First week in USA
Warning: This is a very long blog, written in parts since a week. If it gets borring, the writer gives u permission to quit in between. There might be some grammatical errors due to the latest changes i made in the tense. bear with it :)
Start Date : 22nd August 05, Afternoon. Second day in US of A. Seems to be the same as the previous one. 1st day was not very adventurous. Especially I do not like the attitude of people out here. I mean too professional might be for me. Especially roommates. Only writing personal diary at home is the saving grace. I don't know where to start from,, lemme start from the start.. I mean from the time I boarded the plane.
Boarded:
(This was my first ever visit to an airport and in an aeroplane!! I had mugged up all the rules to board!) Jhol no. 1 : Ok so I finally boarded the plane. got a window seat in the third row. Was all charged up to take off. But the flight was delayed by 1 1/2 hr. It took off at 9.15 AM. Beside me an elderly lady of my grandmas age was seated. She was a gujju and did not know a word of Hindi! She was a US resident. I assumed she was along with another gujju family seated in near vicinity. And they assumed that she was with me. And so did the air hostess. Infact everytime she used to ask her something, I use to say that ask the family seated near by.. ! :-D. eventually at the end of the journey we realized that she was on her own. As suggested by a friend, I did not deny any eatable that the air-hostess brought :D But then me being too choosy about food , did not eat all of it. When the plane took off, one of the most beautiful experiences happened. I mean the sight that I got to see of the beaches, the houses reducing in size with every mile that the plane crossed was so magical!. The clouds, so white, pure, light and bright - breathtaking!. I could see them all over till my gaze cud extend. All shapes and sizes and they seem to extend till eternity. There were times when I cud see a stretch of white carpet with just a blue lining. How I fantasized myself dancing all over it with backgroud music like "Kuch aisaa jahan hum banaaye jahan pehla ho har wo nazaraa, pehla saawan ka baadal, pehla lehrataa aanchal.. pehla bhawraa woh paagal, jahan pehla pyaar ho" :). To add to it there were recorded songs going on of Mohd Rafi and Hemant kumar. Wooaa! what more cud have I asked for. During the journey they showed a couple of movies, of which I saw Mugleaazam and Miss congeniality II. We had a 1 1/2 hr halt in Paris. But we did not have to get down the plane. Finally reached Newark airport at around 5.30 or so. Came out of the plane and walked with the crowd, as was told.. ;-)
Landed:
Jhol no. 2: I landed up in the queue meant for US Residents. But the SA guy at the counter was considerate enough to process my forms. Jhol no. 3: I then headed to take my luggage. The trolly, for some strange reason, would not come out of the stand & I thought I do not have enough strength to pull it out. Then I remembered someone mentioning to me that one has to pay for the trolley too! Big embarrassment there!. then I waited till eternity to identify my luggage. Why cant we have more varieties in the suitcases/luggage!! but then everyone had their identity mark stuck.. so I was confident that the one without it would be mine! :D half hr later eventually got hold of both the suitcases. I somehow managed to keep them on the trolly.. and made my way towards the exit.. called up one onsite person and he asked to take the limo and come till a hotel and then he wud pick me up. I did not have the required cash to pay for the limo.. so headed towards currency converting counter and was abt to pay at the ground transportation counter for the connecticut limo when I saw some french beard person recognized me and wispered "Neha". Even I recognised him as my onsite person Murtuza ( not the one whom I had called). Actually the one whom I had called few moment back gave me Murtuza's description. They were 4 of them, waiting for me since 2 hrs. Imagine! but thanks to them I headed off towards their car. We took a I 95 road to Stamford. It was super crowded due to Sunday and reminded me of India :D.. it took us more than 2 hours to reach the destination. Jhol no. 4: I was almost into tears in the car. Had not called my parents till then!. eventually asked one of them to lemme use his cell. actually I had my calling card no. but hardly any balance, as I called a no. of times to onsite people using a paid phone! To top it added USA code and it charged me international rates!. Anyway.. I called up parents and then Neel and kept the phone immediately. Finally reached the rented home on 83 Morgan Street. Everyone seemed to be too preoccupied with their work. 2 of them were working on laptops, 1 was sleeping, and 2 others were talking. I went and exchanged some pleasantries of hi-hellos. Was feeling really weird ..dunno why! I wondered if these were my roommates from India! So un-welcoming! Jhol no. 5: then thought of changing into more comfi clothes. know wot??? One of the big bags wud just not open! I had forgotten the lock code. tears rolled down. :(.. no one was bothered. eventually made another short call to papa asking him the code. but none of the permutations worked :( eventually slept without changing the clothes and thought of tackling the problem in morning. Went inside and slept on a mat that was lying at one side. Me being a little hesitant.. did not know what to ask whom!! no one seem to be bothered to make me feel at home. I was not feeling good at all.
