Arrival: San Francisco
The day starts with the day before, with me packing my bags and getting ready to leave:
The living room in a mess…
Then the leaving:
The last view of my flat’s corridor, with my bags…
My small send-off, at 8am in the morning
I chose to go off quietly- not a lot of fanfare, with the people who mattered most to me. I guess I’m built that way when it comes to the final bits of feeling; just quietly, very personally.
Then the flight:
Transfer at Incheon, Seoul
Reading glasses for filling up forms at Incheon; in different degrees and powers
View of Stanford, from the Airbus 380…
Uncle Si Cao and my Father
I was fortunate to have my father travel with my to San Francisco, and his good friend Uncle Si Cao to pick me up at the airport. We stayed at his house for 2 days while he and his wife helped me get stuff and show me around San Francisco.
Uncle Si Cao’s beautiful house at Hayward hill
Seeing Uncle Si Cao’s beautiful house and the comfortable living that many Asian immigrants to America made me think of the “what if”, had my father moved to America and lived there. But there is much to write about the Asian american community there, and that will be reserved for another time.
Beautiful houses, beautiful landscape
It is amazing how much effort is put into landscaping in the USA. The whole place looks really nice and spacious; a sharp contrast from Singapore.
The difference: the American family on the left, the Singaporean family on the right
After two days, my father left with Uncle Si Cao and his family to go to LA to visit friends, leaving me alone in San Francisco to do some exploring of my own:
Bicycles in Caltrain
What strikes me is the number of Californians that rely on the bicycles to commute: almost everyone has a bike, and for all we say about Americans not exercising, I have done more exercise on my bike than I have done in 19 years in Singapore.
Visit to Sears at the San Antonio Shopping Centre
America’s concern for the disabled: all checkout counters at Wal Mart have a slide out shelf for the wheelchair bound to write their checks
It is still important to remember that danger lurks, even in the most advanced of countries
Map dispensing machine at the AAA: Americans rely much on car transport given the size of the country, most noticable is the lack of public transport as a acceptable means of mass transport
I’ll update again with my life in Stanford…
