Tuesday, July 15, 2008
First weekend at Downtown Chicago...>

My first weekend in Chicago ended well with lots of adventures… Went downtown to explore the place on both Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday, the local HR personnel Patty was so kind and warm to bring us down to downtown for a visit. She personally came to pick us and direct us to the train station to catch the train downtown. The train ride was pleasant and comfortable with beautiful views of the suburban areas. There is a gradual transition as the train moved from the suburban to the town area where the buildings became more and more compacted together and higher. Also, there was more traffic on the road. The moment I reached the station, I was overwhelmed because of the throngs of people moving from the platform of the station into the station. It somehow reminded me of the movie: “Harry Potter” where Harry was waiting to board the train station.

We walked all the way to Navy Pier which has a great and magnificent view of the lake and fun fair-like look. It was a bit tourist type of place with lots of tour buses on the sides of the roads and lots of other people. The lunch was nice but then, I think there was a misunderstanding because Patty introduced us as not tasting pizzas before back home in Singapore. That is not possible at all with the many varieties of pizza joints in Singapore. We wanted to taste the deep-dish pizza, which is a unique feature of Chicago. Well.. It was still a nice experience because the pizza was really good and nice. You can’t taste such a good pizza back home in Singapore. After the pizza and Navy pier, we went shopping at the Michigan Avenue which is otherwise known as the Magnificent Mile. I was so excited just by walking along it because all the famous brands are all on the street. All the brands which I want to get something from there because it’s so much cheaper in USA than in Singapore due to the import tax and transportation cost to Singapore. My colleague was constantly laughing at me which is all right for me because laughter is a sure way to bond with people. I’m coping well with my colleagues, managed to have some close friends now; people who share the same interest as me.

I guess traveling in group is not a good option because there would always be conflicting views and options where people have different interests. For instance, we were deciding on the time to catch the train for the Sunday train to bring us downtown when there is a conflict of interest. A few of us wanted to catch the earlier morning train while the rest wanted to catch the later train so that they could rest more and sleep in during the morning. However, being a prepared type of person, I know and predict that catching such a late train was not viable option because the shops will close early on Sunday and upon reaching the place, the time would be around early afternoon. This will leave us with little time to do anything else if we were going to Lincoln Zoo. In the end, my colleague and I decided to give the Zoo a miss and go to the shopping directly. It was a nice experience because I managed to do most of my homework on the prices of the things which I want to get for my family and friends back home.

Finally, I managed to lay my hands on the all famous Chicago hotdog though it wasn’t the real and authentic one. We were looking high and low for it and we got it from the 7-eleven. Imagine eating the hotdog along the pavement with extremely strong wind blowing….. Wow… It’s an experience.. My napkin was blown out of my hands and disappeared nowhere and my bag of shopping almost fell due to the wind. While eating, I was so worried that the toppings on my hotdog such as the diced onions would be blown off. Haha…. It’s fun.. =)

After staying a few days with my roommate, I realized some nasty habits of hers. The only way I could do now is to compromise and just give way, living and bearing it for the moment. I’m the type of cleanness freak, especially when it comes to carpet because I’m extremely sensitive to the dusts within carpet. I need to vacuum the place more frequently and I can’t stand the stains found on tables after eating. Plus, I believed in washing up all dished right after using it to prevent stains from setting in but I don’t know why she likes to leave it and accumulate everything before washing. Just 2 months… Bear with it, Juana!! Pray for a bigger heart and higher tolerance..

By the way, I managed to get into a church, but not for service. I went there to see the decoration. There’s no suitable church because most are Catholic Church. I will not stop my growth, constantly reading God’s word on my own. I missed church and my church friends… People… Please send me a sms at times because I don’t have my laptop with me, I can’t access my blog or email without imposing on my roommate who has to lend me her laptop at times. I hope that the company’s laptop will work well after today.. Also, it would be good if you use gmail chat function so that I can chat with you online while at work because msn is banned or blocked.

# posted by Just Me!! | 12:56 AM