California Dreamin' Part 1.../カリフォルニア夢紀行 パート１

This past week found the Klein family in Los Angeles…actually mostly in Long Beach to be exact….allow us to explain…so we are pretty sure we told everybody about our planned relocation to Raleigh, NC, but in true Klein family fashion, we changed our mind and set our sights on California’s Golden Coast. Since we started the process late for a while we did not think it was going to work out, so we were not going to bother you guys with the details, but at the end of June in a whirlwind of activity things started to fall into place. 1) I was told by my principal that the Long Beach school district was checking my references and really liked me. 2) I was finally able to get my application for Los Angeles School District approved and they set up an interview for July 21st. 3) Then I was able to schedule an interview for the Long Beach School District for the 22nd 4) So we immediately booked a flight to L.A. and now, July 27, we are on the plane returning to Connecticut to tell you all about it…well MOSTLY all about it….some details will still have to wait a few days, but hopefully only a few days. 先週１週間クライン家はロサン ゼルスに行って来ました...って言ってもほとんどの時間を過ごしたのはロングビーチって言うって所なんだけどね...何でかって言うと...結構前に北 キャロライナ州のラリーって市へ引っ越す計画を話したと思うんだけど、勿論気まぎれな僕達２人は計画変更して西海岸を目指す事にしたんです。引っ越し計画 を始めたのが少し遅すぎたから今年の夏は無理かもとブログにも書かずにいたんだけど、６月の終わり頃からいろいろと計画の成果が出て来ました。成果その 1)僕の学校の校長先生にカリフォルニアの学校区の人達からデイブの事を聞きに電話が来ていて気に入れられていると言われた。成果その2)ロサンゼルスの 学校区への書類が届き面接の日程が７月２１日と決まった。成果その3)そしてそのすぐ後、ロングビ−チの学校区用の面接も決まった。成果その4)面接が決 まった直後に航空券を買って７月２７日の今日コネチカットへ帰って来る飛行機に乗って、この一週間の度の事をみんなにはなしている訳です... 全部の事は今ここで話す事は出来ないけど後２、３日後には話せるようになればいいな。
First off I should say that Madison did great…after just returning from her flight to Japan she is becoming quite the little traveler…I think she even falls asleep faster than my Dad does on a plane.
まず最初に、マディソンはとても良い子でした…まだ日本か ら帰って来てからそんなに経っていないのに西海岸まで引っ張って行って、旅行好きな子になって来ました。

So we arrived at our hotel in Sherman Oaks, CA (about 20 minutes north of L.A. at the foothills of the San Fernando Valley) at 1am Wednesday morning. My interview with the L.A. school district would be in 8 hours…at the interview Madison and Anna met a very nice lady who worked for the teacher’s union named Sandy…she was very helpful…the interview went well, but L.A. has had many laid off teachers that have to get positions before they are allowed to hire from without so I was told it wouldn’t be until much later in August that they would know what was available…bummer…So we decided (or I the trip nazi decided…not sure what gets into me, but when I am in a new place I just want to see everything immediately)…it would be fun to go see Universal Studios City Walk because I had seen it on the Food Network and it looked like fun….so we paid our $15 to park and it turned out to be just a few shops and restaurants leading up to the actual Universal Studios Theme Park which we were not going to, so we paid $15 to shop and eat which is silly…except that Universal Studios City Walk was the first time we were introduced to Yogurt-land!! Yogurt-land was a self-serve yogurt wonderland where you paid by how much your creation weighed...FANTASTIC!! We would visit various yogurt-land locations throughout our stay in Southern California...so we left there early afternoon and headed back to our hotel room for a quick wardrobe change into what else, but SWIMSUITS!!! Our hotel didn’t look far from Santa Monica and of course Daddy was in a hurry to see the pier so Mommy and Madison were kind enough to oblige and at 3:30pm we zoomed down the 405 highway and arrived at the pier 20 minutes later…to our amazement the water was New Hampshire frigid and the pier was okay…the surrounding scenery of mountains and cliffs was beautiful…so we headed back to our car through town and hit the road at 5:30pm…I think you know where this is headed…two hours later we arrived back at our hotel…I can’t say we hadn’t been warned about L.A. traffic, but we certainly learned our lesson on the very first day…oh yeah, and in the middle of the stress of the traffic jam and the tiredness from having very little sleep, Madison learned how to gag herself and from the sheer volume appeared to throw-up blueberries from weeks ago all over her rented car seat and the rental car…it was not cool!!
火曜日の夕方コネチカットから飛び立ってカリフォルニアで予約 しておいたホテルのあるシャーマンオークへ着いたのは水曜日の朝１時(時差があるからコネチ カットでは朝の３時になる)。そしてデイブの面接はその８時間後…僕の面接中に待っていたアンナとマディソンはサンディというそこで新任の先生の手続きを していたとても親切な人に出会い、あっという間に時間も過ぎていたみたい…面接の後、前にテレビの番組で見て面白そうだったユニバーサルスタジオシティ ウォークと言われる所に行ってみる事に…15ドルも駐車料金払って着いたのは、ただいろんなレストラントが立ち並んだ通りとその奥にあるユニバーサルスタ ジオ…今日、そこに行くつもりは無かったから15ドル損した気分だったけど、そこにあった唯一とても気に入ったお店とはヨーグルトラ ンド！ここはフロー ズンヨーグルト屋さんで約１０種類ある味の中から自分で食べたいだけカップに入れてトッピングをのせた後、重さを計ってお金を払うと言う少し変わったフ ローズンヨーグルト屋さん：）１週間いた間に行き先でこのお店を探しては合計３回行きました。日本にもあるみたいですよ…
その後ホテルに一端戻っ て水着に着替えた後向かった所は、そこから２０分ぐらいのサンタモニカ！海の水はビックリするくらいニューハンプシャーの海のように冷たかったんだけどそ の先に見える山や崖は綺麗でした。そして、そこにもう少し長くいれば良かったんだけど５時半ごろにホテルに帰ろうとしたから、夕方の渋滞に巻き込まれて ２０分で着くはずのホテルまで２時間かかるという結果：(そして、やっぱり長旅でとても疲れていたマディソンにはとても長過ぎて辛い思いをさせてしまいま した…泣き叫びながら指を口に入れ過ぎていきなりレンタカーの中で初めてのゲーッ！！本当にゴメンネー！マディソン！