The Caltrain came to a halt and dozens of IT specialists from different companies located in the Silicon Valley spilled out of the suburban train. As we waited for them to clear the way before getting on, our backpacks shouldered and exhausted from the twelve-hour flight from Auckland to San Francisco, a man with Google Glasses caught my eyes. Was he screening me? Or just checking his emails while walking? I could not stop staring at him. It was surreal and frightening. The doors of the train beeped, calling me back to reality,  and I swiftly got on the train before the doors closed behind me.

Oh brave new world; that is quite a change from the isolated, calm New Zealand to the heart of today’s technological development area. Hello Silicon Valley!

How relieved we were, after two months of camping in New Zealand, to finally find ourselves in a real house with walls and an actual roof over our heads again. At my cousin Madleina’s nice house, we found everything to recover from the jetlag and the hardships of travelling. She showed us around the Google Headquarters — with an excellent lunch at one of their many restaurants — and took us to a local market. Due to the density of foodies in this part of the world, combined with the Californian sun that makes the state the pantry of the US, the market showcased an impressive range of organic fruits and vegetables, some of which I did not even know. Each stall offered samples of their goods; thus it was a journey through lovely flavours. We bought the first strawberries of the season, oranges, artichokes, Jerusalem artichokes (also known as topinambours) and Chinese pears: ingredients that would provide a hearty dinner for us after a visit to the Golden Gate Bridge.

That was before the rain.

Yes, it rained when we were in California. Of course, the week we arrived had the worst rainfall in two years. Everybody was glad, for the state constantly suffers from drought and the rain was more than necessary. Eveybody except us. Unabashed, we ventured to explore San Francisco during a rainy day, which turned out to be a horrible idea; our first impression of the city is therefore not worth writing about. Just this: soaked, cold and tired, we were so frustrated that only a huge, cheesy pizza at Madleina’s would cheer us up.

Henceforth, having learned our lesson, we stayed inside, waiting for the rain to pass.