So I'm somewhere in the Midwest US--not so much snow and blizzards Midwest, but 'Beware of Crystal Meth' billboards Midwest and it's kinda scary. It's actually damn scary. My parents think I'm being my usual diva self, but some of the people here look super creepy. I'm especially scared of old white dudes with unkempt appearances and camo clothing. And tattoos. White men with tattoos and piercings makes me think of neo nazis. White men with unkempt head/facial hair and camouflage clothing makes me think of KKK/Tea party people. Both groups of men are likely to own a ton of firearms. Add the whole 'are you addicted to crystal meth?' billboards to the mix and you have quite a scary combination. In any case, it's quite uncomfortable being a brown person here.
So here's a summary of my small town, Midwest US experience so far:
1. American Immigration at the Chicago Airport was amazing--after reading the horror story of that Dutch (or was it Danish?) dude on Huffpo, I was terrified that I was going to be asked tons of questions at immigration as my passport is completely stamped out. That wasn't the case at all--the Immigration dude smiled at me and said 'have a great stay in the United States.'
2. Central Heating Love--I'm seriously going to write a Shakespearean Ode to this beautiful invention. In iambic pentameter.
3. Restaurants--I cannot STAND the service. Right after I landed, we went to this one restaurant (one of those desperately wanna be high end but actually middle class American places--AKA chain restaurants--that I was so keen on going to) and I was really annoyed at the waiter. The guy took forever and brought me cooking wine when I ordered sparkling wine.
My brother-in-law and I'd gone to one of those Gurgaon liquor shops once to get some beer and some unruly, drunk, Haryana local men were there, and they were all shouting 'Hayword, hayword*' at the liquor shop attendant. I swear, I think I've turned into a true, local Haryana-ite. I was this close to writing 'the service sucked' on the merchant copy of the bill. I didn't do that because I'd just traveled for 27 hours and I had no energy...and I wanted to be nice in front of my parents.
*Hayworth is one of those extra strong beers meant for alcoholics who do not have large disposable incomes.
So anyways, I came home and tried my mom's cooking and decided that home food is amazing. There's no need to go to wannabe high end joints to get bad service, to eat food that's going to make you 500 pounds.
4. Shopping Phobia? This is something I didn't expect from myself--my parents had taken me to a nearby city so I could shop a bit this weekend and I was horrified. There's like a million-gazillion people, just buying and buying and buying. I didn't even like going to Whole Foods as it was too crowded. That's pretty ironic considering that I'm coming from India.
5. Sushi lt;3 -- We'd gone to a sushi place over the weekend and I was happy with the service and food. I really find it funny that the average sushi you get on this side of the world is like a 100 times better than the sushi you get, even in 5 star hotels, in India.
So...there you have it. Will write more as time goes on.
So here's a summary of my small town, Midwest US experience so far:
1. American Immigration at the Chicago Airport was amazing--after reading the horror story of that Dutch (or was it Danish?) dude on Huffpo, I was terrified that I was going to be asked tons of questions at immigration as my passport is completely stamped out. That wasn't the case at all--the Immigration dude smiled at me and said 'have a great stay in the United States.'
2. Central Heating Love--I'm seriously going to write a Shakespearean Ode to this beautiful invention. In iambic pentameter.
3. Restaurants--I cannot STAND the service. Right after I landed, we went to this one restaurant (one of those desperately wanna be high end but actually middle class American places--AKA chain restaurants--that I was so keen on going to) and I was really annoyed at the waiter. The guy took forever and brought me cooking wine when I ordered sparkling wine.
My brother-in-law and I'd gone to one of those Gurgaon liquor shops once to get some beer and some unruly, drunk, Haryana local men were there, and they were all shouting 'Hayword, hayword*' at the liquor shop attendant. I swear, I think I've turned into a true, local Haryana-ite. I was this close to writing 'the service sucked' on the merchant copy of the bill. I didn't do that because I'd just traveled for 27 hours and I had no energy...and I wanted to be nice in front of my parents.
*Hayworth is one of those extra strong beers meant for alcoholics who do not have large disposable incomes.
So anyways, I came home and tried my mom's cooking and decided that home food is amazing. There's no need to go to wannabe high end joints to get bad service, to eat food that's going to make you 500 pounds.
4. Shopping Phobia? This is something I didn't expect from myself--my parents had taken me to a nearby city so I could shop a bit this weekend and I was horrified. There's like a million-gazillion people, just buying and buying and buying. I didn't even like going to Whole Foods as it was too crowded. That's pretty ironic considering that I'm coming from India.
5. Sushi lt;3 -- We'd gone to a sushi place over the weekend and I was happy with the service and food. I really find it funny that the average sushi you get on this side of the world is like a 100 times better than the sushi you get, even in 5 star hotels, in India.
So...there you have it. Will write more as time goes on.
