10 days in America

After a long 10-hour flight, I find myself in front of an American customs officer; he stamps my passport without batting an eye. Walking out of immigration I see Dean waiting for me with seven roses. He might not know that in Poland it is considered a lucky number. Later I will see Brandon from 90210 walking out of the same door.

And this is how my adventure in America began. I spent the first few days in a beautiful location - Newport Beach. I had already been to U.S. a couple of times, but in August I decided to stay here for a little longer.

Beaches here are not primarily for tourists, and unfortunately the water is not great for swimming. However plenty of surfers enjoyed the ocean waves. Sometimes I could see dolphins in the distance; sometimes I would see pelicans flying overhead.

About Los Angeles, the city that I saw a couple of times usually while traffic, I will write later.

Americans love to eat and go to restaurants. In just the past two weeks, I have already tried Mexican, American, Mediterranean and Asian foods. At home we cooked a popular local dish -properly seasoned swordfish. I noticed that portions served here are generally too large, and very often clients take leftovers to the ,,to go boxes''.

Recently at the Cheesecake Factory, a very popular chain restaurant here, I found a list of 26 kinds of a cheesecake:  fresh banana cream cheesecake, extreme dream cheesecake, dulce de leche caramel cheesecake, pineapple upside-down cheesecake … Well, living large:)

It seems to me, that Americans drink coffee all the time, so I was surprised to find out that they do not excel in international rankings of coffee consumption.  However, Starbucks' green logo has become an omnipresent part of the urban local architecture. The first Starbucks opened its doors in Pike Place Market in 1971 in Seattle.

Interestingly, a new law requiring information on the calorie content of each item, available in this well-known franchise, has been recently introduced.

Still, on the west coast it is very difficult to get a normal, instant coffee. After a few attempts, I finally settled upon instant coffee from Whole Foods.

Just as previously we waited for food parcels from the West, I may now place orders for delivery of coffee with a request to send overseas. 

Of course, like the Poles, Americans spend a lot of time in the malls. Recently, in one of which, I even found a shop of the famous Polish beauty line “Inglot’’.

Each store has a welcoming atmosphere, so when walking around the store you will nearly always hear someone asking: "did you find everything ok so far?''.  Sometimes it's overwhelming, but the attentive atmosphere around the client is authentic, and it seems to me that it’s not a strained standard.

As for the shops, a few days ago already in Bellevue (in Washington State, where we currently live), I learned that the available weight scales which show the dimensions in kilograms are the so-called "old-school" ones:)

This is my first blog entry, I will add more, I'll be very glad if you, dear friends, visit me here from time to time.

Helena

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