Goodbye, the Windy City!
Two of our roommates left last night and this morning; having a great happy hours with the managers here at Des Plaines; done all the hectic packing and shipping this afternoon myself; and lastly, cooked my last meal at the Pavilion; filmed the last videos at the apartment...all these are just reminding me this is my last day living in Chicago. To be honest, I am definitely coming back to visit the city but it is unlikely that I will be settled here even though I did have a great time with the company, the colleagues and quite some new experiences in Chicago and I like the fabulous city! (well, I am still very sure, NYC is going to be my next stop, before my final settling at the home soil...)
Yesterday a colleague of mine said, "You guys must be used to leaving a place..." Indeed, it is YES and NO: yes, the relocating concept is not a news or trouble somehow for me, I managed it; but it is still pretty hard to adjust to the fact that you built up all the "guan xi" with your fellows and finally getting to know more of a city; and then you have to go.
On the other hand though, I still like the fact that my job offers me these great chances of traveling and living in different places - exactly one of the major reason why I decided to join this program from my former great job in China. It is also a great time for me to move on. I feel like after the winter and living in the suburb, I lost a little momentum of my traveling/sightseeing bug. The perfect has come, I will start a new life and explore the West Coast starting tomorrow! There are way too many cities in my mind now, esp. given the fact that I only have an 8-week stay in Los Angeles! Another thing makes me so delighted for the upcoming move is, the fact that May is coming and I will go home in June and LA is just so close to home...afterall, I do miss all those I love and home - the city of Hong Kong. I am glad that I am going to see it again; even though when I get back, I might want to leave for travels again =P
Last Week in Chicago
Farewell to the Windy City - Chicago
The long winter might have gone (well, who knows but it definitely gets warmer now in the city), however I still think I have yet to see more of Chicago...
Just like my friend who is also a trainee in town quoted, "the winter here is so long that, once the sun came out and seemed warmer, restaurants are having their tables out and you see people jogging, running dogs, biking, etc..." One thing is rather affirmative though, Chicago in Summer and Chicago in Winter are surely two entirely distinctive worlds!
Being the last weekend I stay in Chicago, I took the opportunity to see the number one rated "Thing to See" - The Art Institute of Chicago yesterday and it was a great afternoon I spent: so many nice European art pieces, the French oil paintings, the Greek statues, German Armors; so as Asian artifacts and American, as well as contemporary exhibits. Then, I went to the beach for the first time today and that was the first ever, ever time I have seen so many people gathering in the public so far in Chicago! All sorts of activities, though the water is too cold for anyone to swim yet, there are volleyball playing, biking, running, kayaking, speed-boating. It was just a colorful scene of the beautiful forthcoming Spring/Summer season.
Well, I am still lucky to at least see part of this nice weather; will try to come back later in its summer and check out the welknown outdoor concerts and festivals, etc...
Ciao ciao Chicago and hola the City of Angels!
CK at the Home of Chicago White Sox - US Cellular Field
You Just Can't Believe It - another free MLB game!
Sometimes you just don't know what could happen...
Imagine walking down to the company's pantry, as normally as we do in the morning to fetch our coffee/tea; we met our CEO and talked about all our experiences so far in Chicago. Well, with the cold weather and the pause of professional football, baseball seasons, we really have not seen the best of the city. Having said that though, the sports season just started and guess what - we got some company tickets to get to see the World Series Champions 2005 - Chicago White Sox!
To be honest, I am still a hardcore soccer fan and getting to know more about baseball, but hanging out in the ballpark and having some great Chicago style hotdogs (with onions, pickles and mustard/ketup) and enjoy the game with some friends and colleagues is a great experience. So, we were at the home field of the Sox, US Cellular Field in the south side of the Chicago. The stadium was a new one and it is a great stadium - good looking and with a lot of commercial elements and we benefited from one of those indeed. We got some free Sox/Pontiac tees by filling out a simple survey on spot. We also got to hang out in the bar in the stadium and watch the players warming up before we headed back to the seats. The seats were great, pretty close to the first base where the foul balls came out at (some people did catch the balls though we did not). Besides, we got to appear on ESPN for a couple of times as we were close to the players and being just right across from the cameras.
So, that was my third live baseball experience, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox; and the latter two were within a week - unbelievable!
Experiencing the real America, after 15 months
We painted these Easter Eggs!!!
