After my flight last Wednesday, I arrived at 3:00 pm (local Philadelphia time) on the airport of Philadelphia. Thanks to some nice movies & nice people around me, the flight was not so boring this time! I sat next to a girl from San Francisco, who told me about the tiger that had escaped from the Frisco Zoo (after which I told her about Bokito in the Netherlands). After immigration checks at the airport (sir, what are you going to do again?) I was able to get my rental car: a Chevy Cobalt! Nice car.
With the car and some short driving directions I drove to my apartment in Wilmington, DE. The car drove perfect, however I was extremely surprised to see the apartment: full of luxury! HD-TV’s, walk-in closet, washer, dryer, dishwasher, fitness, a large garage and concierge services. However the balcony is not of good use: despite the sunny-looking pictures, the wind makes it very cold over here.
The first days are scheduled to arrange a lot of stuff: get a social security number, open a bank account, buy an American SIM card for my phone, and doing some groceries. Doing groceries is completely different than the Netherlands: you park your car next to a large grocery store, which is a bit hard to find between all the McDonald’s and Burger Kings, and if you found one they often don’t even sell fresh fruits or vegetables. Thank god I love chicken wings. And Starbucks is always here to save me!
The people are very kindly, they are often surprised by the idea of me coming all the way from Amsterdam for a job. In the meantime, the TVs are focused on the pre-elections of the 2008 Presidency elections; the first pre-elections were in Iowa last Thursday. They used to interrupt TV shows for the last news about these pre-elections. Small detail: often, the two winners of the first pre-elections have to fight for presidency in the end of the year.
I will start with my job next Monday. I am curious about what to expect, now that I have been preparing this for so long… I’ll keep you informed!
Daniel
