First Day at Mountain View, CA

Finally made it to Mountain View last Friday. Seems like it was Murphy's Law Day that day – starting from Florida to California, it was one mishap after another! (Of course, I always blame Murphy's Law but it is actually more of Leah's Procrastination or Leah's Lack Of Planning that caused all the headache….)

To start, I had it in my head that my flight leaves at 8am. I had arranged for someone to drive me, agreed on the time when they will get to the house. Come Friday morning, when I was doing the online check-in, I realized the flight actually leaves at 6:50 am! My 2-hour leeway suddenly turned to 1 hour, and so I had to haul major ass to the airport (thank heavens it is less than 10 mins away). I got on the plane with 10 minutes to spare after enduring MCO's tedious screening process. Actually, the screening itself took less than a few minutes. It was the line getting into the screening room that was the kick in the head. They took one big line, routed us into four different lines so that they could check IDs, then bottlenecked us back into the entrance. Go figure. They probably thought we were all dumb tourists anyway and we all deserved to suffer. All Floridians think that way, actually. (Haha just kidding.)

Got to San Jose Airport, and realized that (unlike Orlando International that had the rental car offices in the basement of the airport) I had to ride a shuttle to the rental car place. No problem, except I had to lug around a carry-on backpack and two boxes of belongings that had a collective weight of about 160 lbs. Again, bad planning. Had to do some major grunt work and a lot of chutzpah to ask people to help me. Finally got my rental car paperwork, and … what do you know … it started raining. (I was told that it rarely rains in that area). Silly me, I was dressed up for Florida weather with my &^%$ hiking flip-flops, ^%$#^& microfiber sweatpants and my *&^% light fleece jacket. Add a temperature of 42F to the windchill and what do you get? A Chinky-Eyed Frozen Fish Stick. A sudden flashback occurred to me of my mom telling me that we had relatives and friends in the area who could pick me up and help me with my stuff. But noooo… had to be gung-ho about the whole thing and said I could handle it. I had to sit in the car for a good few minutes to get defrosted and stop shivering while asking myself "whose bright idea was this??"

Got to Mountain View (could barely see the lines on the freeway from the rain), and got all my stuff up the 3 flights of stairs to my apartment (don't ask me how), and realized I had no kitchenware except for a pot and a skillet and a few plates and bowls. I thought I was being smart by taking a fellow traveler's advice and mailing all the non-essentials to myself. Of course, that would have worked if I had mailed it in time to get to my destination by the time I got there. I had to make a choice, to buy new kitchen stuff or just wait. I decided to wait – after all, it's just going to be another 5 days, right? So here I am, laughing at myself while trying to make sauteed salmon using a plastic picnic knife to cut my onions and tomatoes. And, since my cups are in transit as well, I'll be drinking hot chocolate from a soupbowl for a little while longer. (It actually tastes better – really!)

My apartment

Been here a couple of days, rode trains and buses and got myself a beauty of a bicycle with the help of some friends. It is still sitting here in my apartment – every morning I look at it and I think, "please don't make me get on that thing." Hahaha – generally I am just anxious. I am being patient with myself, I know I will get the guts to ride it to work eventually. I ask myself why I am so scared to try this when I was so brave about sailing. Well, sailing just has water but cycling involves this unforgiving thing called "the concrete pavement" – and it wins every time. I started orientation at the hospital with fellow travelers this morning and I told them about my not taking the car stipend and just duking it out with public transport and eventually cycling to work. "Are you nuts?" they asked me.

"Are you nuts?" …… I seem to be hearing that more and more these days. I am wondering if I should start getting concerned…. Hmmmm…..

Finally got a chance to just slow down and explore the city yesterday, did a lot of walking and riding around in buses.

My apartment complex at Castro St.

The weather has been gorgeous for the past few days – low 40's in the morning and 60's at noon. My apartment complex is right in the downtown area, walking distance from the Civic Center and the Center for Performing Arts, the library and 2 public parks.

The Center for Performing Arts, Mountain View

Downtown Caltrain/Light Rail Station

A walk heading further north revealed restaurants and bookstores and little shops. Bike trails are all around the place. And mountains in the horizon! After 9 years of living in flat-as-a-pancake Florida, I am dumbfounded to see elevations in the earth! And the plant life is so different and beautiful here – especially the trees.

Mountain View is lovely. I think I am gonna be okay.

(this was an excerpt of a letter I sent a friend)