Hello there !

Hi there, welcome to my blog. I am just gonna pen down my experiences..and I guess this is going to be more of a diary entry. But I do hope it makes a happy reading for you!

The journey to the US.. let me begin about the flight experience. I am little alarmed when it comes to security checks for married Indian women. The "Thaali(mangal suthra) and Metti(ring worn on your toes)" makes the security guards suspicious. However the security check in Chennai airport got over easily. The first part of the flight from Chennai to Frankfurt went on easily. There was a TV screen in front of my seat and time flew by. We had a four hour break in Frankfurt where we made calls home using the pay phone and credit card. There wasn't much security check here, though we were advised to remove our belts before the security check. Women were advised to remove bangles too and I was worrying if I will have to remove all my glass bangles, a dozen on each hand, however the security official was considerate and she let me go. The second half of the journey was very difficult. I was advised to stay awake so I can cope with the Day Night shift easily and handle the jet lag. But it was going to be a difficult task. There was no TV for every seat. I did doze off for a while but not continuously. The airlines provided two meals in this flight and it did keep me busy for a while. Then I watched the Ice Age 3 relayed on the common TV and then part of the movie Julie and Julia. The map showed that we were near the zone where day ends and night begins. I was eagerly waiting to experience that change but some how our flight did not cross such a zone.

In the LA airport there was a very big queue in the Immigration. There were not much questions for me being on a dependent visa. Then there was a big queue to the exit. I noticed a peculiar sight - a lady official with a dog. The dog was wearing kind of a dress stating "Protection of American Agriculture". I came to know that this dog goes about sniffing baggages and if it suspects seeds, we will be questioned. And then there was one more counter where we have to declare if we have food items or not. If you have food items, you are sent to another counter where each of your food item is checked. This is to ensure that no disease causing stuff enters the US. These kind of security features fascinated me.

We reached outside the LA airport and booked for a shuttle. The shuttle is nothing but a van which transports you with your luggage and will be shared by other passengers if any, (kind of our share autos back in India but in a bigger manner).

It surprised me to be able to see the sky on all sides of me. Back home, we can see only buildings all over the place. All buildings were low rise , most of them not exceeding three floors. Only a few buildings were sky high. So I realized not all of the US is a concrete jungle.

Then the road system; every where there are lines, white, yellow and dotted white, proper arrows and signals everywhere. The lane system and people following the signals properly, signals for pedestrians was fascinating. I came to know of the term Jay walking existed after reaching here. Reason why people follow rules; you will be given a "ticket" if you do not abide by the rules ; this will happen immediately when a cop car watching you follows you or the cameras notice you breaking rules. The moment a cop car follows you, you have to stop and the cop then gives you a ticket.
This may be a fine in terms of cash or if in case of a severe violation, you may have to appear in a court. More than any of this, your violation will be tracked with your driver's license and your insurance premium will also increase.

After about an hour's drive, we reached Burbank to our new "Home Sweet Home" located in the first floor. The time was around 4.30 PM and it had started becoming dark. The temperature was about 20 degrees. A complete shift for me as I have been in a place where its hot hot hot all around the year except for a few weeks.

With a nice feeling of being in a new place and beginning of a new life, I stepped into our new home.