Getting out at last

So, if you've been keeping up with the blog the last week or so you've probably noticed that I haven't been doing much except surfing the internet while laying in bed. And you know, okay it's a bit of a waste of life considering that I'm actually in a different city and what but coming off my forced bedrest of yay ten days and then Sameer disappearing of to campus (loneliness is me) and the depressingly overcast weather, there was really nothing pushing me to move. Seriously, the one day I just got up to brush my teeth. And then I just sat here with my laptop in front of me, remote control nearby and a handy supply of Garrett's popcorn to snack on. Fortunately I'd also gotten a bottle of water for myself the previous night and that was right next to the bed so I really didn't have to move at all for a good ten hours. :P Pathetic - I know! But imagine how cool and futuristic it would sound if I was telling this story fifty years ago. You have this little electronic book on your lap and from there you can play games, watch movies, read books, the paper, magazines, write your journal, send "telegrams" to your friends, and even have a telephone conversation with your parents. Do you really ever need to move? I think there's a horror story in this somewhere or at least a very creepy revisionist version of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window.

At last, yesterday I actually dragged my sorry ass out of bed but only as far as the Citi Bank one street over to collect our bank cards and then four blocks the other direction to go to the supermarket for supplies. It was during this walk that I realized we live only a few blocks from Harpo Studios. I started to wonder if I shouldn't spend a few mornings hovering around in the hope of catching sight of some celebrity or Oprah herself.

Today we woke up late and decided to go to Navy Pier to have a look around. We caught the bus one street over and it was on the way there that we realized this pier probably had a very kiddy orientation. The bus was filled with parents and children, most of who were whining and screaming. Sameer and I started having second thoughts about that baby issue. :P

Anyway, we got there and started to wander around. The building itself looks like the Waterfront. Lots of munchies, bits and bobs being sold from barrows in an atrium, loads of food shops and an Imax cinema. Outside it's similar to Kalk Bay or Simonstown area with a sort of Sea Point vibe. Lots of people walking along the pier, kids in buggies, people rollerblading or biking. And we noticed loads of young girls dressed as cheerleaders. It turns out that a cheerleading competition had been held at the convention center by the pier. I didn't really want to whip out my camera and take pics of the scantily clad little girls (how creepy!) but this group were all posing for their entourage of mums, dads and grans so I took the liberty of sneaking a pic.

Then, because there wasn't much else to do, we decided to ride the ferris wheel ourselves. Here's a picture taken from the top.



After that we collected fliers for bike and boat tours and decided to come back another day. And then we headed back up to Michigan Avenue and found ourselves once again at Borders. We checked out a lot of travel books for the USA because we're hoping to take a few side trips along the way. We also got coffee but it was so disgusting, we've sworn off it.

After that, we started walking back in the direction of home. Along the way we stopped at a place called Wow Bao, which looks awesome and tastes great! The decor was sort of a split between Simply Asia and Vida and the food was Asian fusion - slightly Chinese, slightly Thai. They had these little buns called "bao" which are made of a sweet dough and stuffed with your choice of fillings, then steamed in a pot. They are yummy! You can also get Thai style soup with Chinese style dumplings in them. The dumplings are similar to the boa, just shaped differently and with different flavoured fillings inside. And the other great thing they had there was the iced ginger ale, which is made with freshly grated ginger. Fabulously refreshing and a great change from gassy, over-sweet cooldrinks. For me, it's even better than Panda Express and is now on the top of my list of favourite fast food places in Chicago.

After that we stopped at another Borders where they were having a draw for Wicked tickets and we tried our luck but failed. Incidentally, they drew about ten names and three times people turned down the tickets because their partners had just won the previous round. It was so strange. Anyway, we've decided to go back for tomorrow's draw. You never know, we might get lucky.

