San Diego

On Saturday morning I got myself together and ready for my move to Andy's old residence. Andy was staying with his old roommate, who had now agreed to have me stay as well. This was most fortuitous as Satoko and Michael were actually moving house the next day. I don't think the new residents would have welcomed a house guest quite so soon.We had a nice and relaxed breakfast and then Satoko dropped me off before going with Michael to pick up their moving truck. I was so happy to have seen Satoko again after so long, I hope we don't leave it so long next time.
I met Andy at a dim sun restaurant. I think Andy was a restaurant critic in a former life, he knows all the good places to eat in San Diego and luckily for me wants to take me there too. This restaurant is a little unusual, they seat you and then people come around with various things on trolleys, you grab something from the trolley and they mark it on your sheet. After you've finished you take the sheet to the cashier and pay. Even though you don't technically have a waiter service, you still have to tip. I don't know if I'll ever get used to tipping. I always worry that I am not leaving me enough and so will re enforce the stereotype of tight wad Brits.
In the afternoon we went shopping with one of Andy's friends, Bryan, we went to Wal-Mart and Coastco. I was ridiculously excited, again these are places that I've seen on t.v. and to me they seem very American. I don't know if that's true or not, but both places were busy!When we had finished the hard work of shopping we went to get a burger at In-in-Out burger. According to Andy this is a SoCal institution and the burgers are the best fast food burger you can get. I was willing to try this out!! The trick is to ask for the extras on your burger, only problem is the extras are not on the menu, you have to know what they are and what to ask for. So,with guidance, I ordered a burger animal style. You can also have your fries animal style, but not his time for me.And the burger was great, worth the wait. I am going to be the size of a house by the time I leave America.
Saturday night and time to party, Andy and I went to a gay club. I've never been somewhere before where none of the guys wanted to talk to me. It was both relaxing and frustrating at the same time. Andy found some guys to dance with, but after the first couple of hours I wondered when the music was going to change. It was a lot of house/techno music with not much variety. Although the crowd was definitely worth watching, never having seen so many gay guys in one place at one time before. They went across the whole spectrum from Blue Oyster types (see Police Academy) to the uptight white guy with his shirt on. After a while 90% of the guys had taken their shirts off. Can't see that happening in a straight nightclub, but could be interesting. The place closed down at 2am and Andy had me drive home, luckily the traffic was light and he was sober enough to give me directions.I had a good if unusual time.