Second week: USA

Hello 👋🏻

I actually wanted to tell you how well I have settled in by now, but somehow that is difficult at the moment🙈.

This week was kind of strange, but still very good😊.

The highlight of the week was definitely the sunset at Ocean Beach, the ride with the Cable Car, and today the breakfast at Hollywood Café, for which we had to queue for half an hour because it is so popular 😂.

The weather changed constantly this week. Sometimes it rained all day and other times we had 20 degrees and sunshine.

When it was raining, we visited the Cable Car Museum, which I found quite interesting because you could observe large wheels that rotate, allowing the Cable Car in San Francisco to drive (similar to a cable car). Afterwards, we went to a Cheesecake factory, which I can really recommend. But in my opinion, one cheesecake is enough for two people, because none of us could finish the cheesecake due to the high number of calories 😂.

On the sunny days, we were at Ocean Beach and watched the sunset. And today we spent our day at Dolores Park. Completely crowded, but still very nice. I would almost say that all of San Francisco was there today 😂.

Lovers Lane is also worth seeing👆🏻. A little bit of a home feeling with all the trees 😊.

This week was quite different, because it already feels a bit more like I am living here (even if only for 5 weeks). I am now the proud owner of a MUNI pass and a Clipper Card (monthly ticket for bus/metro/cable car).

I already know my way around "so well" now that I dare to listen to music when I take the bus to school, because I no longer have to constantly check if I am on the right track 😂.

Also, this week I did my laundry for the first time (I'm a bit proud that my clothes didn't turn gray 😂) and went shopping for my family because I originally wanted to cook "German Schnitzel".

Although I bought ingredients for schnitzel and potato fries, I'm not sure if I will have time to cook it.

I'm actually trying to change my host family. Until now, I really liked my host family, as the food is very good, we have many topics of conversation at the dining table such as child benefit, church tax, customs in other countries, family, etc., and I really like my host mother. I was also very happy when they told me that if I had a hard day or if it was raining and I didn't feel like walking to the house, they would be happy to pick me up at the bus stop, which I found very kind. I also get along very well with my roommates and have gotten used to the dirty bathroom 😂.

Now I want to explain why I want to change my host family:

Currently, I sleep in the basement. If I want to go outside, or if I want to have lunch/dinner, I have to go up one level.

If I want to go upstairs, there is another door that I have to open to get upstairs. This week, there were two occasions where the door was locked, even though we "students" were in the basement, so we can only leave the house through the garage. However, that doesn't really work either, because we can't close the garage from the outside, so anyone can just enter the house and access our valuables, so we are supposed to/allowed to leave the house only through the front door.

This means that we were basically locked in the basement.

Yesterday, the host mother and host father went shopping together and the host mother told us to come upstairs to have dinner, but we couldn't go upstairs because the door was locked again. When we later confronted the mother about it, she told us that her husband is an alcoholic and he locked the door. At the same time, the host father warned us not to touch anything.

Later, a roommate told me that she always locks our door at night because the host father once stood drunk in her room. She also told me that she is always very nervous when she washes her clothes because the host father apparently always examines her underwear.

Even though I only noticed this week that he is strange and I didn't even notice last week that he was always drunk, I feel a bit uncomfortable here, so I want to change my host family.

In hindsight, I'm also glad that nothing happened, because I have already been in his car and I'm really not sure anymore if he was sober.

Maybe I'm a bit oversensitive because I'm simply not used to living under the same roof as an alcoholic. However, I would rather feel comfortable and maybe be oversensitive.

I feel a bit sorry to want to change my host family, because I really like the host mother!

Tomorrow, my roommate, who also finds the situation quite uncomfortable and a bit creepy, and I will ask my school if it is possible to change as soon as possible, as I only have 3 weeks left here.

Of course, I still really like San Francisco, because I meet the Dutch/Swiss almost every day and I keep making plans with them.

We are also planning a weekend trip for the weekend after next 😊.

I think and also hope that a solution will be found with my host family.

I will report again when there is news 🙈

Greetings 😊👋🏻