San Francisco - The First Few Hours

Ok, I just received a couple more pics from my time in San Francisco. These are from my first day back in SF. I landed in at SFO around 1030 AM and was greeted by Jesse and Hetal's smiling faces. We left the airport and headed for Jesse's house in Noe Valley where I changed out of the clothes that I had been in for some 48 hrs, washed up, and we walked down to a corner cafe on Dolores for my first big cup of dark roast coffee. Mmmmm! After we were sufficently caffinated (note to self: Jesse has enough energy without caffine), we went down to El Farrilito's in the Mission District for a proper mission burrito. Man, I had been looking forward to this for 15 months and when I walked in and smelled the burritos and saw the grill, it was all I could do to stand patiently in line to place my order (additional note to self: large amounts of caffine dont help any of us wait patiently in line). It was nice to see the familiar face taking my order. El Farrilito's is a Mission institution, and a late night standard. There is something about having a well seasoned grill to make a proper burrito.

Finally! After 15 months - burrito magic. Less then 2 hours in SF and I accomplished my first goal. Yum!

After finishing our burrito's (yes I finished that whole thing), we bummed around the city and I somehow managed to stay awake all day. A considerable feat seeing as there is a 12.5 hour time difference from Sri Lanka. We went to the climbing gym in the evening followed by beers. After a few stops, when met some guy that decided to join us to the next venue. Lucky for me he had a skateboard and was happy to lend it to me while he was trying to flirt with Hetal.

California Dreaming: A late-night ride down mission street. I swear the light was green when I passed!

It was a great first day back in SF. Thanks to all my friends for hanging out with me and making my time there so much bloody fun! I look forward to seeing you all again soon!

Family Time

After my time in San Francisco I went to Delafield, WI to visit my family. It was so nice to see my Mom and to have time to catch up with her. She retired on the 2nd of January so we had lots of time together! She had the clever idea to invite a bunch of my family that is scattered across the midwest to come visit. So we had a mini-family reunion. It was great to see everyone and helped minimize the traveling I had to do during my short stay there. The party was a lot of fun, we had good food, nice drinks and the conversations were flowing. I also gave a slide presentation of some photos from my last 15 months in Sri Lanka. Thanks to mom for organizing the party!

The Bablitch family representatives: Uncle John, Uncle Steve, Dad,Michelle, my cousin Ameen, my beautiful nieces Katie and Erin, my cousin Jacob, and me.

Still showing photos... Uncle Steve, Jacob, and me.

My mom and Erin.

Thanks again to my Mom and her husband Jim for organizing the party. And thanks to everyone who came to visit, including those not pictured here: Uncle Donnie and Aunt Carol, Aunt JoAnn, and my friend Paul from Minneapolis. Thank you for coming and traveling so far through the snowy weather! It was great to see you all. I look forward to seeing you all again soon! Much luv.

San Francisco Continued

Like I said, not too many pics from my time in San Francisco, but here are a few more fun ones. Enjoy!

Dusk on Jesse’s balcony. Thanks for letting me crash at your place Jesse. You da best!
Me and Regina. Its amazing what 6-inch platforms will do for you. I was contemplating wearing these out for New Years Eve, but decided against it in the end. How can anyone dance in these things?
Good Friends. Jesse and Hetal on the balcony. The weather was so nice near the end and it was really hard to leave. I think this was taken on my last day in SF. You see the excitement in their giddy smiles that I am leaving and they will actually be able to get some sleep and be able to get to work on time in the morning!

If you are going to San Francisco

Its been a while since my last post, but I am finally getting around to putting up some pics from my trip back to the states. I went back to San Francisco after being gone for 15 months and it was great to see everyone and spend time in my favorite city! Luckily my flights went smoothly, albeit insanely long, and I didn’t seem to suffer to badly from jetlag. I think I was so excited to be back that I was able to power through the drowsiness that comes with a 12.5 hr time difference.

I somehow managed not to take many photos during my stay there. I think I was too happy just to be with my friends and bumming around the city. But I did get a few pics and got some others from friends. Below are some pics from one of my favorite days. It was my first Saturday in SF and I had plans to meet my friend Hetal for brunch, which turned into a brunch for six at the Beach Chalet on Ocean Beach. There was good food, great conversation and yummy mimosas. It a beautiful sunny December day so we decided to walk along Ocean Beach for a while after. I can tell you how nice it was to be back with my friends and to have such a nice day on the beach.
The gang: Jesse, me, Hetal, Sean, and Regina (Claudia taking the photo). Is my zipper open???

Showing my excitement to be back! Um… yep, my zipper is definitely open. I wonder how long that lasted.

“Have a Wonderful Day” – Ok, we are definitely in San Francisco. We stumbled upon this sand-script that someone had made. Jesse, Regina, me, Sean, and Claudia.

Thanks to all my friends that took time to hang out with me! I had such a great trip. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to see more of you but I definitely look forward to catching up when I am back this summer! Much luv!