- I can understand why a lot of Americans are overweight. If I live here, I might be overweight. The food portions are huge, so I buy a meal for lunch and leave half for dinner.
- I can understand why a lot of Americans have credit card debts. If I live here, I might have credit card debts. There are so many things to buy here. Of course that's if I'm earning my salary in USD which I'm not so every thing I see, I'm mentally calculating the conversion rate and thinking, "What? RM6.60 for a can of Coke?" But other things are so much cheaper here.
- The sales assistants in the shops here are so nice. They say, "Hi" and go about with their work instead of following you around like a stalker eyeing everything you touch and cleaning up after you as if you're making such a terrible mess.
- I'm absolutely amazed by the fact that people here are soooooo courteous on the road.
- When I'm a pedestrian standing on the road wanting to cross, cars will actually stop! @.@
- When I'm in the car at the junction wanting to cross, cars will actually give way! @.@
- I've only been honked at on the road 3 times which is very little considering I'm driving either too slow, or right in the middle of two lanes cos I'm confused where I was suppose to go or waiting for the light to turn red when I can actually move. If I were back home, you know what will happen la...
- I'm useless at following the directions given by the GPS device. I either turn too early or turn too late. My GPS device's favourite word now is, "Recalculating".
- I wanted to go to Gilroy today, but went to the Great Mall to have lunch first and got stuck in the Levi's store for too long. By the time I came out it was 3pm and Gilroy which is a 40 minutes drive away closes at 6pm and I would get lost probably 12 times on the way so I went to Wal-mart instead and got lost 4 times.
- I still can't get use to driving on the right side, having the brake on the right side and the seat beat and signal on the left. Takes some concious brain processing.
- USD notes and coins are not user friendly. There are no numbers on the coins, only words. And the notes are all of the same size and color. Why do they have to put "Quarter Dollar" instead of 25 cents?
- I find it weird that there are only trolleys in Wal-mart but no shopping baskets.
- I also find it weird that there are no pedestrian pavements by the roadside.
- HD TV is so cool!!!!! And I can get hook onto the TV watching commercials. I'm facisnated by the way they advertise.
Monday, October 26, 2009
In point form
Posted by Mindy at 9:45 AM
Labels: In a strange land, United States
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9 comments:
Congrats! U drove out alone, went sightseeing alone, and drove on the right side (and got honked!) alone! :)
Ah, few things I forgot to warn you about:
1. The quarter dollar issue vs. 25 cents :P
2. How people on the road are very much more polite and forgiving
3. When you go to Altera, register yourself at the front-desk security first. U'll have to do so everyday until you get your permanent visitor pass. They will tell you what to do.
Some things I did tell you from my trip last year:
1. Their TV adds! :)
Have you adjusted your sleep pattern yet?
Yup, sleep pattern has been adjusted. I didn't sleep the whole journey here so I slept like a baby last night. :)
I drove to Altera this afternoon (didn't get lost on the way). It's big and pretty. :)
wow, sounds so different~ i've been studying bout Wal-mart for my marketing paper the past few weeks, but you were actually in there... =D
feels so weird, i feel sisterless here =( make sure u come back safely k =) u've only gone for 3 days but i already miss u, feels strange tat u're so far away.. i bet the doggies are wondering where u are also ^^
And don't get fat there, later u won't look nice in ur honeymoon pics!! =p
Cool!! I miss SJ! I tink u've got to go get ur own badge from the badge "office" which has a not so frenly lady there *ahem*
On the road..remember..whoever gets to the junction first..gets to go first..FIFO ya!
If u wanna save $$ for shopping, go Great Mall's food court and pack food..HUGE & cheaper. I kinda miss the "tomyam" fried rice. Yes, it's sweet. But it's nicer la..
iHOP is nearby...less than a mile away. IN&OUT too!! gotta eat both of them!! and if ever a chance..bug someone to take you to Palo Alto for Korean Food!! the Korean House specifically. AWESOME!! :D
Ok..too much for now. HAVE FUN!! and TOTALLY TOTALLY HAVE FUN!!
oh..btw, if you can do ur own laundry, try not to use the washing machine. Our clothes may shrink :D
Mei Ying, hopefully i'll have time to watch the prime time tv shows. BTw, i absolutely love the Mac advertisements, how they make fun of windows. it's funny.
Genny, wal-mart isn't very nice. at least the one i went too. Maybe it's cos the one i went to was quite small. I prefer tesco back at home. :)
And thanks a lot for all the suggestions Pig. I'll try to handwash my clothes. Or not i'll just buy new ones here. ;)
Oh and I was wondering about the junctions and who should move first. feels so strange that some of the junctions here don't have traffic lights and that cars actually stop and give way. would never happen back at home.
IN&OUT is definitely on my list. And i'll try out the rest you suggested.
Yo Mindy! Nice to be in SJ ya! Its oways exciting to experience new environment n see new things.. Muz buy lots of cheap branded stuff back!! =)
Enjoy ur stay n take good care of urself! :)
hahahaha.... I try to remember to stop at the STOP sign. But sometimes the Penang driver in me forgets when there are no cars at the junction. I didn't know it's wrong and I'll make a mental note to remember that. And initially I was confused which car should move first at the T-junction. A T-junction in Penang near a shopping mall would be unheard of. Traffic would be stuck forever. ;)
The traffic is San Jose is sooo tame. It feels strange that I don't have to fight my way on the roads and have eyes at all directions watching out for bikes. I'm starting to get the hang of driving on the right side now. :)
I'm still a little blur with dimes and penny. The cashier asked me for a penny and I went blank for a second. And I can't calculate penny dimes and quarters fast enough and I just give notes and have been collecting coins now. :P
dime - smallest US coin n is worth 10 cents. whenever u wanna use multiple 10 cents, 10 cents, think smallest silver coin.
penny - copper coin n is worth 1 cents. i think u'll rarely use this, but if u dont use them, u may end up with heaps!!
nickle - silver coin that is bigger than dime. worth 5 cents.
how to look for your quarters? look for coins with copper lining around it.
mostly you'll pay things with quarters n dimes. which makes things easy. quarter has that copper circle around it, and dime is the tiniest coin around!
once u can work quarters n dimes, then learning to supplement them as needed with nickles or pennies becomes easier.
the penangite in me also finds it somewhat redundant to stop at STOP signs when there are clearly no cars. and u don't just slow down or pause. you come to a full jerking stop! the only reason i do it is coz when i'm in other ppl's cars, i notice they all do it religiously n make a point to come to full stop, so felt i should do it too...
Mindy, I agree with you on the quarter/dime thing. I still confuse with it and end up paying the bill short on the last meal on my trip back. I keep asking the cashier "How much is a dime?"
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