Weekend 1: Koreans, Cougars and Kosher Church

My first full weekend in California began by my attending a dinner with some colleagues at which a client was being honoured.  However when I arrived I discovered that it was the Korean American Bar Association of North California, and everybody apart from me and my colleagues, and possibly two or three others were Koreans.  I don't have a problem with Koreans, but nevertheless I found the situation ridiculous.  The food was served rapidly, everybody ate and talked, whilst at the same time there were a series of speeches which most people simply ignored.  And as non-Koreans we seemed rather conspicuous.  It would probably have been more enjoyable after a few drinks, but I had to stay sober because I had to be up early the next morning.

So Saturday morning - my second meetup, this time with the walking group.  There were ninety or so people gathered at the start of the six mile hike along the trails at Coal Mine Ridge, of all ages and nationalities.  So there was a wide variety of people to chat with.  The walk began with a series of warnings: don't touch the vegetation in case it is poison oak, watch out for rattle snakes, there may be mountain lions, which is rather daunting for somebody whose walks generally involve nothing more scary than squirrels in Worthington Park or the occasional cow or sheep.  But we didn't meet any of these scary creatures.  I think some of the group thought six miles was a bit short, and I heard some people complain that other walks had better views, but in that heat six miles was plenty for me, and I really enjoyed following the trails under the trees and around the hillsides.  I am looking forward to the next walk.

And then Sunday, and my first attempt at finding a church here in Palo Alto. There are a huge number to choose from, and lots of them have websites, but it is very difficult to get a feel for where I should be. It's not as though I need to find somewhere to belong to permanently, and I don't want to try somewhere different every week. This blog is not the Mystery Worshipper! So I started with C3, for no reason other it had the same name as a church a friend attended in Cambridge twenty years ago. It was a new church (twelve months old) with a young Australian pastor. I think it was a plant from the Hillsong movement, and it meets in the auditorium of a Jewish community centre, which struck me as odd. Everybody was incredibly friendly, and the preacher was good. But it was very much geared towards students, and I felt a bit old. It was also full of unrelentingly happy people, whilst my own feelings are a lot more ambiguous at the moment, and the pastors made it clear that we were expected to whoop enthusiastically whenever they paused. I am not sure whether I will go again or try somewhere different next week

This afternoon I tried yet another supermarket - a smaller chain called Trader Joe's with a lot more fresh produce.  I've resolved to start eating healthier food which is tough out here on my own, so I've bought more salad stuff, as well as some plastic containers to store and freeze smaller portions of food that are only available to buy in family size containers.  I found a bike shop to get myself a helmet and a pump for my borrowed bike, and then finished the afternoon with a healthy swim.

So what have I learned this weekend?

(1) Not all Koreans are popstars, whatever my daughter might think.

(2) If you go for a walk with a group of people from Silicon Valley you are bound to find some of them are geeky or odd.  In my case I met a man wearing special walking shoes with individual toes, a bit like a glove for the feet, who was happy to explain how it was better for his knees.  I am sure he was right, but he did look like a hobbit.

(3) Everything I had been told about making churches appeal to young people (the subdued lighting, the constant background music, the loud worship) was obviously right judging by the rapid growth of C3.  All the stuff I complain about at home!!  I'm obviously just an old fart.

(4) Apparently the Jewish community centre is happy to allow a Christian church to use its premises as long as it doesn't bring any pork or shellfish onto the site.

(5) There is apparently a rugby union club for teenagers here in Palo Alto.  I'm not looking for arguments to persuade my family to emigrate, I'm just saying…

I also learnt how to include pics on my blog!