Salsa dancing in Pasadena?

Somehow I never really find time to write, but finally I've come round to do it now. There are as always alot of things talk about, besides common LA problems such as huge forrest fires (Griffith Park burned down) or gunshots outside our house!!

Yesterday me and Dorte went to a beginners Salsa lesson, where we learned Merengue. LA is definitely the place to learn latino dances since half of the city's population is latino. Now we only have to start going to salsa clubs here to practice.


I finished my exams two weeks ago, and have now been starting to do some research for a swedish professor (Magnus Nordborg) here at USC. I've also found a little time to do something else than study. Last week we went hiking for 5 hours in the Santa Monica mountains, and visited San Juan Capistrano and Laguna Beach where we enjoyed some time in the sun. San Juan Capistrano is the oldest still standing spanish missionary in California, and interestingly I happened to be baptised there approximately 28 years ago. This old missionary (founded in 1776) is really an oasis of tranquility in the neverending LA metropolitan. (I might have gotten baptised in the font in the picture??)






Another new news is that we got a high definition TV now (a gift from my parents), so now we've got 200+ channels of advertisements and other junk television, which we somehow find ourselfs constantly watching. No actually it's not all that bad, now I can watch NBA finals in HD!! How cool is that.

On friday we went to a comedy club in Pasadena, with a couple of Dorte's work companions, for some stand-up comedy. I was surprised how politically incorrect the comedians were (regardless of their own race black/white/latino). Usually people here in the US are extremely careful when talking about race issues, compared to how it is in Europe. But there they made fun of everybody, shattering my image of americans always being focused on being politically correct.

Anyways Pasadena has become one of my favorite cities here in the LA area. Perhaps because it looks more like a small city than most other places here. Plus it's filled with cool restaurants and bars. Now me and Dorte only have to find a good salsa place in Pasadena, so we can go practice our moves.

Hasta luego
Bjarni

(A blue tree outside our house, these beautiful trees are blossoming all over LA now.)