Huw Pryce
I’ve been here almost a month and yet up until now I have only actually seen where I live, the office and the route from my house to the office. Excluding the detours I have made trying to follow that route. Therefore, today, I decided I would actually see some of the area where I live. So, I looked up a bike route and got on my bike as I also needed to do something to slightly counter the effects free food is having on me.
The route I selected went through Stanford and then went in a big loop (about 15 miles, not too far) through the hills around Palo Alto. I deliberately picked a route with a fairly gentle climb and then turned left instead of right (again…) and so did it backwards. This meant quite a climb and made my planned route far more ambitious, I realised my mistake far too late and so kept on going.
I’ve only been out in the sun for more than half an hour in Palo Alto once, for the Nerf battle, and that was in the shade. It really is very hot here, I hadn’t fully appreciated just how hot. Fortunately I had plenty of water with me and there was a water fountain at the half way point where I could fill up my bottles.
Overall the trip was successful, I have now seen far more of Palo Alto, albeit from a distance. My route also took my past the Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre, including a glimpse of the beam line. The roads I was on were very bike friendly, they would have been dual carriageways if one lane in both directions was not dedicated for bike traffic. Unfortunately there was next to nowhere to stop, the sides of the road were quite steep most of the way. I took a few photos (uploaded below) at the places I did manage to stop and have a breather.
Hi,
It sounds like you’re having a great time. I was wondering how many Americans you had confused by saying things that mean different things in English e.g. asking for a rubber etc. Do you have any funny stories to tell?
Vicky
The biggest problem has been the accent, some people seem to have real trouble understanding what I say even when I’m not using odd words. This seems partly due to the number of Spanish and other immigrants for whom English is a second language and hearing an accent like mine is a very rare occurrence.
The biggest confusions I have caused have all been to do with mobile phones, or cell phones as people expect them to be called. Also, if I mention ringing somebody people think I am doing something incredibly odd. Trousers/pants has been a common issue, when people talk about putting their cell in their pants I am still noticeably puzzled while I work out quite what they mean.
The “Spanish” are mostly Mexicans and people of Mexican ancestry. There are large numbers of Central Americans, and even some South Americans, but by far the majority are Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. There are a few European Spanish…in twenty-one years in California I’ve met two. Keep in mind that the Americans took California from Mexico by force in 1846.