When we landed in Minneapolis on 1st Jan 2010 we thought the flight had instead landed in Alaska! Even as we stepped out of the airport to get into the cab my legs started cramping!! My DNA was structured to live in tropical temperatures, Minneapolis was far far from that I'd think! We were totally unprepared for this cold! AJ's organization gave him a 2 day notice to relocate to the USA from India, so it was proportional that they gave us a one day notice to relocate to Minneapolis from Columbus, Ohio. Finding a mover and packer on New Year's Eve had been our worst nightmare but somehow we had found a good samaritan and now we were here in Minneapolis! We didn't know how long we'd be here and honestly at that point we didn't wish to be there for too long! It was late in the night and as the cab drove through 494 we saw what then seemed liked mountains of snow by the road! Brrrr.....
We reached Candlewood Suites next to portland avenue and as we checked in an eerie silence fell upon us.... we were wondering if we had done the right thing with AJ accepting this assignment. I am a hardcore South Indian with little exposure to winter. Even on my multitudes of vacation I had studiously avoided winters what with my perennial sinus problems I hardly needed any cold! I had just turned down a couple of employment offers, the year 2009 wasn't a great time to be looking for employment, in that environment I had cracked interviews and turned down jobs to come to this place...did I need a mental check up???
Thinking these thoughts, it was the longest climb up 2 floors to our sute (if you want to call it that, these IT companies sponsored really lousy pads for their employees in the name of cost cutting!)
With AJ's company things were never well planned! His visa had to be moved from one client to the other and since they hadn't done the needful AJ couldn't report to work here... after hurrying us into this Snow mine it was some very frustrating days for us!! Holed up in the room there was little to do, outdoors was not really 'walkable' and indoors with the heater on was claustrophobic. Our car was yet to arrive from Columbus and those first few days truly felt like a prison life. Once the car arrived he headed off to work leaving me alone in the hotel. I was also interviewing with his organization for th eposition of a Retail Consultant. All my life I had religiously avoided IT and now it was time to jump in the bandwagon... :( For me, ever since I had watched 'FRIENDS' and seen that Rachel Green was a 'Buyer' I had wanted to be the same!! At first my dad was simply amused with this, slowly he realized it was truly what I wanted to do! So I had done my Masters in Retail Merchandizing and made a pretty successful career for myself as buyer in India. Even in Columbus, I had gotten jobs in the same field.. somehow in Minneapolis it was time to change. So here I was at the end of Jan 2010- a retail consultant in an IT firm!!
In Feb 2010 we moved into an apartment in Eagan, the apartment was closer to AJ's office than mine. We had only one car between the 2 of us and got into a rhythm where he'd drop me to work in the morning and pick me up in the evening. Ofcourse, life was a far cry from the independent ones we had in Bangalore! I had my own car there and I'd had one ever since I was doing my Masters, so life without a vehicle of my own made me feel soooooo handicapped! But so it was, we didn't want to spend more monies on a car and neither did my apartment give us 2 covered parking lots! Clearing the snow off your car in this city was a daunting task!!
So our first experience of Winter began, we are outdoorsy people. Hence after 4 weeks of heading out only for grocery shopping it was time we did something else. We tried braving the cold and headed to a nearby state park only to realize why no one else was trying such antics!! At one point I dropped the glass I was holding in my hand since it was freezing and I didn't even realize I'd dropped it!! Slowly MOA was the only place we could hang out in..but then being cash strapped and mall trapped is a very bad combination..almost every visit was depressing! :-( In March the snow started clearing a bit and just as we thought we'd seen the last of the snow it would snow again!! This was the dirtiest month yet I think, the snow was dirty and slushy!! At times we had \ice storms' where in we'd have some sleet rains and then all the roads will be covered with ice!! Gosh the curvy exits of 494 were the most dangerous during these ice storms. We had witnessed several incidents where the car ahead of us would just slide off the road!! Happened to a cop's car once.. and we had a wry smile as we thought about how he'd be dialling 911 now!! :-)
April was relatively better, by now we could brave the cold and we visited Highland Park near Richfield. It had an Osprey's nest and many herons. The events listed a program where they'd free some falcons that were injured and had now fully recovered. So the next weekend we spent in the same park watching some lovely red tailed hawks and kestrels that were set free. The park staff also put out some Bald Eagles and other falcons that were currently in their captivity for a display. It was heart warming to see kids being taught about these creatures and we ourselves learnt a lot at that program!