Happy Easter!!! Thanks for my roommate, I had a great Easter holiday this weekend and I am pretty sure I had finally experienced some genuine American cultures! Driving from Chicago to Ottawa, Ohio (yes, not the capital of Canada), with the 5-hour scenic and mostly countryside view of Illinois, Indiana/Iowa and Ohio States, we reached a small town, but might well become my best experience, after 15 months of stay in continental US:
1) Welcome to America
Everybody in my roommate's family is so welcoming and kind to me and I felt like I was at home and shared with them all the happiness in the holiday. I also got to see a lot of "real" American lifestyle and scenery - among them are corn field, horse/cow/goat farms, gorgeous little town houses/neighborhood, county fair ground, driving in the middle of nowhere (sometimes), fresh air/smell from crops and water, etc...
2) Valuable Family Life
Again, thanks for the fact that I was invited to join the big family Easter reunion, I got to see 3 generations of my host family, with 5 immediate families or households; and my most favorite part of all - having some great time talking with the members in the family and spending precious times with the adorable little boy and girls! Being able to spend time actually sitting outside in a backyard to read, to chat around a campfire, to look for the dipers and shooting stars. Grown up in Hong Kong and been in cities almost all my previous experiences, that was a very rewarding, unique and eye-opening experience for me!
3) Food and Beverages
Of course, the homely Easter Sunday dinner was the pick of the trip to Ottawa, but the pizza burger I had in a diner, pizzas at the local pub and having beer and buying raffle tickets at a membership pub are certainly other highlights!
Thank you Nic for bringing me an unforgettable and impressive experience!!!
Ottawa, I am going to miss you...
How about this - 2 professional games in 24 hours!
Maybe helping me to make up the time I lost to see more of Chicago - I got this great chance to see Chicago Bulls (NBA) and Chicago Cubs (MLB) home games last night and this afternoon. Given the fact that I have a free ticket to see the Cubs and got a nice deal from ebay for the Bulls game, they were both very rewarding and fun experiences for me!
It is very interesting when I think of my encounter with professional sports in my US stay so far. I had no idea about American Football nor Baseball and had not watched any live basketball game before - however, after being treated to the Yankees game by my good friend in New York City; winning a pair of free tickets to NFL game in Florida for Tampa Bay Buccaneers and now Cubs and Bulls games - I have been enjoying them very much! I guess it makes me feel "guilty" on the other hand; as a football (or soccer) fan, I have only watched two live professional games uptil now! (One when Manchester United visited Hong Kong for a friendly and then the semi-final match of Asian Cup 2004 in Beijing between Bahrain and Iran - yes, I missed the Japan vs China final!)
Well well, no problem, I enjoyed going to every single stadium - the welknown Yankee Stadium in Bronx, the great atmosphere in Raymond James in Tampa, then the United Center and Wrigley Field...now, I have to plan seriously on my long time dream - going to the Theatre of Dream: Old Trafford, home of the mighty Manchester United!!!
MLB Chicago Cubs vs Cincinnati Reds
I'm at United Center - Let's Go BULLS!!!
It's Spring time in Chicago FINALLY!!
Spring time in Chicago!
April 10th, it was the first time my roommates and I went out to have some exercises this afternoon after work - well, let me amend it, they did some exercises but me resting and reading underneath the tree in the park mostly.
Between the great sunshine and warm weather (it's actually around 70F today!), we enjoyed the outdoor trip at this park close to our place. Most importantly, we finally enjoyed some warmer weather that we can actually chill out and enjoy Chicago!
It was not easy for me to just watching people playing soccer balls but not getting involved though - well, I still better listen to my doctor, I will put off sports for now and I know I will do it later. Meanwhile, I love my book from Collina though. It was great to do a reading under the tree, and with my Sony MP3 on...it is just another kind of leisure!
A Precious Moment
As I mentioned earlier, indeed I got hit by a racquetball into my left eye and spent quite some time resting - I am feeling much much better now after 2 weeks, though I still keep seeing my eye doctor at the moment. It was a tough time but I do think this is also a precious moment for me, as I do gain quite some things...
Feeling the love sent from families and close friends in Hong Kong/China, I feel very strong to face the incident. I got a lot of warm and caring words, healthy tea and even nice CDs to listen to =)
Also, I feel really lucky and blessed - as my doctor also told me the cut in my eye was very close to be a severe injury and a serious concern. Indeed, I did not even need a surgery and all I need until now is the magical part for the recovery - my body heels by itself! (well, I got some different eyedrops but they are more for comforting/disinfecting purposes)
Meanwhile, I have two great roommates who took me to the ER and accompanied me all night there; and drove me to my appointment everytime - that is also very sweet. Thanks Nic and Kobby!!!
Now, only one thing worrying me is I am having less time to see the Chicago city, since I will be moving to Los Angeles in about 3 weeks.