Morning again tried some codes, expecting some miracle to happen! Eventually my patience ran out, took a knife and broke the lock. :D Was so proud that I vent out the anger at someone!. :D. After getting ready wrote my personal diary.. kept on writing. was missing everyone soo badly! Anyway.. at 8am sharp called my onsite person. He stays a floor below us. Went with him in car to office. Actually my office is 15 min walk from home. The weather these days is good. Fall is about to start. Its fun.. :) First day in office was not very good. I mean was introduction with most of the people around. Was feeling extremely nervous and out of place and scared! Did not have lunch :(.. everyone had gone for lunch on behalf of client. No one cared to ask me. So be it! :(. Murtuza did ask me.. but then I told him I wud b fine. I did not know where the canteen was.. so did not have lunch tht day. Felt like crying :( There is this woman Amrita. She is sweet. Next day she took me to the canteen. 1st day I reached home, ate dinner, wrote my diary again and slept off. Next day too did not know what would I have for lunch!. Then a roommate pinged and asked why did I not bring tiffin from home.. Yeah!! As if I would get a dream of it !! huh! Amrita took me to canteen. Later I started cooking at home and brining lunch. Jhol no. 6 I still get lost searching for clients desk :D The other day a client called on extn n askedcome over for some discussion. I told him ye wud be rite there. but as was not able to find the desk came back n told amrita to take me. When the client asked what took me an hour?? i said just got stuck with some work. he was wondering as to what more imp work than his meeting :D apart from this.. the people i know in Atlanta, shcenectady and other places in USA, I call them up.. its nice talking to them :) There is a senior Sumeet in Atlanta, he helped a lot. He lent his calling card to help me call back home. to have someone whom I can atleast talk to is so imp! I talk to Neel often in the morning using office dialcom I had gone to make my SSN one day with Murtuza. The best part I like abt the people here is they r always ready to greet every other person. I like it. This is a new experience as in India we do not greet strangers! I like greeting every one I meet :) Earlier I felt a little weird but now i full fledged say hiiiiii with all my teeth out! :D I think people here do not have unnecessary attitude. Let's see if this impression continues... I will try to prolong my stay. If not, even then this 1.5 months stay wud be quite an experience. Atleast my parents wud be able to say that I am foreign returned :D that would mean a lot to me. I mean to make them proud! u know my priorities r different. I like exploring things, but not alone.
Project related Knowledge transfer is progressing slowly. I am bringing myself in terms with my limitations. I mean over expectations from one self causes problems. So trying to set them right. else would be difficult to survive in the IT world!
My 5th day in USA. Thursday evening .. things have changed pretty much. Wednesday was better than prev ones. I went to an old onsite person's place, Raghu. He stays just 3 floors below us and has a family there, wife and a 3 months old cutie pie Saisri. It was nice talking to them. from today I started going to gym early morn. Planning to go for lawn tennis in evenings. lets c. We take turns to cook too.. There r lot many minor details.. But that apart..
7th Day: Yesterday we went to bowling at nite. that was super fun. iIt was first time for me and I scored pretty well. had 2 big glasses of beer too :D first time of beer too! then went to a roomies' friend's place n played Uno till 2 am. saturday was spent cleaning up the kitchen. Gosh never in my life had i seen so many cockroaches.!! sunday again went lazing arnd. yeah.. did go to a nearby church. went to a near by library too. That was good. brought "Catcher in the rye" novel. tht wud be a nice pass time for me. went to a near by mall too. sat there n read the books. thats abt it.. for the entire week. Missing India a lot already. I mean not that its not good here. But weekends wud be a problem. Lets c how things turn up. But they r definitely better than the 1st day! :) Hopefully by the end of this week i wud have some nice things to write.. lets c! more later..