Sunny becoming overcast

My day today started off good and then went downhill and has now evened out. I woke up at the crack of dawn. Okay, it was a quarter to seven but that is way too early for any unemployed person to wake up! Not sure why I woke up that early. Mayhap it was because I could feel a thudding through our too thin walls. Sameer was still fast asleep probably because he couldn't sleep last night and was pacing up and down til all hours. Anyway, I grabbed the laptop and started doing Google searches for Disney related things. The reason for this? Well, just before I woke up, I dreamed that I was looking at a Google Map of the Orlando area in Florida and hotels around Disney World. So my waking thought was "I wonder if my mind actually filled in all those details in the left hand panel in a realistic way..." It was very strange. Sameer eventually woke up and was all groggy and wot and I was peer pressured into showering. *sigh*

He also cunningly requested that I walk into town with him as we were going the same way. He was going to Millenium Station to catch the train to campus and I was supposed to be going to Randolph Street - the theater district - to see about tickets to see Wicked (the musical) and to get a travel guide from Borders. And I know this is a ploy, like him offering me coffee when I don't want to wake up from a nap but have assignments to do, or making me breakfast to get me out of bed. I'm sure he thought that if he didn't get me out of the apartment right then I would be googling things until he came back home. Well, I can't blame him. He's probably right.

So we started walking and he mentions that, in future, he's thinking of taking a bus to campus coz it would drop him off right "There". We look over and there's the bus that will take him to campus. So I'm like "Well, why don't you just take it now? Then you don't have to rush for the train." Epiphany moment for Parker. So I walk him to the bus and say my goodbyes and then, all grown up and independent, start walking up Madison. Then I realize I've forgotten which corner the bookshop I'm looking for is on. Ah well. Street names and directions were never my forte. Follow my nose is what I do. And I figured I'd recognize the right street name when I saw it, so off I went.

Well, I did recognize the street and managed to find Randolph, so yay for me. I was feeling pretty good. The sun was out and it was warm (you know you've been away from home a long time when 9 degrees is warm) and I was feeling good. I decided to walk into odd looking building that I was passing and was I glad I did. It's called the James R. Thompson Center and it's even more interesting looking on the inside than on the outside. It's got all sorts of red girders and glass panels and exposed elevators and is basically a huge atrium. It's very nifty. There's a food court on the lower floor, shops on the ground floor, and government and business offices on the sixteen floors above.

There was a budget shoeshop inside and at first I was looking for boots but then realized that the season for that is over here. Ah well. I found some soft, sneaker type thingies with velcro straps the I really liked and it turned out they were on sale. So I got my foot measured for the US size (I'm a 6.5/7) and looked for the right one but it turned out they didn't have any in my size left and then I was just sad.

On to Borders Books to look for a Lets Go USA, which I eventually found but then decided not to buy. I want to check on Amazon to see if I can get it cheaper. If not I can always go back. But I guess I must have been wandering around for too long in my oversized coat because suddenly all the sales assistants started staring at me and asking if I needed help and I practically felt hounded out of there. And that was when I started to feel a bit irritable.

Then I went back to the theater (which only opened after ten) to find out about Wicked tickets. The guy behind the desk couldn't understand what I was saying and I kept having to repeat myself. Maybe it's my accent but I also think it was the three inch glass between us. I felt like I was going deaf. I couldn't hear him and he couldn't understand/hear me. Eventually it turned out that they have a daily lottery for Wicked tickets but you can only enter at 2pm and then you have to be there at 5pm for the actual draw. (As if.) And the cheapest full price tickets, which get you seats in the last row of the balcony above, cost $35 each! So I left empty handed.

By this time it had become cold and overcast and I was feeling a bit miserable. I wanted a Panda Bowl for lunch but didn't think my moodiness justified the $5. So I decided to go to the market downstairs and get mixa-pancakes and maple syrup using the rationale "This will make at least five servings, and cover both lunch and breakfast tomorrow." I also finally gave in to my temptation to buy chocolate milk. You see, us Third World peeps have to get our milk, get our Nesquick, and spoons, and do a pouring and stirring thing. But here in the US of A, they charge you 49c for a pint (235ml) of premixed chocolate milk. And guess what? It tastes just like Nesquick. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. I was expecting a much smoother, more chocolaty flavour. Well, now I know.

Insular thinking

It all makes sense now. The reason why the average American knows so little about the world. I've been watching a lot of news on ABC and FOX and it's suddenly occurred to me that they have absolutely no world news section! Oh there's a sports section and a weather section and a finance section but no world news. Everything is US oriented and in fact pretty much all of the news that I've seen has to do with the mid-west ie just that middle portion of the US where Chicago is situated. What is up with that?

Chicago roundup

So I've been ill the last couple of days and feeling generally ugh. Sitting in bed with the laptop and tv remote controls nearby, the blinds open, and faithful hubby making frequent food runs. It would be fun, except for the fever and phlegm.

Anyway, here are some highlights from the last couple of days.





