Thanksgiving 2012

I got invited to spent Thanksgiving in Chicago. My cousin Irma invited to visit them. I was excited. I made all the arrangements at work to leave Wednesday early. I bought the Amtrak tickets online. I prepared everything. I have a lot of experience traveling so I knew what I needed. I made the laundry and got books to read on the way. I recharge my ipod battery and checked the weather at my destination.

My cousin picked me up at the Chicago Union Station. I met her husband. I arrived at midnight so we went straight to a bar in the mexican district. I spent the night at her place. Next day I met my cousin Joe and his wife Eligia. On the same house that he just bought were living my aunt Irma and his other son Raul. I was really nice to talk to them. They were asking me a lot about my brothers. They told me several stories about them when they were living in Tampico. Schools that I didnt know they existed.

Chicago is a really interesting city. Thats where they filmed the Batman movies. I could recognize the scenes from the movies. Irma took me to Millenium Park. I really like the mirror bean attraction. We also saw part of the thanksgiving parade. We arrived late so we saw part of the ending.

Thanksgiving dinner was good. Irma's husband prepared the turkey. He brought a special "thing" to cook it outside. It was a lot of food. They all say thanks to several things before eating. That was the special ceremony for them. I ate a lot of food. Everything was really good.

Dulce wanted to go for black friday but nobody else wanted. I wanted to go since it could be my first time. But she was drinking and went to sleep early around 7pm. I went to bed around 11am. She tried to call Rosario and me to go to black friday around 2am but I was sleeping already. No way I will change my pijama and go out in the middle of the morning with that weather.

Chicago weather is similiar on temperature to Detroit. The only big difference is the wind. It is windy so the temperature feels worst.

Uncle Joe took me to best buy. He wanted a new laptop but it was so full and with big lines. I hate crowded places. I prefer to pay more and to avoid people. Dulce took me to Navy Pier. I liked there. It was beautiful. I just love cities that have water shores or attractions. Based on my zodiac horoscope I am a water sign. Probably that is the reason I love water.

I called aunt Perla to make arrangement to visit her. Everybody was surprise. Apparently my aunts dont get along that well. They avoid each other or at least that's what they think. We went to visit Aunt Perla. I met my cousins from that side. It is funny how I have blond/white relatives. As a mexican everybody expects me to have brown relatives. I was happy to have blond relatives. I was thinking that maybe I was born on the wrong side of the family. My life would be much better if I was blond with blue eyes.

Chicago was a good experience. I love to travel and to learn about my roots. I have so much family that I still have to meet again. A few cousins are in New York. I should travel again there and see if I can meet them.

I am glad that technology like Facebook exist so I can keep in touch with them. It is much easier to learn what are they up to and to share pictures with them.

I am thinking that maybe I should organize and put more pictures. I was hesitating to upload pictures regarding the stupid facebook privacy policies. But I learned about the filters and sharing only with family. I will select the best recent pictures to upload.

I hope I can visit my relatives more often. Maybe work from home and go to Chicago for a full week.

Living in Michigan USA

So finally Accenture gave me the opportunity to come on a project on the USA. I was given the opportunity to work and live in Southfield Michigan. The difference between Accenture and Focusframe will be the payroll. Now I will be living with american payroll and benefits.

My journey began with a 4 day road trip. Traveling from Monterrey, Mexico to Southfield Michigan took me 4 days. My mother wanted to come with me. It was a good trip. No problem at all. The first day here was difficult. I couldnt find a good apartment. I was so worry about that. Next day God heard me and I found a good studio at a really good price. The manager at the building made everything easy and in the first 30 min I had my first US apartment. My first apartment.

I had to register for the utility bills. I had to go to each company and put everything on my name. I felt like a real american.

I didnt like my first week of work. The senior manager was on vacation and nobody was expecting me. The company didnt know what to do with me. So I was sitting alone doing nothing.

I met Ryan, the canadian lead. He was working on my previous project but I never met him. It looks like I was following him to this project. He was really cool and we hang out a lot. He had to leave the company and a new lead will replace him. I still keep in touch with him through facebook and cellphone sms.

My new lead is also technical but kind of old. It is difficult to deal with old people. My senior manager left the project and a manager replaced her. So far it was a good change.

I do like the american living. I just hope I could have a nice girlfriend to hang out with. I was lucky to meet Armando, my neighbor, in the parking lot. He was wearing a mexican jersey and that's how I knew he is mexican. Since that day we were hanging out. I met his roommate, Eli. He is cool too. He invited me to his mom's wedding. I went to his hometown and I met his whole family.

Armando and Eli now leave somewhere else. I was able to convince them to join my gym so I see them almost daily there. I also see them on the weekends.

I found a kickboxing gym. Although is not the same as the Box Evolution in Monterrey is still good. At least I can do cardio exercise and keep not gaining weight. I am still around the 69-70 kg weight.