At the playground

Those were the hay days of ours!

First day at school

So today was David's big day as he has started his school curriculum at George Hall's. We were all quite nervous, he couldn't fall asleep last night and I had tears in my eyes when I saw my little boy going inside the classroom. He is really ready and independent by now. A year ago he would be crying, hiding behind us and insisting on us staying with him inside. Today he just went, playing a comedy with heavy supplies bags and thus diminishing his attention to a bit non-standard situation. But he made it. We made it.

California XIV - Summer in the air

I have to admit that here in US I am much more aware of the threat of going to prison for a traffic offence than back in Czech. In Czech, you always get away with a last warning or a fine at most, if it is not killing obviously. But here I am afraid that I might go to jail just for wrong parking or speedy driving. No that I would like the idea of going to Czech prison, but going to American prison really horrifies me. So cars with signs of Highway Patrol and men/women in them have my absolute respect. (I couldn't resist to publish the mini photo series above to bring a picture of California HP near to you.)

This is something I wanted to share with you for a long time, already in England. Both countries, UK and US offer on the market only cane sugar, in almost 100%. You wouldn't tell it from beet sugar but during those 4 years here I didn't have a single new cavity. I don't want to say strictly that it is a cause and consequence issue but it crossed my mind several times that there could be some causality. But it's definitely not a non-obese sugar, though they say that the main cause of American biggest health problem is connected to a content of a 'high fructose corn syrup' which you can find in many food products, even in bread, hamburgers and ketchup. So put these three things together and you get a sugar bomb.

Both our young sons will pass this month significant milestones in their lives. Adam will start solid food besides my milk (end of babyhood?), and David will start his school curriculum on 29th July (end of childhood?). You can imagine that we are pretty excited.

The weather here in San Mateo is more than fair. Rains ceased in late March and since then temperatures linger around twenties, though evenings can be noticeably cooler. So we practically live outside, the door to the yard is still open and we can whenever just go for a walk, for a bike ride or to play a bit of soccer, or base- and basket- balls. Which we do. On weekends we spend our days either at beaches, or on hikes on many of nearby trek trails in surrounding hills. Moreover, there is a nice pool in our community so we go like every other day to take a dip. I guess I haven't been so active for a long long time.

We also have had visitors last week, both Laku brothers Afolabi and Dele were here for the last weekend. It was great to have them here, David enjoyed them very much and we all had a great time (I hope:). So here they are, all five of A.-A. boys.

A jeste dva nahodne objevene objekty

Mark Bradford - Analog

Richard Tuttle - Village

Dva drevene domy aneb nabizi se srovnani

Boston

Taiwan

California XIII - Koupani u Pacifiku

Tak uderila vedra. Nemuzu rikat, ze obecne v Californii, protoze Californie je rozlohou asi 5.5 x vetsi nez Ceska republika a pak je rozlozena jaksi na vysku, takze teplota hrozne zavisi na zemepisne sirce a pak taky na vzdalenosti od more. A spouste dalsich veci, jako v San Franciscu 20km na sever od nas je vzdy nejmene o 5 stupnu min, protoze se tam vali mlha z more, Dublin 20 km na vychod od nas do vnitrozemi ma zase nejmene o 5 stupnu vic, protoze je bliz pousti, a to mluvim v Celsiich.

Proste tady u nas dnes bylo kolem 30 stupnu a tak jsme se rozhodli po obede zajet podivat se k Pacifiku. Jezdime tam pomerne casto, ale jeste jsme tam nezazili prijemne vedro, vhodne na koupani v jeho chladnych vodach. Hned po najezdu na dalnici cislo 92 smerem na zapad bylo zrejme, ze tento napad dostala pulka lidi na Peninsule (tedy Poloostrove, jak se rika uzemi polozenemu mezi oceanem a San Francisskym zalivem) a tahu smerem k mori je tu jen par. A tak jsme v tom nejvetsim vedru absolvovali cestu, ktera trva normalne 30 minut za 1.5 hodiny.

