Carifornia Dreamin' Part 2.../カリフォルニア夢紀行パート２...

So Thursday came and we hit the road extra early for my 10am interview in Long Beach because Long Beach is 20 minutes south of L.A. and we didn't want to take any chances with that traffic. We made it down easily enough that we had time for breakfast at a local eatery before going over to the interview...the Long Beach interview also went well and I was told there were a couple openings right now that the Special Education Coordinator would refer my name out for and hopefully the schools would call me and I would call me and I would interview with the principal... in the California Districts you first interview with the District and they decided if you are qualified and then in Long Beach they send your name to each school with openings and the school contacts you for an interview, then if the school likes you best they tell the District and the District will contact him/her with a job offer...quite the process...so Thursday afternoon I got a call from a 563 area code(Long Beach!) and on the other end was the secretary for Polytechnic High School to ask me if I wanted to interview for a MS position. MS in California is there acronym for Moderate.Severe...so I said sure even though I really don't have experience working with students with severe disabilities I figured like everything else, I would learn on the fly...so we set the interview up for Monday and I said thanks.

木曜日の朝１０時に僕の面接があったので、渋滞に巻き込まれないように早めにホテルを出発してロングビーチへ...予定通りに早く着いたので通りかかったダイナーで朝食を取る事にしました。とても美味しい朝ご飯の後、ロングビーチ学校区の人との面接もうまくいったので次のステップは先生を捜している学校の校長先生と面接をする事。カリフォルニアにいる間に校長先生達と面接が出来れば良いなーと思っていると、午後に５６３(ロングビーチ)の電話番号からの電話がかかって来ました！それはポリー高校の秘書からで次の月曜日に面接をする事に：）

After the interview we explored some possible housing places because we knew Long Beach was where we wanted to be...it has the big city feel we love, is close to the water with an incredible bike/run/walk path along the water and past the huge Marina that extends for miles, has great shops and restaurants right off the water, and has a part of the beach reserved for dogs to enjoy the water off leash...the only thing it is missing is waves big enough to body surf as it is basically a bay, which Anna points out is better for Madison... I guess... and only ten miles down the road is Huntington Beach one of the greatest surf beaches in all of California (which we visit Saturday be patient)...

面接が終わった後ロングビーチの中でアパート探しに挑戦。ロングビーチは僕たちのあった大きい町だし海が直ぐそこ、そして砂浜に海辺に沿って自転車／ランニング／ウォーキングの出来る道があるとか海辺の一角に犬用のビーチがあるとか美味しいレストランやいいお店が直ぐそこと良い事沢山...一つだけ残念なのはボディサーフ出来るぐらいの波がない事、でもアンナはその方がマディソンには安全で良いんじゃないって。サーフで有名な波が凄いハンティントンビーチ(土曜日の目的地)は１５キロ行った所だからまあいっか...

But we had also heard of a lovely place named Torrance, CA... It was about ten minutes north of Long Beach and contained our favorite Japanese Grocery Store/Food Court... Mitsuwa... Before we got there we stopped by Redondo Beach... Here Anna and Madison slept in the car while crazy Daddy explored another pier and beach... When Madison and Mommy were done with their naps we headed five minutes east to Mitsuwa... After lunch, having learned our lesson the previous day, we headed back to Redondo Beach so Madison could play by the water and we could let the traffic subside...

でも、トレンスと言う町も子供向けで住むには良い所だと聞いたので、行ってみる事にしました。ロングビーチから１０分ぐらいで着くトレンスには僕たちの大好きはミツワマーケットがあります。そこでお昼を食べた後そこからもう少し西へ向かった所にあるロドンドビーチに寄る事にしました。そこに行く途中に寝てしまったマディソンと一緒にママがお昼寝してくれている間僕は海辺をブラブラ歩いて探索...そこでラッシュアワーの時間が過ぎるのを待ってホテルに帰りカリフォルニア２日目は無事終了です。

Madison is tippy toeing to see the water on the other side!

When we arrived at the airport yesterday we realized we totally forgot to bring Madison's Bugaboo so one of our first stops we made the first day was to the Babiesrus to pick up a cheap/smaller stroller... You can tell by her expression that she is missing her bugaboo:-)

バガブーを空港に持って来るのをすっかり忘れたので、急きょ安め/小さめのストローラーをかう事に決めました。やっぱり乗り心地の良いバガブ−には適わないってマディソンの顔：）