Though we're not huge fans of the zoo, Sunday was a Sunday and also, Easter Sunday so most things were closed. So we went down to Lincoln Park and the Lincoln Park Zoo (which is free) for a look around. It was pretty cool, as cool as zoos can be. The poor giraffe looked really really lonely. But at least the polar bear had a friend and a pool to swim in, the lions had their own little pride, and the gorillas had a whole family with both indoor and outdoor enclosures and the use of vertical space too.

Papa lion came into the indoor enclosure to roar at everybody and that was quite an experience given that we were standing two feet away. But the leopard was all alone and kept pacing and pacing and glaring at us with his beautiful green eyes. We felt kind of sad for him.

The gorillas were quite cool. We watched them play around, the smaller ones playing with the snow and tasting it. One of the younger ones ticked of Kwan, the big daddy, and he put on a bit of a display, growling and dragging branches around and generally intimidating the little ones. You probably know this zoo, the gorilla enclosures and Kwan from the movie Return to Me, with David Duchovny and Minnie Driver.

That was Sunday. On Monday we went down to Wicker Park (seen the movie Wicker Park?) for a look around. Well we got a bit lost when Sameer decided we should check out the local GameStop (video game trade store) and ended up in a fairly dodgy area. You know you're off the beaten track when you can't find any Starbucks anywhere. So we quickly scuttled back to the trendy part of town. It was a bit too trendy for us I think. I think people who like vintage clothes and designer clothes would really like it but we didn't go into those stores much.

One clothing store we did like was called The T-Shirt Deli. We didn't buy anything because they were a bit pricey but we just got such a kick out of being in the store. It was set up like a butchery or delicatessen with fridges and coolers and things but instead of meats or cheeses in the trays, there were t-shirts! The theme was carried through to every last detail. The t-shirts were garnished with parsley, the prices were written up on big chalkboards, and there was additional deli machinery all round. It was awesome!

There was a huge second hand bookstore with first hand book prices, called Myopic Books but it was so run down and cool that I know I'll go back some time. It reminded me of the old main library at UCT. (Check out the website for some good pics.) It spread over three floors and all the sci-fi and fantasy was in the basement. There was a grey and black striped cat purring and slithering around down there. He was cool but did't want to talk to me, only Sameer. They sell large cups of coffee for a dollar in the store and people come in, buy a cup and just mousey for ages. The weirdest thing about it was the huge papermache figure of a cop being pecked to death by a flock of pigeons, which was in the window.

The other cool shop we went into was a book store called Quimby's. Again, it just had the most awesome retro vibe. They sold comic books, philosophy books, photography books, magazines, and loads of independently published stuff. I told Sameer, Quimby's is what Wizard's should be like. But I must say there was an inordinate amount of comic book porn and fetish mags in there. Every time you turned around it was naughty, naked nurses and dildos. Sameer bought a Batman comic and we skedaddled.

The next day (Tuesday) we stayed in coz I was really feeling under the weather but we went out on Wednesday coz Sameer was going stir crazy indoors. We went to the Chicago Field Museum, which is the Museum of Natural History. It was huge and airy and bright and had the coolest exhibits. Their most famous exhibit is Sue, the T-Rex. It's the most complete T-Rex skeleton ever unearthed and I gotto say, she is scary as hell. The Ancient Americans exhibit and the Slavery exhibit were also pretty hectic. They also had some great photo exhibits. One details a science expedition to the North Pole and there was another all about women's rituals from around the world. Tres cool.

On the way home we finally spotted the Sears Tower, the third tallest building in the world. As I suspected, we can never see it because we're too close to it and all the other towers block it out. It's just a few blocks away from us.

And then we discovered our new favourite supermarket - Whole Foods Market. Everything in there looks so wholesome and fresh and yummy. I have to go back. They get extra special brownie points for stocking Nando's garlic peri peri sauce. Needless to say, we stocked up.

Oh, before I forget again. Another new thing we discovered in Chicago. We were walking down the street downtown and I thought it was starting to snow again. But then we realized that snow was blowing off the tops and sides of buildings and falling to the ground, sometimes in huge chunks. And that's when we also noticed the huge signs and placards up that said "Caution, falling ice." I never knew that could/would happen. Weird but kind of pretty.

Millennium Park and Michigan Avenue

I got up quite early the next morning, I think because my clock is still out of whack. The previous day, Sameer and I had spent a lot of time just looking out the window because we were just so taken in by the view of the buildings, the snow, and the cars coming and going below us. When I got up, I went to the window and looked out to see everything covered in snow. It was still snowing at that time and I noticed that there were only two lanes in the streets open for traffic.