Ale dokodrcali jsme se pres pobrezni hory na pobrezni dalnici cislo 1 a dali se smerem na jih hledat nejakou plaz, je jich tam hodne. Vetsina plazi podel jednicky se jmenuji State Beach a plati se na ne vstupne/parkovne $6. Je-li ovsem kde zaparkovat. Coz dnes nebylo a tak jsme se vesli na jedno z pridruzenych parkovist pred strazni budkou, dosli jsme se vsemi kramy na hojne osidlenou plaz a nasli si misto u ricky vtekajici pres plaz do oceanu.

Ta ricka, to je raj pro deti. Je melka tak po kolinka, voda je teplejsi nez v mori a ma krasne pisecne podlozi. Takze Dejda se kachnil u ricky, Adamek spal pod tropikem a my s Laku jsme stridave hlidali jednoho nebo druheho. Pak jsem se na chvili zasla poskadlit s morem. Fascinuje me, pritahuje, ale zaroven odstrasuje, mam obrovsky respekt. Neodvazim se ani za prvni vetsi vlnu. Vlny dnes mely tak jeden a pul metru a s hukotem se vzdycky zelene nahrbily a pak s bilym hrebenem prehouply dolu a zpenene se valily na breh. Obrovska masa, obrovska sila, absolutni nezajem, absolutni prevaha, geologicke casove meritko, nekoncici opakovani. Podemila paty, podrazi nohy, smaci obleceni, bere vsechno slabe.

A na brehu chaoticke hemzeni tisicu lidi, kazdy u sveho vybudovaneho sidliste, kazdy veden svymi osobnimi motivy v rozdilnych rytmech a pristupech, sami, po dvou, v rodine male ci hispansky rozvetvene, ci ve spolecnosti svych znamych, a vsude do toho deti vyskajici, behajici ci stavejici nejmoznejsi stavby z pisku a vyplaveneho drivi ci zvedave okukujici mrtveho rypouse na brehu. Absolutni rumraj, ktery se vsak po pate hodine zacne zvolna prelevat do aut a rozlevat zpatky do okolnich farem, mestecek a mest. Touhle dobou jsou tam jen plaze, utesy a hucici priboj a par opozdilych svetel projizdi po dalnici cislo 1.

California XII - Poznamky na okraj

Americani se chovaji tak naprosto samozrejme v restauracich, ze je naprosto jasne, ze to delaji casto a od malicka, ze to uz maji vzite. V Cesku a specielne ve spolecnosti nekterych lidi jsem citila desnou krec pri jejich jednani s cisnikem, ve snaze tvarit se nenucene a protrele.

Americani se na vas usmivaji, zeptaji se vas na plany na letosni dovolenou, pochvali vam dite, svetr, cokoliv, vsechno je great, ale to neznamena, ze se to bude zitra opakovat, ci ze jste jejich kamaradi. Nekdy je clovek opravdu zmaten zmenou kurzu, nevyrovnanosti jejich pristupu.

Americani si desne potrpi na ceremonie, obzvlaste ty dokladajici postupove body jejich uspechu ci uspechu jejich deti. Takze se poradaji velke ‘baby showers’, kdy tehotna zena ci jeji matka pozve bratru 30 kamaradek na oslavu, predem zverejni seznam darku, ktery maji otevreny u nekolika obchodnich domu, a vy jen vyberete to, na co mate a zaplatite jim to. Dalsi hory (a to doslova) daru dostane dotycna od rodiny a kolegu, takze treba polovinu daru, nechtenych daru, uplne novych, prodaji obratem na eBayi. A tam ja je nakupuji:)

Dalsim prikladem ceremonialu byla dnesni ‘promoce’ predskolaku na zaver skolky. V zasedaci aule mistniho ‘narodniho vyboru’ se konal ceremonial 5-letych za pritomnosti vsech dosazitelnych clenu jejich rodiny – rodice, prarodice, nevlastni sestry, strycove, sestrenice, chuvy, nekteri tam meli az 10 lidi, tak jsem si vzpomnela na Marecku, podejte mi pero, jak se jich 30 prijelo zeptat na Hujera, jak si vede ve vecerni skole. Deti meli na hlavach placate bakalarske papirove cepce, pochodovali spalirem rodicu a po vystoupeni s nacvicenymi pisnickami dostavali jednotlive srolovany diplom a v rohu vedle toho vseho stala velka americka vlajka.

