3 weeks in USA

Completing 3 weeks here. Time passed by in a jiffy.

Initial one week went in settling down in the flat I took on rent. Next week went in arranging stuff the place. Got a TV, phone, broadband internet connection with wireless router ; use my laptop's wi-fi to log on. Logged on the day the net got active, have not logged off since then - It's my life-line and no-one purposefully stops that ;)

Besides that got cutlery, cooking utensils from Wal-mart. Got food-stuff from an area known as Devon Street where Gujju-bhai's are doing some profitabe business selling Indian items from the basic Cumin seeds to the cable-tv dishes for watching Indian channels on your TV. This place is a bi-weekly jaunt of the Indian community to get their spices et al . Me and ANS (my flatie) have also become regular customers from now on :)

Went to Chicago last Sunday with SK (anothe of my colleagues). Went on the river and lake cruise. The view of downtown from the lake was awesome. Though, the weather was expected to be chilly, we had not expected the extreme windy and cold winds that we experienced while on the open air cruise. Started @ 1130 hrs from Skokie. Took a bus and train transit to Chicago downtown. Nice ride. Took an hour to reach, but quite a ride it was. Something similar to the Delhi Metro (haven't experienced that though). Besides this, saw the Millenium park, the Sears Tower, the Navy Pier.

Plan to take driving lessons and get a driving licence as soon as possible. My Indian licence is valid for 3 months here. So plan to take driving lessons and then rent-a-car and drive down to some nearby places during the coming Thanksgiving holidays (from 24th to 27th).

Have applied for my SSN number too. That's expected to arrive next week. The most important number in USA. For the uninitiated, you need the number to open a bank account / to apply for a CC or DL or for renting a flat etc... Basically it's required for you to breathe in US. But the irony is that when you recieve it, the mail warns you that it is a sensitive number and should not be disclosed to a third party.... Any guess then why the hell do people ask for it in the first place???

And life goes on ...