Sameer got up shortly afterwards and we got showered and had breakfast. Before we left, we looked out again and by this time the clouds had gone, the sun was out, and someone must have been out with snow shovels and machines to move the snow from the streets because all the lanes were now clear, and parking lots and pavements were also snow free.

We took a walk up our street, Madison Street, all the way through to Millenium Park. Along the way we passed a number of Starbucks, a couple of Dunkin Donuts and a Garrett's Popcorn. We stopped to have Dunkin Donuts (the were okay) and I got a bag of caramel corn at one of Oprah's favourite Chicago traditions, Garrett's Popcorn. Near the end of the street we also came across a comic book store, which of course we had to go into.

Then on to the amazing Millennium Park. We wondered around all starry eyed and snapped away along with the other tourists. We were really entranced by the Cloud Gate Sculpture, which is more commonly known as The Bean. Can you tell why?

After that we walked through Grant Park which is across the highway, along the lake. It was a very plain park, no major centrepieces or flowers, probably because it was winter and totally snow. But with the benches facing the lake and the tall towers of the city as a backdrop, it was beautiful.

While we were there, we spotted a small group of people on a private tour. The strange thing about them was that they were all on these machines which I was raving about six months ago and for some reason now can't remember what they're called. :P Can anyone jog my memory? Anyway, after reading all about them on Slate and Wikipedia, it was really cool seeing them in real life and seeing how they move and turn. Cool. :)

Then made our way to Michigan Avenue, also known as the Magnificent Mile. It's a long street lined with posh shops. We couldn't really afford anything but we had a good time wandering through Macy's, Bloomingdales, the Apple Store (ohmigod), Levis and so on and so on. We did actually buy something in Borders (been in one, been in them all) where I picked up a copy of Wizard's First Rule to keep me occupied. Though I gotto say, pricewise we were both still missing the second hand bookshop in the market at Cambridge. Here's a picture of the city from Michigan Avenue.

We stopped for lunch at Pizzeria Uno, a famous pizza place which is listed in all the tour books. Predictably, it was packed and there was a 20 minute wait for a table and an hour long wait for the deep dish pizza. The pizza was divine though and Sameer has come away with a new idea - cheese underneath, chunky tomato sauce on top. Just to make you luss, a picture of the famous Chicago deep dish pizza. This is an individual sized pizza. We were going to order a medium but the lady who took our order took one look at us and said "I think it would be better if you ordered an individual." It was more than enough. We were stuffed after one slice and took the rest home for dinner.

Bloggin the Windy City

Wazzup ma homeys?!

Can you tell I'm watching Scrubs? No? Pretend JD just said that first line to Turk. Heheheh.

Anyway, I'm feeling slightly ill and slightly moody and I guess it's not the best way to write my first blog on the Windy City but I'm already soooo behind I have to get a move on.

Our flight from Heathrow was 8 hours long but because of the time difference we arrived only a few hours later. :P So it felt like one in the morning (of the 21st) for us but in Chicago was still only about 7pm on the 20th. When we got off the plane, we went through customs and they were very polite and professional and didn't give us any hassles except to make a few remarks about the hot pink ink we'd used to fill in our landing cards. (It was the only pen I had on hand.) But then we found out that BA had left one of our bags in London and it turned out to actually be the box that Sameer's Xbox was in, so there was some stress and drama that we didn't need.


We caught a taxi to the Best Western River Park North, checked in and took hot showers - bliss after the flight. It was also really cool having a TV in our room post-Wolfson. There was so much nonsense on the three channels we had access to and the one thing that really stood out was how much endorsements movie stars here do. Everything from Tylenol to Car Insurance was endorsed by some Hollywood person. And also, the news was all about the impending snow showers and whether the city had enough salt for all the roads and highways. When we woke up in the morning it was snowing, and not just light Davos snowing but seriously snowing.

We had breakfast in the hotel restaurant (the fluffiest pancakes I've ever had) gathered all our baggage and caught another taxi to Presidential Towers, where we'd rented an apartment for the duration of Sameer's term at the Chicago GSB. Erin, the leasing agent, gave us our access cards and keys and then took us through the building to show us all the amenities. Here are some pictures of Sameer standing outside the entrance to Towers 1 and 2, Sameer in the main foyer area, me outside the McDs downstairs, and then Sameer outside the supermarket which is also downstairs.






