourists or straight north to the Financial District where Victor works that's pretty much just office buildings. Do not go west. Do not go northwest. We walked northwest. As we were walking, we saw the scenery around us change quite a bit. A lot more homeless people. A lot more crazy people. Right when we were almost to the church, we saw a man chasing a woman by a bus stop, screaming obscenities at her and accusing her of taking his phone. This went on for about 10 minutes until the cops showed up. The building that the church was supposed to be in was gated off. We decided to look for an entrance around back, but discovered an alley filled with homeless people, and at this point, I said, "Nope, we're done. Turning around." So we walked back to our apartment, but I made Victor stop at the city Target on our way home because I just needed to do something familiar. How strange is it that Target makes me feel at home?
So that was our Sunday bust. But yesterday, we took a MUNI train to Golden Gate Park and saw the bison and walked around.

Very sad picture of the bison, but if you look at the brown lumps up by the far fence...well that's them.

One of the many ponds in Golden Gate Park

Then in the evening, we met our new landlord at our new apartment and signed our lease! Hurray, it's official! We'll be moving in on Sunday the 14th. We also got to meet one set of our new neighbors and the current tenants of our apartment. Everyone assured us that they love the building, love the landlord, love the location. The currant tenants were so sad to be moving out, but they want to have kids so they need more space. It was just so nice to be reassured about where we're living. I cannot wait to move in.
Here are a few more pictures of Victor's office.