San Bruno

Its been some time here in San Bruno now and I have settled down in a strange way. Let me speak about San Bruno first.

San Bruno is another city in the Bay area of California. Its called the bay area because it is situated in a bay in the Pacific ocean. It is situated towards the south of San Francisco and falls under the district of San Mateo. Other cities in and around this place are San Francisco, Milbrae, Fremont, Foster City and Daly city to name a few. San Bruno's zip code is 94066 (just in case you ever wanted to know :P).

America is a strange country. It truly is especially so for an Indian like me. Why? It's strange because it seems too perfect to be true. For me its more like living in a country which I have seen only in my
Archie's comic books. The hamburger joints (like Pop's Shoppe) are everywhere. Some common hamburger joints here are Burger King, Wendy's and Carl's Jr. Cold drinks are called soda (again this takes me to my Archie's reading days).

I see kids on the footpath (kerb) riding their skateboards. It's surreal!

I managed to get myself an apartment under lease for 6 months along with a roommate (Rohit, who is also on an onsite requirement from Infosys like myself) in San Bruno. My apartment complex has the following address:

Apt#: H12,
3815, Susan Drive
San Bruno

 - and it overlooks the Pacific Ocean.

It's on top of the San Bruno mountain and is quite frequently covered with fog and cloud. So I can
look down on the Pacific Ocean while walking through the clouds. Talk about being surreal.

Apart from the initial challenges of getting through the legal formalities in a new country, new project and new everything, there is also the confusing challenge of coming in terms with the "opposite" way of doing things in America.

Its like everything HAS to be done the opposite way the world does it. The switches turn on when you flip it up. The plug sockets are an upside down "therefore" sign instead of the "therefore" sign like arrangement in  India. Cars drive on the exact opposite way we do in India. The flush knob is on the left side whereas it is on the right side in India (if you had cared to observe). And off course, they follow the left hand drive in cars.

Talking about cars, they are everywhere! And not one looks like the one before it. In my one week stay in San Francisco I must have seen all the makes of all the car companies in the world from GMC (general motor company) to mitsubishi, nissan, hummer, mercedes, chevrolet, corvette, infiniti, honda, hyundai, ford, chrysler, ferrari, volkswaggen and everything in between, left and even right. I must have seen at least
ten different models of harley davidson bikes. I tell you they are a real pain with their engine sound more of a noise than a heart warming vroom. Just imagine an Enfield Bullet with a damaged silencer and amplify it 10 times. They just breaks the wonderful silence and calm that this country seems to be filled with.

There are a lot of sport bikes and I have seen guys do the wheelie more than once. Its more like a country
of wannabes. Everyone wants to be the next TV celebrity. Everyone is like an American Idol contestant.

But they are friendly people.

I find most of the guys on the street quite friendly and courteous. And the most friendly people are the cab drivers. You can really have a nice heart to heart talk with the cab guys and they seem to really like talking to
you as well.

Public Transport

I use SamTrans. Thats the Bus service here in San Bruno. And the current "employee of the month" is a desi guy called Ramkrishna Singh (quite proud I was when I saw that too). The buses are really big and comfortable and they follow the times religiously. When the bus is suppose to be there at a stop at 3:17 pm (according to the bus route map), it will be there at 3:17 pm.

You got to tug at a yellow wire which runs along the bus roof if you want the bus to stop at the next bus stop. When you tug at it, a sign "Stop Requested" appears on a display in front of the bus driver. When you enter the bus, you feed the bus fare in exact dollar bills or quarters into a machine and the driver will punch some data onto a device in front of him. Its quite a lot of razzmatazz if you ask me. However it is very efficient and it keeps the noise level of shouting at the driver to stop to a minimum zero.

The roads and the drive amidst alpine woods through the hills in San Bruno is something to die for, you can take my word for it. San Bruno is beautiful. It seriously is.

Shopping at Sears

You know you have come to America when you have bought something at Sears. Its a huge store selling clothes items. I got myself a jacket and a T-Shirt. Then we went to Target to buy our house groceries and
had a lunch at Burger King. So you cant get more american than this!

Currently I am in the process of applying for my SSN and phone number. So after that I can be more adventurous in my tours and travels of Uncle Sam's backyard.

Till then Hastala Bye Bye Baby!!!