She also showed us where the laundry room, business center (ie computer room) and gym are. Alas, you actually have to pay for the gym membership but they have everything - pool, sauna, track, all cardio and weights machines, and studio sessions. We're still trying to decide whether to join or not as it's quite expensive.

Anyway, then we went to the room/apartment (ie studio) and looked around. We're in apartment 6 on our floor (there are 45 floors in the building) so our floorplan looks like this. It's small but bigger than our room at Wolfson, and it has comes with kitchen and tv, so it's definitely a step up!


Then we went back down to get our bags. Here's Sameer pushing the trolley thingey around with all our stuff on it.


And then the people from Cort Furniture Rentals came with all our stuff. Here's a pic of Sameer wandering around while they set the bed and the table up.

One of the guys had been in the US army for six years and he was telling us where the best place to get a tv stand was (we hadn't hired one) and where the closest grocery store was. Very friendly guy. Funniest thing about him was that his accent was exactly like Bill Paxton's in the movie Aliens. He sounded just like Hudson! I didn't realize people actually spoke like that. :P

After they left we unpacked the boxes they'd left with all the kitchen stuff and bedding in it. This company is so awesome and I think if anyone is ever relocating to the States they need to get this service. You order online and they deliver a set of boxes to you and it has everything you need in it -- different sized glasses, bowls, cups, saucers, plates, sideplates, pots, pans, knives, sieves, cutlery, baking implements, cooking implements, placemats, napkins, plastic food savers, dish clothes, toaster, coffee machine, telephone etc etc. There was only one thing they didn't get us and we found out that this is just an American thing. We have a coffee machine but no kettle. So if we ever want hot water, we have to boil it on the stove. Go figure. Anyway, point is, about an hour later we were all set up, and the place looked like this.




Then Sameer had to go register at the university so we took a taxi to the Metra station because it was snowing and we weren't exactly sure where the station was. Afterwards we realized that it is so close - just a few blocks - that we might as well have walked. The picture on the left was taken from inside the taxi as we drove down our street, Madison Street, which is right in downtown Chicago and slap bang in the center of everything. We are right near the offices for Citibank, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, JP Morgan, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The Chicago Civic Opera House is two blocks up the road and we're just one street over from the Chicago Theatre District. We walked down that street the other day and there are like three theatres within two blocks.

Also, another thing I noticed right away is that there is a Starbucks on every street corner. Okay, maybe not every street corner but I am not exaggerating when I saw that no matter which way you look, there is always a Starbucks in line of sight. Hectic! One of the taxi drivers we were speaking - a really sweet old Iranian guy - told us that it's because Chicago is such a cold city. The harder it snows, the more people make for the coffee shops.

Point? Oh yes, Hyde Park, where the University is. It was very quiet, I guess because it was Good Friday (we later saw a number of families coming out of churches) and because it was snowing steadily. We went to the Office of International Affairs and Sameer signed up and updated his contact details, then we went to the Graduate School of Business to look around. Here's a pic of their main foyer.


Then we headed back to the train station. It was snowing really hard by this time and the snow was stinging our faces, so we had to keep our faces down as we walked. We were both covered in snow and our feet were freezing too.

The train station at Hyde Park is really basic. Just a wooden staircase up to the platform, which is also made entirely of wood. It has no kiosks or benches or anything, just the wooden platform that the train pulls up to. Also, there is no-one at the ticket office so you have to buy your tickets from a vending machine. We were looking at the stairs and I saw what I thought might be either snow or salt. I asked Sameer to test it but he didn't want to, so I picked up a piece and tasted it. Yep, definitely salt! The salt helps melt the snow off stairs, sidewalks and roads.



So we caught the train back to Millenium Station, the Metra station we'd originally left from, and then caught another taxi to Target, which is sort of like Hypermarket. We got some groceries and detergents there and also a shower curtain for the bathroom. Here's a nifty pic of this escalator they have for shopping carts. You push your trolley onto a special track and then get onto the escalator yourself, and it meets you at the top. Tres cool!


After the shopping we very fortunately caught a taxi back home (Target is quite far from us!) and then went upstairs to unpack the rest of our stuff. Also, Sameer called a company called RCN and organized for them to come through the next day to hook us up with cable and high speed internet. And that was it for day one for us.