My grandparents from the Netherlands are visiting me. We’re having a fun day of walking around town. They’ve rented a big hotel room themselves where we go to at the end of the day. As I walk into the room I see a lot of old stuff like a record for a record player. I thank my grandparents for the fun day and tell my grandma how happy I am that they’re still here. Especially since I remember my grandpa laying in the hospital years ago. Then she looks me in the eye and I know it… It’s just a dream. I wake up in a hotel room and turn on the lights a bit. I’m thinking I should call my mom and tell her of this really nice dream. I lay down for another moment and wake up again, this time for real in the small apartment room I’m renting here.
Having a dream inside a dream and waking up twice is interesting. I don’t think I’ve had that often before. I feel a bit nostalgic when I’m taking a shower and making myself breakfast. I love life, but don’t like that it’s temporary. Loosing my grandparents was one of the hardest things in my life and it’s a good reminder to live each day to the fullest. To enjoy every day. Enjoying life is one of the most important things I’ve learned from my parents.
I decide not to start the day with work today, but to visit a different coffee place in the morning. It’s called Kona Coffee and I recognize the brand from previous travels. It’s a chain from Hawaii and everything in the store looks very pretty. The coffee is good and the people are really friendly. I enjoy some reading time and talking with the barista’s. There is a little Christmas tree and Christmas music is playing inside the store. Now that I’m here in San Diego it doesn’t really feel like it’s Christmas soon, but in this coffee place they sure do their best to create the Christmas spirit. I end up staying at the coffee place for quite a while, doing some reading and writing and chatting with the barista’s. They give me some tips for places to visit while I’m here and I share some of my travel stories.
Around noon I go back home to meet with my friend Brittany. I asked her if she wanted to go to a Japanese garden in the middle of Balboa Park in the center of the city. I like Japanese and Botanic gardens, there are usually a lot of beautiful flowers and interesting looking trees. This garden is called Friendship Garden. It’s nice, but a lot smaller than I expected. In a little less than an hour we’ve seen the whole place. We continue walking through the rest of Balboa Park. The buildings in the park are very impressive. They’re in an old Spanish style and it doesn’t feel like you’re in America when you are walking around there. It’s very beautiful, though the weather slowly starts to turn around. The sky is getting grey and it starts to rain. I think this is one of the first times I’ve seen it rain in California. Quite unusual for me, because it’s normally blue skies and sunshine here. Brittany has some errands to run and I go back to a coffee place. I think I’m drinking a lot more coffee here than at home, because my options here basically come down to either staying at the apartment, going to a coffee place or doing some other outdoor activity. With this weather though, it’s better to be inside. I get myself a hot chocolate for a change, feels like it suits the grey day. It keeps raining the rest of the afternoon, so I go home for an early dinner and watching some comedy shows. I love ending the day with laughing out loud.
