European girl (ups, mama) in the US

After one week in the US I am still recovering from the cultural shock :-) Everything is at least twice as big as in Europe...and I mean everything, from bottles to cars, not to mention the distances.

We are currently living with our friends in a beautiful house in the Los Gatos mountains. It's such a pure nature, with deer and squirels all around the house and a lake just around the corner. Beautiful and relaxing. Jun is enjoying his time with a big dog and two cats, but they obviously can not "replace" his darling Shana. He is talking about her all the time.

But those of you who know us can imagine that afterw few relaxing days we had to take a new challenge...

We have spent the whole week searching for a flat in the heart of Sillicon Valley (Palo Alto/Menlo Park) and it was all new experience. After seeing the first three places I had to drop my European standards by 200%...no central heating, no tight windows, no brick houses and hard-wood floor seems as extinguished as some rare species. OK, I can survive with a wall-to-wall carpet but the place we will eventually rent needs some charm and it needs to be downtown. So, we kept looking. The renting experience is a very special experience down here...when you come to see the place, there are usually already few Stanford students looking at it and than you can add a couple or two and a professional single. This quickly puts your chances to actually getting the place to about 10%. But than you realise the chances are even lower, because it doesn't have much to do with combinatorics, but it more depends on your luck. So after you (and all other potential reners) decide you like the place the process includes everything from application forms (that you actually need to pay!!!), bank reports, personal references and so on. And than you wait for the results and you keep looking in the meantime.

Yesterday we have scheduled three appointments and in the evening when I have almost given up we found it. A cute little (I should actually say tiny) cottage in a quiet and green street downtown Palo Alto just few blocks from the University Ave. It has a patio and a little garden...and if I am honest, this was the real reason to rent this place. Jun will finally get some place for gardening and his own swing outside. Surprisingly, this was the first place he liked and he started calling it "hišica" (small house). We have celebrated our new home with some juice and cookies sitting on a carpet in an empty flat. And than we have realised that we have forgotten to ask about the laundry. (Who could blame a European who owns a washing machine and has never thought about it as a luxury). Well, we have just realised there is no washing machine in our new flat and no laundry in a near proximity :-(

Today we faced a new challenge...to buy all the stuff we need to move in. From furniture, bedding, towels, dishes, glasses, knives. The small stuff was easy to find (although there is so much offer to choose from that I instantly got a headache :-) but when it came to the furniture we had to face a different metric system. So I ended up recalculating from inches to centimeters and back until I gave up and started relying on my gut feeling. Let's see if we will fit the sofa and the bed inside the room :-)

Tomorow we are going to San Francisco. Can't wait.

Comments

[Urša]

so, you actually moved to USA? why?

[Anja]

Hey Ursa, my husband is in IT business and he is starting a new company here in the US. So me and Jun will be living between Europe and US for the next year and than we will see what life brings us.
All the best from sunny California :-)

[Urša]

Hey Anja, that's great;)

Jun is probably enjoying, doesn't he? So many new people, places, things to do....

Lena is going in kindergarten in September (I wish I could stay at home for another year), I am starting my job few days before and Ph.D. study in October.....I have to admit that I am getting every day more nervous....;(

Take care, good luck with your husband's company and keep in touch;)

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