Advice you can taste. Adventure you can feel.

Bilingual on a Budget

Laid off? No worries, could be so much worse. Remember, we do live in one of the best places on earth. Weotta take advantage of our newfound time! Once you file for unemployment, it’s time to put those New Year’s resolutions into action, time to reinvent yourself! Weotta… …Learn a new language. Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you’ve probably realized the wave of the future is not America-centric. What better way to expand your mind, as well as your resume, than to learn another tongue.

Spanish opens up your job prospects to not only the USA but to 15+ other countries in Europe, Central, and South America… a big bonus is that most of them have gorgeous weather, and are within spitting distance to a gorgeous white sand beach. For the perizosas a.k.a. sloths among us, Spanish podcasts are free and abundant. By far, the best and mas rapido way to learn a new language is to be surrounded with native speakers. If you’re not bringing in a paycheck, chances are you’ll be eating lots of burritos, so what better way to practicar tu espanol than in the Mission or Excelsior districts. And if you don’t think you can swing the new direct AeroMexico route from SFO to Mexico City, take the Dublin/Pleasanton BART to the Fruitvale station and stroll along International Boulevard, where taco trucks abound. Government money not enough for you to live on? Join the ranks waiting tables. Most kitchens in America are filled with Spanish speakers… not only can you practice your new love of Spanish with the line cooks and dishwashers but you can earn a few pennies along the way.

Subsisting in San Francisco grants access to the best Asian cuisine in the USA as well as exposure to plentiful Mandarin speakers. Why wouldn’t you want to be able to communicate with the world’s next big superpower? City College of San Francisco holds cheap language class or try the well-recommended Chinese Cultural Center. Jonesing for an adventure? Take BART over to authentic (and way less touristy) Oakland Chinatown midday where you can sit elbow to elbow and drink cha at Legendary Palace, or the hole in the wall Yo-Ho’s, for a bona fide dim sum experience for around $5/person (possibly even less if you share with your other unemployed friends). Can’t move off the couch? Devote an hour a day to podcasts – ChinesePod is free and is a good place to start.

Eager to speak a different tongue and bored of the non-stop SF rain? If you have the smallest reserve of cash and a sublet for your room, the world is on sale – flights haven’t been this cheap since post-9/11. For the Spanish entrepreneur, Cancun, Cabo, even Costa Rica are hovering around $300 or under. For Chinese, head to Beijing, Shanghai, or Taipei for around $700. SFO has endless flights to Asia and plenty of demand – Chinese New Year just finished; it really is the time for a deal! And the exchange rate isn’t too shabby either.

On the flip side, there are billions of people on this planet who want to learn English. Astoundingly, many of them desire the “American” accent, because it’s totally way more hella cool than that proper British tongue yo. Teaching certification is often not necessary. Check out Dave’s ESL Café for hundreds of jobs. Often the organization will cover the cost of an overseas flight and work visa.

Weotta learn something new!

Holiday break with the kids: what to do?

Dear Weotta blog readers,

The following is written by a special guest blogger, my mom.
She is quite the expert on doing San Francisco right with the whole family; believe me I know from experience.

Happy Holidays,

Grant & the Weotta team

___________

Holiday break with the kids: what to do?

The holidays bring a special gift of two weeks without school.  This is a wonderful time for the family to be together.  Fortunately, all my children are home for the holidays.  We are doing a lot of cooking, hiking, a little bit of shopping, lots of talking and so much laughing.  It’s the togetherness that makes the holidays so special – not the presents or spending lots of money.  In fact, there are so many things you can do that cost very little and are fun experiences to share with the family.  Now that Christmas and Hanukkah are over, it’s time to get out and play!

Since it’s just after the holidays, it’s always fun to walk around Union Square and see the decorations and lights before they are taken down.  Fisherman’s Wharf is decorated too, but if the lights are gone, there’s so much else to interest the kids.  Start at Pier 39 and walk to Ghirardelli Square.  There are lots of places to stop along the way and yummy snacks for everyone in the family – the kids will love the sundaes at Ghirardelli Chocolate.

San Francisco is always a fun city to explore.  A different way to look at it is to explore some of the 300 stairways in the city.  You could do a Google Search or start with www.sisterbetty.org.  Everyone knows about Lombard Street, said to be the “crookedest street in the world,” but wait until you climb, and climb, and climb stairs all over the city!  Sometimes it’s good to have a “designated driver” to meet you at either the top, or the bottom of the hill, depending on if you want to climb up or go down.  Don’t forget an updated map or a GPS system as many of the stairs cross over several streets.

We love to walk through Golden Gate Park and there are so many things to do, both inside and outside.  Few cities can boast of such a big park right in the middle of their city.  Since the time they were old enough to walk, my kids always loved to walk through the conservatory and the Japanese Tea Gardens.  There are lots of other paths too.  Don’t forget warm jackets as the weather changes fast, good walking shoes that can get muddy, and healthy snacks.

With all the daytime sunshine predicted, a trip across the Golden Gate Bridge to Muir Woods is a good thing to get on the calendar.  It’s a place to celebrate trees, enjoy native plants, and work off some of those extra holiday pounds as you hike.

If you feel like heading out of the city, take a drive tour down the coast along Highway 1.  A day pass will let you park at the state beaches along the way.  And there’s Ano Nuevo State Park in Pescadero.  Seeing the sea elephants is amazing, but in the winter you need to have advanced reservations and take a tour, so call ahead. It’s worth it!  A great stop along the Route is Sam’s Chowder House right before Half Moon Bay.  The chowder is amazing and the fried calamari is the best.

To top off your family adventures head across the Bay to Berkeley’s hidden gem, the Scharffenberger Chocolate factory tour.  Little kids and grandparents alike will love it, so take the whole family to this one.  The tour is free, but you have to sign up in advance.  The tour includes complimentary tastes, a little chocolate education, and a glimpse into the kitchen to see where the magic happens.

Weotta hurry, before we know it  school will be back in session. Enjoy!