One of those weekends we also headed to the Como zoo for a pleasant tour. Surprisingly they had no entry fee and we could donate as much as we pleased at the entrance to the conservatory!! We loved this zoo, the cats seemed quite happy with each of them enjoying a lot of space for themselves!
By now winter was almost at an end and we had survived our first season here at Minneapolis!! :-)
We reached Candlewood Suites next to portland avenue and as we checked in an eerie silence fell upon us.... we were wondering if we had done the right thing with AJ accepting this assignment. I am a hardcore South Indian with little exposure to winter. Even on my multitudes of vacation I had studiously avoided winters what with my perennial sinus problems I hardly needed any cold! I had just turned down a couple of employment offers, the year 2009 wasn't a great time to be looking for employment, in that environment I had cracked interviews and turned down jobs to come to this place...did I need a mental check up???
Thinking these thoughts, it was the longest climb up 2 floors to our sute (if you want to call it that, these IT companies sponsored really lousy pads for their employees in the name of cost cutting!)With AJ's company things were never well planned! His visa had to be moved from one client to the other and since they hadn't done the needful AJ couldn't report to work here... after hurrying us into this Snow mine it was some very frustrating days for us!! Holed up in the room there was little to do, outdoors was not really 'walkable' and indoors with the heater on was claustrophobic. Our car was yet to arrive from Columbus and those first few days truly felt like a prison life. Once the car arrived he headed off to work leaving me alone in the hotel. I was also interviewing with his organization for th eposition of a Retail Consultant. All my life I had religiously avoided IT and now it was time to jump in the bandwagon... :( For me, ever since I had watched 'FRIENDS' and seen that Rachel Green was a 'Buyer' I had wanted to be the same!! At first my dad was simply amused with this, slowly he realized it was truly what I wanted to do! So I had done my Masters in Retail Merchandizing and made a pretty successful career for myself as buyer in India. Even in Columbus, I had gotten jobs in the same field.. somehow in Minneapolis it was time to change. So here I was at the end of Jan 2010- a retail consultant in an IT firm!!
In Feb 2010 we moved into an apartment in Eagan, the apartment was closer to AJ's office than mine. We had only one car between the 2 of us and got into a rhythm where he'd drop me to work in the morning and pick me up in the evening. Ofcourse, life was a far cry from the independent ones we had in Bangalore! I had my own car there and I'd had one ever since I was doing my Masters, so life without a vehicle of my own made me feel soooooo handicapped! But so it was, we didn't want to spend more monies on a car and neither did my apartment give us 2 covered parking lots! Clearing the snow off your car in this city was a daunting task!!
So our first experience of Winter began, we are outdoorsy people. Hence after 4 weeks of heading out only for grocery shopping it was time we did something else. We tried braving the cold and headed to a nearby state park only to realize why no one else was trying such antics!! At one point I dropped the glass I was holding in my hand since it was freezing and I didn't even realize I'd dropped it!! Slowly MOA was the only place we could hang out in..but then being cash strapped and mall trapped is a very bad combination..almost every visit was depressing! :-( In March the snow started clearing a bit and just as we thought we'd seen the last of the snow it would snow again!! This was the dirtiest month yet I think, the snow was dirty and slushy!! At times we had \ice storms' where in we'd have some sleet rains and then all the roads will be covered with ice!! Gosh the curvy exits of 494 were the most dangerous during these ice storms. We had witnessed several incidents where the car ahead of us would just slide off the road!! Happened to a cop's car once.. and we had a wry smile as we thought about how he'd be dialling 911 now!! :-)
April was relatively better, by now we could brave the cold and we visited Highland Park near Richfield. It had an Osprey's nest and many herons. The events listed a program where they'd free some falcons that were injured and had now fully recovered. So the next weekend we spent in the same park watching some lovely red tailed hawks and kestrels that were set free. The park staff also put out some Bald Eagles and other falcons that were currently in their captivity for a display. It was heart warming to see kids being taught about these creatures and we ourselves learnt a lot at that program!
One of those weekends we also headed to the Como zoo for a pleasant tour. Surprisingly they had no entry fee and we could donate as much as we pleased at the entrance to the conservatory!! We loved this zoo, the cats seemed quite happy with each of them enjoying a lot of space for themselves!
By now winter was almost at an end and we had survived our first season here at Minneapolis!! :-)
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