Start Date : 22nd August 05, Afternoon. Second day in US of A. Seems to be the same as the previous one. 1st day was not very adventurous. Especially I do not like the attitude of people out here. I mean too professional might be for me. Especially roommates. Only writing personal diary at home is the saving grace. I don't know where to start from,, lemme start from the start.. I mean from the time I boarded the plane.
Boarded:
(This was my first ever visit to an airport and in an aeroplane!! I had mugged up all the rules to board!) Jhol no. 1 : Ok so I finally boarded the plane. got a window seat in the third row. Was all charged up to take off. But the flight was delayed by 1 1/2 hr. It took off at 9.15 AM. Beside me an elderly lady of my grandmas age was seated. She was a gujju and did not know a word of Hindi! She was a US resident. I assumed she was along with another gujju family seated in near vicinity. And they assumed that she was with me. And so did the air hostess. Infact everytime she used to ask her something, I use to say that ask the family seated near by.. ! :-D. eventually at the end of the journey we realized that she was on her own. As suggested by a friend, I did not deny any eatable that the air-hostess brought :D But then me being too choosy about food , did not eat all of it. When the plane took off, one of the most beautiful experiences happened. I mean the sight that I got to see of the beaches, the houses reducing in size with every mile that the plane crossed was so magical!. The clouds, so white, pure, light and bright - breathtaking!. I could see them all over till my gaze cud extend. All shapes and sizes and they seem to extend till eternity. There were times when I cud see a stretch of white carpet with just a blue lining. How I fantasized myself dancing all over it with backgroud music like "Kuch aisaa jahan hum banaaye jahan pehla ho har wo nazaraa, pehla saawan ka baadal, pehla lehrataa aanchal.. pehla bhawraa woh paagal, jahan pehla pyaar ho" :). To add to it there were recorded songs going on of Mohd Rafi and Hemant kumar. Wooaa! what more cud have I asked for. During the journey they showed a couple of movies, of which I saw Mugleaazam and Miss congeniality II. We had a 1 1/2 hr halt in Paris. But we did not have to get down the plane. Finally reached Newark airport at around 5.30 or so. Came out of the plane and walked with the crowd, as was told.. ;-)
Landed:
Jhol no. 2: I landed up in the queue meant for US Residents. But the SA guy at the counter was considerate enough to process my forms. Jhol no. 3: I then headed to take my luggage. The trolly, for some strange reason, would not come out of the stand & I thought I do not have enough strength to pull it out. Then I remembered someone mentioning to me that one has to pay for the trolley too! Big embarrassment there!. then I waited till eternity to identify my luggage. Why cant we have more varieties in the suitcases/luggage!! but then everyone had their identity mark stuck.. so I was confident that the one without it would be mine! :D half hr later eventually got hold of both the suitcases. I somehow managed to keep them on the trolly.. and made my way towards the exit.. called up one onsite person and he asked to take the limo and come till a hotel and then he wud pick me up. I did not have the required cash to pay for the limo.. so headed towards currency converting counter and was abt to pay at the ground transportation counter for the connecticut limo when I saw some french beard person recognized me and wispered "Neha". Even I recognised him as my onsite person Murtuza ( not the one whom I had called). Actually the one whom I had called few moment back gave me Murtuza's description. They were 4 of them, waiting for me since 2 hrs. Imagine! but thanks to them I headed off towards their car. We took a I 95 road to Stamford. It was super crowded due to Sunday and reminded me of India :D.. it took us more than 2 hours to reach the destination. Jhol no. 4: I was almost into tears in the car. Had not called my parents till then!. eventually asked one of them to lemme use his cell. actually I had my calling card no. but hardly any balance, as I called a no. of times to onsite people using a paid phone! To top it added USA code and it charged me international rates!. Anyway.. I called up parents and then Neel and kept the phone immediately. Finally reached the rented home on 83 Morgan Street. Everyone seemed to be too preoccupied with their work. 2 of them were working on laptops, 1 was sleeping, and 2 others were talking. I went and exchanged some pleasantries of hi-hellos. Was feeling really weird ..dunno why! I wondered if these were my roommates from India! So un-welcoming! Jhol no. 5: then thought of changing into more comfi clothes. know wot??? One of the big bags wud just not open! I had forgotten the lock code. tears rolled down. :(.. no one was bothered. eventually made another short call to papa asking him the code. but none of the permutations worked :( eventually slept without changing the clothes and thought of tackling the problem in morning. Went inside and slept on a mat that was lying at one side. Me being a little hesitant.. did not know what to ask whom!! no one seem to be bothered to make me feel at home. I was not feeling good at all.
