Teaching English & Hostels (Yes, Hostels)

As announced a few months ago, Richie will be teaching English while in the Peace Corps.
There was a "Teaching English as a Foreign Language" course conveniently in April (right around the time we would be arriving in San Francisco) near the Oakland airport, so we spent 3 days in Oakland.

It was a 20 hour course split over two days - so they were long days filled with lessons on how to teach grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc. Richie was a little nervous, but he teach good... heehee

I just putzed around the community near the airport - your typical "Any Town USA."

With the recent police shootings in Oakland, I didn't want to travel far from the hotel alone. There was definitely an uneasy feeling while we were there... the town was still shaken by the event. Plus, I didn't want to get my head blown off!

I was able to do general housekeeping - wash Sally, organize our stuff (as it gets disorganized in the daily grind), and I even got a haircut!
____________________________________________________________________


I've read about hostels, and a freind back on Bainbridge Island raved about his stay in hostels while traveling through Europe (Yeah Joe!).



So, our introduction to a hostel was in San Francisco - Fisherman's Wharf Hostel in Fort Mason.
Our first two nights were in a coed dorm-style rooms with 6 bunk beds, so 12 people could sleep in the room. It was a blast!

But we weren't the oldest in the hostel! There was a sweet little lady - probably in her 70's - from Finland! We saw her at breakfast every morning... chewing on a bagel and sipping orange juice. She looked at me the second morning and said "I'm so glad I've found this place... good food, good place to sleep, and cheap!"

We saw folks from France, Germany, Denmark, and lots of Brits (Sporting their flag, of course!).

Richie and I were probably the oldest in our room - and the only couple. There were two young women from England, four teens from Wisconsin visiting a friend who just moved to San Francisco, and two guys we never met - because they arrived while we were in bed, and gone by the time we woke up.

The place was clean, the people were friendly, the food was good, and the price was perfect!

Neither of us have ever lived in a college dorm, so we imagine this is what college dorm-life was like...

So, now we are officially Hostelling International members. To read more about this cool non-profit, click here.