Football, Food and Brand New Friends
“Give me a V-I-K-I-N-G-S. What does it spell? Vikings, yay, woo-hoo, go team, right-on.....OK, all Packer fans relax. I’m talking about the brute strength and pure speed of the mighty SAMOHI Vikings. That is, the Santa Monica High School Varsity football team. Now I’m not actually sure how correct my ramblings are on their physical attributes but for the sake of this story let’s just say they are all that. For the last few days we have had an uninterrupted view of every one of their training sessions and it’s been fun to watch.
It’s funny, having played a little at home in Sydney, (I was excellent by the way), it turns out that everything we were doing back home so far as hitting, running, yelling and sounding off IS how’s it’s actually done here. (Who put that excellent comment in there by the way, for some reason I can’t delete it.....Oh well.) For all of those years, with the running and singing in unison, I thought our coaches were just goofed up on pep pills trying to make fools out of us in front of the Rugby boys. Either way it was really cool to sit out on the balcony for 5 minutes and watch real-life, no holes barred high school football. That and the marching/drum bands, flag wavers and cheer-leaders that all come together for the show. I mean, this is High School Football after all.
On a completely different tangent now, here’s a question for you. Where have all the supermarkets gone? We’re staying in one of the world’s most fantastic cities, near the beach and right in the centre of tourist city central. Why then, for the love of sweet cherry pies can’t we find a supermarket or at the very least a convenience store? Seriously, not anywhere within walking distance were we able to find a shop that sold fresh fruit and vegetables, baby food, any non-fast food at all for that matter or nappies? We could have had coffee at any one of the 65 Starbucks locations and re-sellers but there was nowhere to get life’s little essentials. This resulted in Kelly searching for the local supermarket and catching a cab there to get everything we needed.
So I mentioned we met Andrea on Wednesday. Tonight we were off to their house for dinner so Ben and Luc could play with their little ones Hudson and Noe. Andrea’s husband Willie is an awesome musician that has coined his style of music “Nod your head beach rock” and it totally is. Check this out www.willieherath.com it’s really cool, really beachy LA styled rock. If Sticky Flip-Flop doesn’t get stuck in your head after your first listen it never will.
We had a really nice night and hope to see more of our new friends as we make our way around the country. Even if they do think we’re a little crazy for leaving the LA styled temps of Sydney for the frosty shores of Green Bay.