Morning again tried some codes, expecting some miracle to happen! Eventually my patience ran out, took a knife and broke the lock. :D Was so proud that I vent out the anger at someone!. :D. After getting ready wrote my personal diary.. kept on writing. was missing everyone soo badly! Anyway.. at 8am sharp called my onsite person. He stays a floor below us. Went with him in car to office. Actually my office is 15 min walk from home. The weather these days is good. Fall is about to start. Its fun.. :) First day in office was not very good. I mean was introduction with most of the people around. Was feeling extremely nervous and out of place and scared! Did not have lunch :(.. everyone had gone for lunch on behalf of client. No one cared to ask me. So be it! :(. Murtuza did ask me.. but then I told him I wud b fine. I did not know where the canteen was.. so did not have lunch tht day. Felt like crying :( There is this woman Amrita. She is sweet. Next day she took me to the canteen. 1st day I reached home, ate dinner, wrote my diary again and slept off. Next day too did not know what would I have for lunch!. Then a roommate pinged and asked why did I not bring tiffin from home.. Yeah!! As if I would get a dream of it !! huh! Amrita took me to canteen. Later I started cooking at home and brining lunch. Jhol no. 6 I still get lost searching for clients desk :D The other day a client called on extn n askedcome over for some discussion. I told him ye wud be rite there. but as was not able to find the desk came back n told amrita to take me. When the client asked what took me an hour?? i said just got stuck with some work. he was wondering as to what more imp work than his meeting :D apart from this.. the people i know in Atlanta, shcenectady and other places in USA, I call them up.. its nice talking to them :) There is a senior Sumeet in Atlanta, he helped a lot. He lent his calling card to help me call back home. to have someone whom I can atleast talk to is so imp! I talk to Neel often in the morning using office dialcom I had gone to make my SSN one day with Murtuza. The best part I like abt the people here is they r always ready to greet every other person. I like it. This is a new experience as in India we do not greet strangers! I like greeting every one I meet :) Earlier I felt a little weird but now i full fledged say hiiiiii with all my teeth out! :D I think people here do not have unnecessary attitude. Let's see if this impression continues... I will try to prolong my stay. If not, even then this 1.5 months stay wud be quite an experience. Atleast my parents wud be able to say that I am foreign returned :D that would mean a lot to me. I mean to make them proud! u know my priorities r different. I like exploring things, but not alone.
Project related Knowledge transfer is progressing slowly. I am bringing myself in terms with my limitations. I mean over expectations from one self causes problems. So trying to set them right. else would be difficult to survive in the IT world!
My 5th day in USA. Thursday evening .. things have changed pretty much. Wednesday was better than prev ones. I went to an old onsite person's place, Raghu. He stays just 3 floors below us and has a family there, wife and a 3 months old cutie pie Saisri. It was nice talking to them. from today I started going to gym early morn. Planning to go for lawn tennis in evenings. lets c. We take turns to cook too.. There r lot many minor details.. But that apart..
7th Day: Yesterday we went to bowling at nite. that was super fun. iIt was first time for me and I scored pretty well. had 2 big glasses of beer too :D first time of beer too! then went to a roomies' friend's place n played Uno till 2 am. saturday was spent cleaning up the kitchen. Gosh never in my life had i seen so many cockroaches.!! sunday again went lazing arnd. yeah.. did go to a nearby church. went to a near by library too. That was good. brought "Catcher in the rye" novel. tht wud be a nice pass time for me. went to a near by mall too. sat there n read the books. thats abt it.. for the entire week. Missing India a lot already. I mean not that its not good here. But weekends wud be a problem. Lets c how things turn up. But they r definitely better than the 1st day! :) Hopefully by the end of this week i wud have some nice things to write.. lets c! more later..
posted by Neha at 8/22/2005 12:37:00 PM
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