KP, Long Beach, and Sunshine

Friday we had a day of classes at the hospital.  Even our early morning stop at Jamba Juice wasn't enough to keep me totally awake and attentive through the day.  It was really boring.  




One of our favorite aspects about the hospital already is the elevators.  They are huge! We are used to narrow and tight old elevators that can be difficult to fit stretchers, beds, and patients into. Also there is a mirror-like finish on the ceiling of the elevator that will be nice for checking teeth after lunchtime :)

 elevator

After class we enjoyed a delicious dinner that Ashley's friends from home, Carly and Amanda, made for us.  We spent some time around the apartment, then drove to Long Beach, CA. It took about 1hr and 45min...looonnggg beach...

Long Beach is not my favorite. Our night was spent basically bar hopping.. there isn't much else to do there, I guess.

Amanda and I 

One of the bars (see above) we went to featured an up and coming female rapper named YoYo.  She was really good!

There were few events that made me enjoy Long Beach, but more events that made me greatly dislike Long Beach. First of all, we met up with a friend of Ashley's.  She had just purchased a new BMW convertible.  Awesome right??

not my original photo

That is until you are standing next to the car watching the roof disappear into the secret space in the back and your friends start yelling at you to "watch your fingers" and you stare back at them trying to figure out what this means, then you realize what it means when you feel the sensation of your fingers being crushed under a retracting rooftop. 

Yeah, that happened to me.

Then, another poor decision - carry your iPhone in your crippled hand... drop it on the pavement.
Shattered iPhone screen. Still functional, just shattered.....like my heart..

Saturday promised to be a better day, and it was.

Spending the day basking in the sun eases the nerves and stresses...


Saturday night we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Amanda and Carly's last night with us.  It was great having the two of them stay with us these first few days of our time in Cali.. We're gonna miss them.

Sunday I went to Grace Community Church.  It is the home church of John MacArthur.  The drive was 15miles and only took about 20minutes.  Wooo, it felt good to drive fast and get somewhere quickly.

This church is nothing like ones I'm used to.  I'm pretty sure the amount of attendants equaled the residents of Indiana, PA. They also had an orchestra and approx 40 person choir. I entered the main room just after the first song had started, so I quickly picked a seat in the back left section.  A little into the service I realized that this section was the teenagers section..

Not my personal photo, I was too chicken to get one of my own..

Despite the differences and distractions, I heard a great message, and was greeted by friendly people. I may try the church again.

Sunday afternoon I went for a walk in my neighborhood.  Not too far down De Soto avenue (my street), you can see mountains.  I tried to walk to them, but they are a lot further than I realized.  It was interesting though, to see the transition of towns/areas as I walked.  Once I passed the busway, which is about 10minutes from my apt, the neighborhood gets a little sketchy.  There is a lot of litter, graffiti, and fences with barbed wire. Then, we transition once again to a cleaner, seemingly safer neighborhood.  Walk a little further and we're back in questionable territory.  Unfortunately the areas that look a little rougher are heavily Mexican areas.  The stores and signs are mostly in Spanish.

When I returned I just relaxed around the apartment, did some laundry, and watched a movie.  Lovely Sunday :)