Immigrant Life
Hello from the other side of the continent!
So I’ve been gone for about 10 days now and I figured I should get around to writing up a new posting.
For those that don’t know, I moved to the land of the free, the United States of America! I left on the morning of January 16th and it was sad, yet somewhat exciting, to leave home. I had a lot of mixed emotions about this decision, but I was drawn (suckered) in by a few different factors. Anyway, I won’t get into too many details, but let’s just say that I wanted a change of pace and scenery and this was a pretty good way to do it. This opportunity came about when my employer decided to uproot my world all the way to Washington, DC. The choice was to move here or start looking for a job, and so, to make a long story short, there were enough incentives for me to relocate.
So the morning of the big day, I came across a customs officer with the coolest name, Ragsdale. How can you get a more cool name then that? It sounded like something straight out of a Police Academy movie or something. While processing my paperwork he struck up some conversation with me and talked to me about how he hated lawyers. I don’t know where that particular topic came from, but out of the blue, he just asked me what I thought about them. Cool name, but strange guy.
I got through customs fine and everything was going great and I actually thought to myself, ‘Wow! That went smoothly. I guess everything was meant to be.’ Low and behold, and literally 10 seconds later, they announced a problem with the plane and they said that the passengers of my flight had to go to a new gate. This gate just wasn’t 40 or 50 feet away though. They made us walk all the way to the other end of the terminal. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a kilometre. It was a long walk and carrying 2 enormous suitcases and 2 other carry-on bags, plus two coats, was a pain in the ass. Needless to say, I was sweating my ass off by the time I reached the other gate. I’m sure you can all picture it. That was the only blip on the trip really. I slept through both flights and when I woke up, I was in DC.
DC is a nice place. I haven’t been mugged yet and people here generally like Canadians. They can tell that you’re not from around there cause we’re generally more patient and a lot nicer. I haven’t had a chance to do much out here yet. I’ve spent the last week and ahalf ’settling in’. And that means, grocery shopping at the local Safeway, and heading out to places like Linens-N-Things, IKEA, Walmart, Costco, etc… For the first 4-5 days, I think I always came home with 4-5 bags worth of stuff. It was mostly food or home items. Don’t get me wrong though, I love that kinda stuff. I can spend hours at Safeway, scouring the flyer and going up and down the aisles looking for a deal. I felt pretty good leaving with 5 full bags of groceries and only paying $40 for the whole thing. If you come down here to visit me, my cabinets and fridge will be full.
Life without a car is very humbling. I mean, I’m so used to driving around to pick up one or two items and now when I need to get anything, I need to commute my Metro train or bus, or good ol fashioned walking. The other thing is that I hate walking to Safeway, cause it’s still a good 12-15 min walk away and it’s getting really cold here. Five to six heavy bags of groceries gets pretty tiring on the body, and my hands start to hurt from the weight of the bags and the cold weather too. And guess what? By the time I get home, I’m sweating again.
Check out my photos on Friendster, I’ve posted 3 photos of the temporary apartment that I’m living in. I get this sweet ass place for 2 months. It’s very nice and I’m going to be extremely sad when I move out of this place. It’s only 3 short blocks away from work and it only takes me 7-8 minutes to get to work. I can even come home for lunch! I’ve already started looking out for my next home, and I’m hoping it’s even half the style and beauty of this place. The hunt goes on!
On a side note, I wanted to mention that so far, the funniest name for a bar out here is The Big Hunt. If you say it carefully, it sounds different……..
I’ve picked up a cell phone out here too. I couldn’t decide between a Pay-as-you-go type prepaid phone or a monthly plan, so I cheaped out and went for the prepaid option for now. If I burn up the minutes too quickly, then I guess I’ll switch to a monthly plan, but hopefully I don’t have to go that route cause it’s more expensive and then I’ll be tempted to get a nice phone that I don’t need. IM me or drop me an e-mail if you wanna get a hold of my number(s). Once I get my US credit card, I think I’ll set up Vonage too.
In terms of work, it’s been alright. It hasn’t been my worse fears, but I guess it hasn’t been superb either. It’s been so busy, I can’t even stop to think or reflect on things. It’s not the greatest, but at least the days go by quite quickly now. The crew at the office is pretty good. They’re all really nice and it looks like working here will be fine. I’ll reserve other comments for the future or for face-to-face conversation.
If you haven’t seen me for a while, then you probably don’t know that I have been growing my hair out. I haven’t had a hair cut since September and it’s getting really thick and shaggy. I shed hair like a dog and I haven’t bought a drain cover for the tub, and I fear that I’m gonna clog that thing in a couple of weeks. In the past, I always thought that conditioner was a waste of time and money, but with hair, I’ve discovered it’s importance. It’s awesome stuff and I love what it does to hair. I’m such an amateur. This is the longest I’ve ever ever had my hair. I still don’t know when I’m gonna get a haircut, but I think it needs, at the very least, a trim soon. I’ll kill myself if I ever tie my hair in a ponytail. One day I’ll just get fed up with this hairdo of mine and snip it all off, but before I do, I’ll be sure to give myself a mullet and take some pics for kicks. Anyway, I felt it was fitting to have a new look in a new town. Don’t cut your hair Andy! Don’t do it! Keep it going!
I really like the independent lifestyle that I’m experiencing here. It’s a lot of fun in it’s own little way, and I’m enjoying the freedom of living on my own. Cooking has been fun too. My frying pan has gotten a lot of use and skinless, boneless, chicken breast appears to be my meal of choice thus far. I was hoping to wait for something more exciting and funny to happen to me out here, but in all honesty, nothing out of the ordinary has really happened to me. I guess that’s the dull side of DC coming through. Hehe.
Anyway, I’m gonna wrap things up here. I want to say a big big BIG THANK YOU, to all my friends who chipped in to get me a plane ticket home and some AMTRAK gift certificates. It’s much appreciated and I love you all! I’m always thinking of you guys! Miss ya’ll lots!!
Anthony
