Mini World Trip Oct & Nov 2009: California Dreams

My journey to the US landed me in LA in the early hours of the morning and I'd finished the

customs and baggage collection procedures by the end of the morning.

I reached the hostel at check-in time and, to my delight, positioned next to the hostel,

a power yoga studio was at my disposal. So I signed into the classes straight away as a
measure to combat the jet lag. The jet lag lasted about tow days as I was trying to get my
head around the fact that I landed at an earlier time than when I had departed.

So LA was more of a resting place than a place to visit although I did get to know some great people through the yoga studio who showed me the nice bars by Venice Beach.

By Sunday, San Francisco was calling and it was time for me to fly out. I reckoned on

reaching San Francisco in the early morning in order to make it for the 50th anniversary semianr of Frank Doran only to be thwarted at the car rental bureau of San Francisco aiport where I discovered that the replacement credit card had already reached its limit and the only way to free it up was to call my bank and request the card to be reset. Meanwhile I had no cash that day and no other card so all I could do was to wait until the bank opened at 9am Dutch Time. So, good as my intentions were, I ended up missing Doran sensei's seminar. Almost 24 hours later with a new friend, Danielle from San Diego, Bus Company director. One of the coolest people I met on my trip, she took me for lunch at the Fisherman's Wharf in downtown San Francisco to the famous Fishermans restaurant with a view of Alcatraz accross the water of the bay area.

San Francisco is one of those cities where its inhabitants are so much in love with their own

city that they cannot stop talking about how beautiful it is ... and, let's face it, it is beautiful.

I clearly didnt reserve enough time in this city to give it justice and only manged to get to places where tourists get (the Golden Gate bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown, Alcatraz, North Beach and the surrounding areas). In addition my last day in San Francisco tied in with thanks giving and a lot of shops and services were not open and the streets were pleasantly unpopulated.

There was a great Aikido club in the centre which I managed to attend on two occassions which, coincidently, is the club of Bob Nadeau, one of the few non-Japanese Aikido men who trained

with O-Sensei (the founder of Aikido). Although I didnt make it to Nadeau sensei's lesson on Tuesday, I did enjoy the lessons of Nick Scoggin Sensei and Elain Yoder Sensei on Monday and Wednesday respectively.

Instead of attending Bob's City Aikido lesson, I made a small 3 hour trip north of San Francisco, with Amtrak bus and rail services, to Petaluma and Bodega bay, where I was welcomed by Paul Rest. Paul took me to the Two Rock Aikido Club of Petaluma, the lesson being given by Richard Strozzi-Heckler. The lesson was full of experienced people and I felt this was a club which had a lot of Aikido knowledge coming from it.

Bodega Bay

The night was spent in Bodega Bay, Paul's home and I woke up to the faint sound of fog horns and a crisp morning sun which, apparently, is atypical for this time of year. After a brisk walk around the Bay, I came back to Paul's house and was treated to Bacon and Eggs, a wonderfully substantial breakfast before my little trip back to the heart of San Francisco.

San Francisco is calling me to come back again very soon. Great Aikido, great views and scenery, amazing national parks. So much more to discover than I could afford in time. It felt easy for me

to just take my guitar out of the guitar case and start singing.

I leave San Francisco with this reflection:

As I took a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge I realised that one more photo has been added to the collection of photos taken of the most photographed bridge in the world. Then I asked myself should I be feeling insignificant, like just another number at this point? Needless to say, it is the collective which adds to this sight being so greatly appreciated. Is my photo contribution as significant as the billions of others before me. Then I understood what an Aikido master had taught me once. He said “big plus small equals bigger”. That’s to say, we can be small in numbers and still achieve great things collectively with other parties no matter how big they are and, even when we are big in numbers, we can make greater strivings if we add smaller parties to our collection. I dont know if the photo of the GG bridge is a clear enough analogy. It simply triggered me to think about it.