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I’d like to introduce you all to some very good friends of mine from sunny California who I recently spent 4 fantastic days with, the Skordas Family. I was lucky enough to be Robert and Paula’s very first “Lions Youth Exchange Student” way back in 1996 and after 13 long years I thought it was well and truly time for another visit and a quick reunion.
13 years ago Rob and Paula spoiled my rotten for about a month back in a place called Grand Coulee over the Christmas of 1996 when I was just 17 years old and we had a ball together. In fact, since then I believe they have had 7 more exchange students since so you can get a feel for how much they like it and the kind of people they are! This time round they affectionately referred to me as “96 from Australia” to all their friends… which made for some good laughs along the way.
The other reason I wanted to visit them again was to meet the rest of the family this time! You see they now have two great kids called Daphne and Korbin who I had never met before. After
receiving regular pictures and Christmas letters from them for more than a decade I kinda felt like I already knew them, but I still wanted to actually meet them.
They now all live in a nice little place called Roseville which is about 2 hours east of San Francisco. I had a great time there and really enjoyed family life for a few days and even the chance to sit out on their front lawn at night after dinner and watch the world go by with drink in hand. It was a pleasant break from the backpacker scene and even something as simple as a home cooked meal around a table felt great. We did all sorts of stuff in and around Roseville that I’m sure they had done before and were used to but for me it was still fun and something different. I even got to go to a school concert one night and go see some friends of theirs playing in a band at a local fate on the weekend.
Oh and you’ve got to check out the photo of Rob at the BBQ. He prepared this special chicken dish one night ( well different
for this Aussie at least) called “Beer But Chicken” and yep as the name suggest you get a can with some beer in it and stick up there on the BBQ. Tastes great! Who would have thought. I had more graphic pictures but decided to keep this blog PG rated.
A few other quick highlights included a trip to Sacramento to see the old town and the State Capitol building (and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office, well front door at least, it’s the picture with me and the bear in it!) Plus on the last day I was there we all got up early and went drove back to San Francisco to see the mighty Alcatraz. As it turns out they hadn’t seen it either so it was a good chance to make a real day trip of it and we had a blast. One thing I have to say about Alcatraz, its definitely got the best view of San Francisco from across the bay… lucky buggers.. haha
And then before I knew it, my time with them was all over and they dropped me of at my next hostel of choice in downtown San Francisco for a few more
days (will cover that in the next blog). Also I know they won’t mid me saying this because they really are great people, if your ever near Roseville or Sacramento you got to let me know, they’d love to meet you and show you around town or something.
And finally I’m sure there going to read this also so here’s a quick chance to say a BIG THANK YOU to all you guys. I really enjoyed catching up again. Also I’m going to hold you all to the 2013 deadline for a big Aussie trip. And I’ve got Victoria sorted for you so don’t worry about that… Nathan xox
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