Hello United States!

Yesterday I said goodbye to my partner in crime, Diogenes, as he left for Salinas, Monterey, to start his traineeship. I am currently writing from my beautiful Berkeley Hills bedroom, looking out my window at a view spanning the San Francisco Bay area. In a few hours I will watch the sunset out of the same window and watch San Francisco and the Golden Gate and Bay Bridge come alive with lights in the distance.

Arriving in the US was far easier than we had imagined, or at least had been warned about. The trip was quite uncomfortable given we booked last minute and had awful seats on the long 9 and 6 hour flights from Sao Paulo to Miami and Miami to San Francisco, respectively. But we arrived in our gorgeous Victorian era hotel in downtown San Francisco and felt very exhilarated by the SF 'vibe'. After dinner in China Town, we witnessed a mass movement of cyclists parading the streets with loud music (some were naked), and we thought to ourselves “… this is San Fran, baby!". Our first meal here was at a local diner where we ordered simple sandwiches, that turned out to be half a cow between two slices of bread. They were enormous. With nearly 2/3 Americans overweight or obese, we had no difficulty understanding why. We travelled over to Berkeley on our second day, and despite Berkeley’s reputation for incrediblely delicious and healthy food, the portion sizes weren’t much smaller. I ordered two rice paper vegetarian fresh spring rolls for lunch from the Berkeley Organic Farmers Market, and was presented with two football sized parcels of cabbage, mango, Vietnamese mint and vermicelli wrapped in (bed) sheets of rice paper. The sustainability and local, organic food movement here is incredible. There was even an organic beer Olympics at the Farmers Market. Our hostel was full of lost souls from all over the world who were the epitome of ‘hippy’ and no doubt participated in the original Woodstock ‘69. The US is just larger than life. Everyone here is a complete character. We were amazed at how friendly and lively everyone is. I knew straight away that I was going to LOVE this country.

Everything happened so smoothly. I found a house quickly and Diogenes was around for a few days to help me sort myself out and set myself up. I have 7 other housemates who are all a little older and grad/PhD students or professionals, and I feel like I fit in really well. Luckily, there is also an Ikea nearby where we scored some funky but cheap furniture.

However, my luck turned when my wallet was stolen in downtown San Francisco on a mission to apply for a Social Security number. Amazingly, when I tell Americans about it, they don’t even look surprised! Concerned, but not surprised. Identity theft is a huge issue in the US, and I am sincerely hoping whoever has my wallet was just a regular thug after some cash. Unfortunately I had some items of significant sentimental value in there which are irreplaceable. Nevertheless, I am using it as a good opportunity to start afresh and reestablish myself here in the US. I was granted a cheque-book and given cheques are obsolete in most western countries I am finding small pleasures in signing my name on the antique currency. Spanish and Chinese languages are prevalent here and almost every phone line you ring has an English and Spanish option. The Social Security office was 99% Chinese, and all the tellers spoke Chinese. Fascinating. The next stop for me is to find some work. Now Diogenes and I are apart (despite feeling a little lost and naked after having just spent roughly 2000 hours straight together, 24/7), I have more time to focus and concentrate on myself and my career (and my blog!). With the US market taking another downturn, my prospects are not abundant, but nevertheless I have much hope that the right thing will come along at the right time… it always does. Like America, for instance… I still remember the phone call offering Diogenes the job… Hello United States!