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Published: February 16th 2010
So we made it and I'm typing this from the 18th floor of the Oakwood apartment building. The apartment is nice enough to be called home for the next few weeks before moving to our lakefront abode. We have a nice lounge and dining area, kitchen (with comedy wood veneer features!), a small bathroom and a nice bedroom with a bed big enough to allow to fully grown adults to star fish without ever knowing the other person is there! We get great views of the city at night (although taking a photo through the blinds and the window is proving challenging). In fact we overlook 'Rock n Roll McDonalds' (why it needs a theme completely escapes me but whatever!) and the Hard Rock cafe, as well as huge skyscrapers en masse...
before we continue... A word on flying business class (which i thought between you and me was excessively expensive for no reason)... There is a reason: It's AMAZING! I never, ever want to fly economy again. The seats were so comfy, drinks constantly replenished, we even got given table cloths before they served dinner... on china plates. Good lord, it was lovely! I didn't really want to get
off the plane truth be told... but we did and I soon fell foul of some control freak, power driven immigration officer... he was very scary and totally freaked me out before sending me to another room to await further interviews. I won't lie, it spooked me, especially as I'd enjoyed my flight so much... I'll be prepared next time... Anyway, the next person i saw was a more reasonable human being but all the same I only have a 6 month visa so I must come back to the UK in July and then try and re-enter. Hmm, all good fun...
So far we've just been settling in and strolling around our new city. It seems lovely... especially when you get further downtown right by the river. It's like an episode of ER or a scene from While You Were Sleeping or something... we're about 5 minutes walk (or 3 blocks) to Michigan Avenue - a true shopping haven and where I'll no doubt lose Claire and Helen should they come to visit! It's got everything from Zara to H&M, Burberry to Loius Vuitton, Apple to Disney, Bloomingdales to Macy's... something for everyone I'd say.
Sarah started
work today and we walked down to her office together this morning. It's only 15 minutes walk away which is cool. The office seems nice - they're all creative types you know, not a suit in sight! But I'll let her add something regarding that!
We went to a party on saturday night in a neighbourhood called Lincoln Park. 2 of the other ex-pats at Dyson had a flat warming party with a best of british theme. We went along (albeit not in fancy dress - very poor show) and met loads of lovely people including the queen (in drag - aka Chris), princess di (aka Sara) and amy winehouse (aka Audra)! All very funny as you can see from the photos! We both suffered from evil white wine hangovers the next day... and there was no irn bru to be found which was a little tragic. I really should be better prepared. In the end we made do with diet pepsi and vanilla Ben & jerry's - which is MUCH cheaper here. Hmm, perhaps we shouldn't have found that out...
We've got to know our local pubs - a fact I'm sure many of you find surprising!
or not... there are a couple of cool irish bars just round the corner from us. the drinks are uber expensive though - for (slightly less than) a pint it's working out about £4.00 - which is even more expensive than the Albion in Clifton Village so it must be bad. Still, we're not quitters, so we're persevering and trying some of the local tipples - we are even noting down happy hours as the savings are considerable... the prices do mean drinking less which my mother - and my waistline - will be thrilled about!
I'm yet to track down a venue to watch the footy (sorry, 'soccer') so a search for that utopia begins in earnest tomorrow as Ali reliably informs me that Champions League is back on...
First impressions of Chicago...
- much quieter (noise wise) than New York
- takes forever to walk anywhere due to blocks i.e. waiting for traffic lights every 2 minutes to be able to cross a road
- truly terrifying to drive here (a taxi ride has already left me scarred - I'll come back to that)
- the food is ENORMOUS - you can just order a starter
in most places and not eat for the rest of the day!
- everywhere has 'Caution: Falling Ice' signs as the ice melts and falls off the skyscrapers - danger!
- the people can't understand our accents half the time... and they crack us up... don't worry I'll be providing examples...
Anyway, what else? Well last night we went for an highly romantic valentine's dinner at a restaurant recommended by someone we met at the party because i told him I wanted ribs. Actually, the restaurant turned out to be a food court. A massive one. And nothing like we have at home. It was totally surreal. Anyway, the ribs (well, I had to have them didnt I?!) were truly amazing and at $11 for a 'half slab', jacket potato ('baked' if you're from here), salad, bread and a diet coke the size of lake michigan, it was a total bargain!!!! It's clearly a place where the kids hang out and families go to stock up on low cost meals... we were sat there when a large family party sat down. It was the girl's birthday, she must have been like 10. She had a giant (I mean like
as big as her head) bow on her head - truly a gift! Sarah imagines her name was Paige, I think more like caitlin but whatever... anyway, her brother had brought a friend, a chinese kid who was sat there eating his fries, minding his own business when all of a sudden... caitlin/paige says (imagine very whiny child's american accent) "Why are your eyes like that - do they open all the way?!"... oh dear god. To which her older sister interjects loudly (imagine slightly less child-like but equally whiny accent) "He's asian!". If the Uk is a world of political correctness gone mad, it clearly hasn't reached the other side of the atlantic... I struggled not to choke on my beautiful ribs - which would have been such a waste... Totally cracked us up though... We then popped into Walgreen's ( a giant pharmacy crossed with Wilko's) to buy cigarettes - yes, cigarettes in a pharmacy. In case you're interested they also sell one of the MOST accomplished ranges of 'tat' I've ever seen including a singing and dancing monkey... to the tune of 'I'm too sexy for my shirt'... did we laugh? I almost died right there in
aisle 7...
Another classic moment was the other day when we went for a cheeky beverage in the afternoon (it was a saturday ok?) and I popped out for a smoke. a car pulled in and a lady wound down her window and hollered (think a very deep south drawl and you're on the right track) "do you know where the apple store is?" to which i replied (in my best Queen's english) "No, I'm sorry, I'm not from around here". At which point she and her child completely cracked up, punched the steering wheel before hollering in an even louder, more southern voice "I hear thaaaaaat!, yes I do, I hear thaaaaat!"
Oh yes, the taxi ride... terrifying was what i said. I'm not kidding. if you've been to the states before you know there's 3 lanes of traffic everywhere. Well no one indicates and becuase they are all automatics (with giant fuel guzzling engines) they just surge forward like go karts on steroids! It's a bit like being in dodgem cars! very interesting... maybe it will encourage us to walk and take the 'L'. Which we haven't done yet. Ooops. Next entry I promise we will
have done...
Anyway, best head off. Sarah has just got home and we're going for dinner so she can debrief me on her day... It's snowing now so she was like a little icicle when she turned up. I was characteristically outside smoking in spite of the weather, attracting stares from the locals... they have a point, i'll have to quit now and join Miss Rhea's non-smoking gang!
Next post will be from sarah and contain all the news from her first few days of work! Apparently she has to edit a TV commercial as her first job...
Thanks to everyone who came to our various leaving soirees, thanks for all the cards and gifts - we really appreciate it. Our apartment is a greetings card mecca at the moment so thanks to all of you. Missing you all already! xxx
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Mumsy1
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Not evening wearing red shoes & carrying a small dog
First blog - absolutely brilliant - You must start writing that book some time soon.