Friday, June 6, 2014

San Antonio trip - Day 1 - Downtown, Alamo, River-walk, Spurs night, towing company

Martin and Alexander drove the whole way, and I didn't drive at all because I was not confident enough to drive in the roads. We got to San Antonio, and we got our hotel first. I forgot to take pictures of the hotel. We went to downtown first. It was a beautiful downtown.

Martin parked my car near a restaurant, but we couldn't park there. We came outside of the car, and we went alone to park the car in a parking near that place. He came to us and he was angry. The cash price for the parking ticket was exact and he had paid $20 instead of $10. I said, "don't worry. That's not important."




We walked toward the Alamo, but the main building was closed. We took some pictures in front of the building and we went to RiverWalk place.



Downtown had many shops next to the street. It was like a real city. I really like cities like this.


We went inside a few of them to see what they sell, but we didn't buy anything.



We got to Riverwalk after 20-minute walking. It was PERFECT. It was one of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen in my life. It was very romantic and very lovely! Cool breath of the night was amazing, too.




I was not hungry, but others were very hungry. I suggested to find a good restaurant in the same place and eat our dinner there. Most of the places were expensive, but we didn't want to have our dinner somewhere else. We ended up ordering from a Mexican restaurant. We ordered the food that Martin remembered that he forgot to put the parking receipt behind the windshield.
Martin: "I brought the receipt with me. Is that OK?"
Me: "I think it was not OK, but it is too late."
Martin: "It asked for the plate number."
Me: "In that case, it should be fine because they will check the plate number first."
Martin: "I can't take it if they tow the car."
Me: "But we can't do anything now. Let's have our dinner first. Hopefully, they won't do that."



A boy came to the restaurant and started to make balloon hats for kids. Martin's daughter liked it, and they asked him to create one for her. She was very lovely with that pretty hat. He asked for $5. It was a very interesting business.


I ordered a new food, but the taste was not that good. It was one of the worse Mexican foods that I had have ever.


I finished my food first, and I hugged Martin's daughter and brought her out of the restaurant to let them enjoy their dinner.

She: "I want to have ice-cream."
Me: "We should find a store to buy ice-cream, but I buy ice-cream for good girls and not bad girls. Do you know who a bad girl is?"
She: "Yes. A bad girl doesn't let to take her pictures. She turns her face to the sides in pictures. She goes to the water then moves her hands but she can't breath."
Me: "But you don't do these things. Yes?"
She: "Yes. I am a good girl!"

It was amazing that she already knew anything wrong she had done.

After dinner, we went to a CVS shop there to buy some ice creams.



When we came out of the RiverWalk, the streets were packed, and drivers had been honking their horns and people had been screaming and exulting.


It took us some time to figure out that they were happy because their basketball team won a final match. It was like Tehran's streets before election. We enjoyed the crowd while we walked toward the parking lot.






It was not there. Martin got very angry. We had paid twice as much as we should pay, and they towed our car. We started to find the tow company's phone to get the car tonight, but we couldn't. The guard of the other parking suggested us to stay there because he knew that the tow truck would come back to tow other cars. Martin's daughter was very tired. She started to cry, and we didn't know what to do.



Martin called the police after an hour, and they gave us the towing company's phone number. He called them, and they let us to get our car tonight. In the meanwhile, the tow truck driver arrived. We had a conversation with him and asked him why he towed the car, and he showed us how he finds cars. Martin hadn't entered the plate number completely, and he couldn't make a match, and he towed the car. I was calm all the time because I knew that today was one of those days that anything may happen.


The guard of the hotel helped us to take a taxi. We paid $30 for taxi.



We paid $220 and got the car. She asked us to talk to the manager tomorrow to get a refund, but I don't think that they would give us any refund.



Thursday, June 5, 2014

San Antonio trip - Day 1 - Austin, Zilker Park, Zilker botanical garden

Today was one of those days. I put all my cloths in the dryer last night, and I woke up early in the morning to head off 6 am as we planned. However, I figured out that all my cloths were wet, and I couldn't wear them. I put them in the dryer again for more than 20 minutes, but it didn't help. I got very angry when I saw them. Not only they were wet but also their colors were mixed together. It was the first time that I washed my clothes in my new home.

I figured out that today was one of those days, and I tried to be calm the whole day. I got to Martin's house thirty minutes late. We hit the road at 7 am.

The weather was very good today; it was cloudy, and it was not hot at all. It was probably the best time to go for a road trip.





When we got to Austin, we decided to eat our lunch there. Martin's wife suggested to buy a turkey. Sam's club has good roasted chickens, so we stopped by there first.


We went to Zilkler Park to have our lunch there. It was hot.


Martin's daughter played in the playground for a while, and I suggested to go and see Zilker botanical garden.



We didn't have enough cash with us to pay for entrance fee, and they didn't take credit or debit cards. Martin's daughter started to speak about how much she loves to see the garden, and the girl let us enter without paying the whole fee because of her.

It was very hot, but we enjoyed the garden. We couldn't see the whole place though.























After that, we headed off to San Antonio. The road was very green. "We will drive through desert the whole day," I said before we leave, and the whole day they had been asking me to show them the desert.



Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Chick-fil-a

Alexander was hungry, and he had some coupons for the university shops. We tried Chick-fil-A. Although it was in our school all the time, it was the first time that I tried it since I came to the US.




Its taste was OK. Alexander canceled his road test appointment, but Marvin decided to take his test with another person.

Walmart Lube and Tire before going to San Antonio

We planned our San Antonio trip a few weeks ago. I, Alexander and Martin's family were supposed to go there together. I didn't know that we are going to head off on Thursday. Alexander called Martin's wife to ask her if she let us to change the plan and leave on Friday so that he could take his road test, and she didn't agree. She was right; it wasn't worth the money to stay one night in a hotel without visiting the city. So, we decided to head off tomorrow morning.

Alexander and I went to Walmart to check my car before the trip. I changed oil and filter, and windshield wiper for about $100.


We also bought some snacks for tomorrow.

Again in Department of public safety

I, Marvin, Alexander and Shani went to the department of public safety today. Shani drove the car to practice. Again she drove very slowly in the highway. Alexander and Marvin scheduled their road test for tomorrow, and Shani did it for the next week on Wednesday.



Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Getting insurance from AllState

I got quotes from some insurance companies, and I ended up getting it from AllState. My comprehensive quote for most of the companies was over $330 per month that I couldn't afford. I customized my quote with AllState, and I got my current insurance for $187 per month. I just have liability and collision with $1250 deductible. My two accidents cause a very steep increase in my insurance. I should be very careful to not to have another accident. 


Monday, June 2, 2014

Started driving practice with Shani - Sonic fastfood

Shani started to practice driving with my car. We planned to go out every night after 9 pm for practice. Tonight we went very far, and I put gas in the car from a very cheap gas station. She is not a good driver and she needs hard practice. I tried to explain everything to her. She doesn't have confident and she drives very slowly, and I can't ask her to drive faster! We talked about many things in the car while she was driving.

It was around 11 pm, and we were very hungry. She suggested to go to a fast food that she liked better. Its name was Sonic. It was very close to the Walmart that we used to go from the very first days of being in the US, but I had never been there before.


We ordered some hotdogs, but it was very small, and the seller gave us a coupon for a free cheese burger. So, we ordered a cheese burger as well.



Shani is also a good girl. The only thing I noticed most about her was she looses her interest very fast. For example, I start to talk about something, and she listens to me, but when I pause to catch her interest, she looses her interest and changes the subject! It happened several times tonight.