Go Giants and flying kites

       So I'm a bit late again with this post, oops... But school's now in full swing, so it's getting harder to find the time to write. Anyway, here are the photos of the Giants vs San Diego baseball game I went to see with my friends Carlos, Rosie and James. We were particularly grateful for James coming along, as he was the only american person in our group and helped explained all the rules, so we could actually follow the game and understand what was going on. Turns out the rules of baseball are quite easy to follow, cos it all works in threes: 3 batters, 3 pitchers, etc... James and I actually think baseball might have been invented as a conspiracy by christians wanting to commemorate the holy trinity. 

      Baseball fans are nothing like the fans we're used to at football or rugby. First of all, arriving at the game on time is totally optional. People don't seem to mind too much if they mind the first half hour of the game or even more. And sitting throughout the game is totally optional too, so if people get bored or something, they just go for a wonder and come back later! Finally, if the game goes into extra time, people don't feel the need to stay till the end of the game either... This game went into the 12th inning and by then, half the stadium had left! Who buys tickets for a game and then doesn't even stay till the end?

A budweiser and a hot dog, the two staples of a good baseball game.

Budweiser special edition aluminium bottle

I bet you've never seen a hot dog looking like this in the UK, it nearly looks healthy!

      Between each inning, we got to see all the cheesy bits on the big screen, like couples sharing a kiss, people singing karaoke and people doing crazy dancing or fist pumping, just like on TV. Now that I think is definitely missing from sports back home.

   I also found out that baseball is a dangerous game with all the stray ball flying off into the public. If you don't keep an eye on play at all times, you risk getting hurt. One guy actually took a ball right in the face and with balls travelling at between 70 and 90 miles an hour, that must have hurt!

These people in the water are complete nutters, they spent the whole game on their boats, canoes or even swimming around holding on to surf boards, just in the 1 in a million chance that a batter would hit a home-run ball right out of the stadium and into the water. I have no idea how the people in the water manged to stay all game, it was cold enough out of the water, let alone in it!

    I forgot to mention, the Giants won, it was a great game, with loads of suspense, right till the end. I'm definitely converted, I'm now a Giants fan!

     The following Sunday, I went to a Kite Festival in Marina Green, near Fort Mason. San Francisco definitely seems to be big on Kites and this is the greatest number of kites I've ever seen all flying together! It was absolutely amazing! Most kites were flown by families, come for the day, but there were also some professional kite-makers who made and flew some of the bigger ones. They were giving out prizes for the best, prettiest, most original, etc... I was just in awe of all the variety of sizes and shapes. My favourite one was the dragon at the end.