Dal se tu hodne nosi narozeninove party. Dulezitost ditete se odviji od toho, na kolik jich bylo pozvane, pripadne kolik deti melo loni na party. Party se vsak az na vyjimky nekonaji doma, ale da se pronajmout celkem cokoliv, kde vam party usporadaji. Podle toho, jestli chcete taky dort, pizzu, piti, volnou ci organizovanou zabavu atd, se odviji i cena, pricemz se zacina tak na $200. A pronajmout si muzete holicstvi, karate telocvicnu s instruktorem, keramickou dilnu, hernu s automaty, halu plnou gumovych skakacich zamku, nehtove studio, halu plnou prolejzacek a skluzavek, BBQ oddeleni v parku, salonek v pizzerii, kde s detmi kuchari nejdrive vyrobi pizzu, kterou pak snedi atd. Anebo jen odvezete svoji patnactiletou dceru s peti jejimi kamaradkami do restaurace a mistni personal jim na zaver zazpiva prani (a to i originalni kreace, ne jen tradicni Happy Birthday) a donese narozeninove koktejly.

Kazdy tu ma fotak a tak pulka lidi ma velmi dobry fotak, digitalni zrcadlovku s velkym objektivem, takze to vypada na narod profesionalnich fotografu. A nekteri maji velmi, velmi velke objektivy a stativy a ti vetsinou foti ptaky. A jakmile se objevi objektiv pred ditetem, tak uz tak od dvou let vi, ze ma ztuhnout a rict ‘cheese’ a nasadit pravy americky zuby odhalujici usmev, takze poridit spontanni fotku ditete neni uplne jednoduche.

V Californii v podstate nevidite cloveka, ktery by kouril. Zato vidite spousty cyklistu a bezcu vcetne matek bezicich se specielnimi jogovacimi kocarky, anebo aspon lidi na delsi prochazce. Tedy vetsinou dojedou na misto autem a pak teprve sportuji. Taky pit se na verejnosti nesmi, takze zadne pivo pod kastany nebo u stolku pred kavarnou nepada v uvahu. Casto je vsak ve vzduchu citit trava.

Adamkovi prisel americky pas. Byli jsme o nej pozadat na poste, prokazali jsme se ridicaky a rodnym listem ditete a za ctyri tydny prisel. Pas je jak znamo zvenku tmave modry a na strankach vevnitr ma vepsane citaty slavnych Americanu, nejcasteji prezidentu a pod tim je vzdy stinovany obrazek ruznych znamych panoramat z jednotlivych statu. To je proste holubnik, to ma byt seriozni zalezitost a ne obrazkova knizka! A vedle neho na polici lezi 2cm fascikl z Ceske ambasady o tom, co vsechno musime dolozit pri zadosti o ceske obcanstvi, vcetne potvrzeni o tom, ze jsme my rodice Cesi (nestaci OP, pas ci rodny list, je to nejake specialni potvrzeni z matriky) a notarsky overene preklady vseho mozneho odsud, vcetne dokladu, o ktere budeme muset teprve vyslovne pozadat americke urady. Nevim, jestli najdeme moralni silu a cas to zkompletovat.

V Americe jsou krasne prirodni parky. Maji hierarchii podle vyznamu=krasy. Takze nejzajimavejsi jsou national parks, pak nasleduji state parks jednotlivych statu unie a pak jsou county parks, coz je na urovni okresu. Do national a state parku se plati vstupne, takze u vjezdu na parkoviste je bud budka s clovekem, kteremu zaplatite, nebo je tam budka bez cloveka a sami zaplatite onech $6 do obalky a vhodite do schranky, coz vsichni udelaji. Nekdy vsak lze parkovat jeste pred vjezdem do parku a to Americani taky udelaji, na rozdil od Britu, ti by to povazovali za pristup pod uroven. Srovnani s Cechy necham laskavemu ctenari. Ale v podstate kazdy county park nebo turisticka stezka je naprosto dostacujici pro ukojeni potreby po prirode, jejim klidu a splynuti s tim vsim. Tedy az kousek za parkovistem.