First off...new baby alert! My newest niece was born yesterday, healthy and beautiful (although I somehow did not receive the pictures of her and would be greatly appreciative if someone that did forwarded them on to me). Yay for new additions to this already fabulous family.
The baseball game was fun, although SF lost. Devin provided amazing seats, including the secret entryway that only ticket holders had access to and was filled with top-notch food vendors. Fancy smanchy. They were field level, right behind home plate. As an added bonus, it stayed warm until 9 at night allowing me to indulge in some gelatto from the secret vendors. I am getting to be a bit spoiled, and am going to be in for a big shock when I leave for Kenya and find that my modern day conveniences are much harder to come by on a daily basis.
I had my orientation meeting at SFAF (San Francisco AIDS Foundation), and it looks like it is going to be a great summer. They can in fact give me 35-40 hours a week, which seemed a little doubtful a few weeks ago. I begin on Monday, and next weekend will be trained to work the California AIDS Hotline. Other than that I'll be doing work around the office, helping them get ready for the AIDS walk that occurs in July, and going to some needle exchange sites.
The area around the foundation is located where it is primarily to serve drug addicts, who the foundation strives to cater towards. The actual street it's on is fine, as it is one of the main streets of the city. If you take a wrong turn (as I did), well... it isn't very pretty to put it nicely. I had signed up to work at a soup kitchen in the area since I knew I wouldn't be at the SFAF for very long and figured I could use that as a reason to stay downtown and explore. I definitely got lost in the wrong neighborhood; a neighborhood that should probably be renamed Crack Central instead of The Tenderloin (as the Tenderloin is a lame name anyway). Luckily it was in the middle of the day so I wasn't in too much danger, but it was definitely an eye opening experience. So was working at the soup kitchen where they feed close to 1,000 people three times a day, every day. Definitely a lot grittier than what I have experienced before and what I expected. Living in New York City did not prepare me for these sites, as it is almost impossible to just wander into one of those neighborhoods like it is here in San Francisco. I'm expecting a bit of a hard time going to needle exchange sites, but at the same time think it will be a worthwhile experience, and is definitely a service this city needs.
I have figured out how to use public transportation. Biking to and from work is definitely not an option, as the neighborhood I would have to bike through is almost as sketchy as Crack Central. Luckily there is a bus station not too far from my house, as well as a metro line that will take me to wherever I need to go. The system is definitely not the greatest, especially from where I am which is a bit out of the central city, but will definitely work for the next two months. It is also luckily located in the better neighborhood and I feel much better walking around there during any time of the day. (My apartment is a little posh development, surrounded by a few not so posh neighborhoods. Most of the people in this complex can afford to drive their BMW's wherever their little hearts delight.)
I began my job search today, although it wasn't too terribly successful. Most people just smile at me and tell me that they are not hiring right now. I'm not sure if it was worse to constantly be reminded about how terrible the American economy is when I was constantly exchanging money in Europe, or to be reminded now when nobody is hiring and I am poor. I filled out an application, dropped off my resume at a few places, and left my number with a woman who seemed very interested in me but who knows. I can luckily afford to live off the money I have for quite some time, but I am hoping that I will be able to save a bit of money this summer. I will continue tomorrow in another neighborhood which would actually probably be more convenient for me, although not quite as fun as Haight where I was looking today.
Yay new baby, yay SFAF, yay potential new job!
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