I was dreading my first Friday evening in the US. It was around the end of the first week that I started missing my family and friends terribly. US is not a place where I can ever stay alone...on a second thought, I wondered, can I stay here for too long a time, even with friends and family? Nah! I decided...this is not a place to live, not at least for someone who is used to crowds, colors and brimming life...someone who is used to India!
The week had been quite an experience...an experience that ranged from working with people from a different ethnicity, knowing their ways of working, drinking sparkling water, buying vanilla scones for breakfast on my way to office, making cold sandwiches for afternoon snacks, walking back from office. Jet lag hit me around mid-week, and I had two full evenings snoring away peacefully after work. Everyday, I used to look forward to my post-dinner routine. After around 9 in the evening, I used to draw back the curtains of my bedroom window to get a full sight of the highway spreading itself under the night's sky, put on the local radio to some country music station and then jump into my bed beside the phone. Calling home was funny when every 'good night' of me was a 'have a good day' for them...updates on the weather, day spent, food eaten. Another thing I would really look forward to each day was a call from my friend in Hyderabad, after I hung up with my call home. Updates again, cribbing about work, missing India, what all I shopped, where all I went...and, how was Hyderabad doing, how much it rained, was there a bandh? I got a slice of an Indian day through these calls everyday, a flavor of my own life that I was so far from...
The early morning sunshine gushing in through my bedroom window used to wake me up before my alarm clock everyday. The cab that took me to office was never late and as the hotel receptionist would confirm me, it used to reach my place in just 3 mins. Thus went the first week, and it was Friday. One long week since I have come to this country...yeah, I miss home, I miss my India.
One of my colleagues invited me for dinner on Friday. I spent a great evening with her, her husband and their little pug, Tucker. We took out Tucker for a walk around their place. The pathway behind their house led to one of the most charming places in the whole of Orange County. We walked down till the banks of a calm lake that adorned the foothills of Santa Margarita mountains. Greenery, blue waters and an azure sky seemed the perfect ingredients to spice up the start of my weekend. I had one of the most tasty US dinners that day, yummy, cheesy pasta and white wine (the fact remained, it was Italian food that tasted so good in America).
The following weekend was great fun too. A trip to the San Diego Sea World on Saturday morning, followed by a breezy evening spent on the beaches of San Clemanto and fish tacos for dinner is more than I could have asked for. Early next morning, me and my colleague went out together to spend a lazy, girl-y Sunday. The Sunday started with vanilla sugar scones, black coffee, a drive down to the beaches and tripping over at the parking lot, tearing my jeans, cutting right into my knees! But my enthusiasm overpowered my knee injury as we drove into a beach side breakfast place at Crystal Cove. I re-iterate, the roadside places in the US definitely serve more yummy food - we gorged on to a plateful of spiced scrambled eggs, one huge red strawberry, English muffins and a big glass of steaming hot chocolate with a dollop of whipped cream on top! Post breakfast, we spent a good three hours on the Laguna Beach. From wading into the sea water, building sand castles, watching the sea gulls run after the worms, the crabs running into their holes, the waves lashing against the rocks, to clicking endless pictures, making foot prints on the sand, counting the waves and paying a penny to a beach side guitar-player-cum-singer...I enjoyed Sunday! We also visited this beach side candy shop where I bought taffies and candies for home.
Orange County Fair came next. I am still to decide between a US fair and our Indian fairs...the roundabouts, the people and the crowds made them quite similar. But well, food tastes heavenly at the fairs in my country...and our lunch at the Orange County Fair, consisting of a turkey burger, potato chips and coke was nothing near the yummy Indian spices. So, Indian fairs, I vote!
Tired like anything, I bought dinner on my way back as I was sure that I would hit the bed much earlier today. And, yeah, as I expected, I slept the whole evening only to be woken up by my regular phone calls. I loved my weekend...It was a true traveler's weekend, and I was happy to have seen so much!
The next week went by as usual...vanilla scones, my sweet Starbucks coffee, loads of work at office, random shopping, lovely walks, counting the decreasing traffic through my bedside window every night and falling asleep...To wake up to my last day at the Orange County.
I am traveling to Santa Monica today evening, to the other office I am supposed to visit. Santa Monica is a part of the Los Angeles County, near to Hollywood and Disneyland. Wow! I was already looking forward to the weekend!
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