Amrika! - Part III

First Monday in the US was comparatively exciting. I didn't feel the Monday blues and I was amazed at my enthusiasm to walk down all the way to office. A walk down US roads is always a nice experience...no street dogs, no scary road crossing experience, no bumpy roads to topple over...

Office was nice but in-a-way-weird. People here were quieter, the office lights less bright, the window views a dull-grey (which made me realize how much I love the Indian sunshine), the air conditioning at least 2 degrees colder but the stationary supplies more attractive!

People here worked more continuously than in any other part of the world! Tea breaks and chit-chat sessions between work were definitely not their way! Most people, in this office, perpetually had a coffee cup, or a lunch plate at their work desk, from which they never ate or drank. I found it hard locating a water bottle, and later came to know that people here mostly drink 'sparkling water' (a fizz-ed soda, which they happily drink instead of water). For a handful of people who drank non-sparkling, real water, drank water from a big glass sucking on a big straw.

From boiled eggs to dried fruits, from white cheese to yellow cheese to cheese-with-holes, from beef steaks to lettuce leaves, from the food inside the fridge to the food outside the fridge...every eatable thing was always super cold...tea and coffee, anyways do not have any flavor or sweetness in the US, I reminded myself.

There wasn't much difference between lunch and dinner in the US. They always ate bread, butter, cheese and ham for everything. Some people only had arrays of unknown green leaves and stems on their plates at all times. Some people went swimming during lunch and some went jogging. Later they would have plates full of greenery at their desk for the rest of the day. I used to have experimental lunches everyday, and my experiments ranged from olive-oiled spaghetti, salt-free grilled chicken, endless greenery to some awesome cakes and puddings, may-be-lamb-may-be-pork meat and even raw fish!

My team took me out for lunch one day to a French place. I gracefully decided to order the same thing that they ordered, choosing not to be very picky and selective of unknown cuisines. But, as soon as I dug into the first fork-full of the 'salmon and fresh green salad', I realized my ignorance and mistake of trusting my team mates' judgement about food. I endlessly garnished the greenery and boiled, smelly fish on my plate with the olive-oil garnish, without the slightest change in taste. The only thing I liked in the dish were the small, pickled capers.

I had bacons for breakfast for the first time. As much as I imagined the name 'bacon' to be yummy and mouth-watering, I was quite disheartened to find hard, fried pieces of meat to be bacon! I liked the normal potatoes, eggs and breads more than the fancy bacon.

Some of the few eatables that I took a fancy here were marshmallows dipped in chocolate, scones, waffles, pink lemonades and mac-n-cheese. I also concluded that I like the smaller and cheaper restaurants in the US much more than the chic ones. No, it's not because of the price (my office card anyways pays it all)...but I feel commoners here, eat better and tastier food than the high society, sleek-legged, pencil-heeled groups.

One of the days during the long, busy week, I had gone for a walk along the back bay behind my hotel. The sun sets quite late here, so 6 o'clock in the evening gave me a sun-lit path along the back bay. I could clearly make out three distinct ways to reach the banks of the bay. One was notably meant for only cyclers, the other was a little higher and led to a small flyover, over the bay. The one I chose was the most empty path, quite untouched by human hand, wild and less spic 'n span that normal US roads. I walked along a humpy-bumpy trail, with wild shrubs bowing over from both sides. Butterflies and unknown flying creatures hovered around the bushes. As the breeze ruffled my hair and I kept walking along this beautiful way, I felt a sense of calmness and purity for the first time since I came to the US. Months later, I realized, that this lonely walk along the natural trail was one of the best sight seeing experiences that I had in the US. I didn't know the name of any of the flowers here, yet, they were among the best ones I have ever seen in my life. The bright yellow ones looked awesome against the cornflower blue sky...the white and brown ones looked like small cotton balls...I gaped at the sunset over the sparkling waters of the back bay...and, as the sun slowly slid between the shrubs, it left behind a cooler breeze, an orange streaked sky, a droopy sunflower and a home-ward me.

Twilight is perhaps not a known part of the day here, as darkness comes rushing as soon as the sun goes down for the day. My dinners in the US were way quicker than the ones I am normally used to...the reason being: one, I usually didn't go out hunting for food after it's dark (considering the daytime emptiness in Orange County, I didn't want to try the after sunset experience).; and second, the everyday experimental lunches at office made me hungrier before long.

Everyday, while walking back from office, I would take pictures of roadside flowers, highway sunsets and all the strange meals I kept eating. I discovered more eating joints, more friendly people, smiling dog owners who let me pat their pet dogs once in a while...and I taught Starbucks to make coffee my way! I at last started having a nice cup of coffee at least twice a day...over-sweetened by caramel and excessive sugar, milky, creamy and steaming hot. I found out a way to extract sweetness from these not-at-all sweet coffee and tea places. I used to describe my coffee as "extra sweet and extra milky caramel coffee" to get my normal, used-to doses of sweetness outside my own country!