250 Carlson Parkway, Minneapolis

Chicago to Minneapolis was just an hr more of flying! Luckily I didn't have to wait at the conveyor belt for my baggage as it reached there a day before! I saw my red suitcase among many others at one counter. These should be of the passengers whose flights were cancelled yesterday, I thought. There was hardly anyone in that area other than an officer at a counter who was working on his computer. I wondered whether I should get his permission before I take my suitcase. Nevertheless, I quietly took my suitcase and moved ahead expecting a call from behind. Alas! he didn’t call, didn't mind to look up either. Ha! what is the security here, anyone could have taken away my baggage...! Crazy, huh! I moved to the exit where the cab driver was supposed to stay with my name board. I moved from one exit to the other, but couldn't find him. I went outside the building, but it was so f**king cold that I ran inside in a moment. How freezing it is, I have never been exposed to such freezing temperatures earlier! It was minus 4 Fahrenheit!! Didn’t dare to convert it into Celsius and see how much it comes to :O He might be waiting for me at the baggage collection point, I thought. So as I headed towards it, I saw a middle aged white carrying my name board. I said, "Hi, I am Rajath!" He greeted me in a very pleasant manner, and guided me to the parking lot. It was a black luxury car, think it was a Toyota model.

Meanwhile I called up Sreedeep and straight away went to the client's office which was at Mc Guinty Road. I met my clients, they welcomed me and then we went to their cafeteria, which was oh my! I can write another blog on the cafeteria alone. I had Chicken fingers and French fries (lovely...!!) with coke :) Tired of the journey I pushed them to take me to the apartment after this lunch. A very sweet but fat lady, Cacky, took both of us in her car to the apartment.

It was The Gates at Carlson Parkway, large 2 storied building blocks with 3 such blocks, I guess. The picture I got in my inbox earlier had green lawns on the side of the building, a big pond and a stream running into it, green leaves, small bridges with water flowing underneath etc etc..! By that time I was quite confident that I would get to see an entirely different picture! YES! the pond, stream, lawn were all covered with snow!! There was a main entrance for all the tenants which opened with a common lock, either with the sensor or with the key. Our apartment was towards the left side of the building which opened to a narrow corridor and to the left was a small kitchen and to the right, a small area which had the heater and the washing machine. Just after that comes the main hall with a small wooden dining table for 4 people and sofa with a tepoi and a 21' CTV, and an internet connection, wow! Sreedeep already occupied the room at the right of the hall and left the other one for me. He told me "Hey! I have left the room with the TV for you, Rajath!" Well, lets see how much time would I get to watch the tv after the hectic schedules starting tomorrow!! The room had a double coat bed spring with a mattress and a comfort on it. Two pair of pillows and bed lamps on each side with a phone and a table clock. "Interesting!", I said. I dumped my luggage in the changing room near the attached bathroom. Well, by this time I had to eat something lest I would fall down.!

The very next day after office, in the evening, we got out to explore the surroundings. The building which we stayed was numbered "250" whereas if I walk through the interior I would reach the building 260. Ha! internally these are not two but a single building only. It had n number of apartments which they call it as a “community”. I thought they might have some monthly community get-together or any other cultural activity. Close to the leasing office at the front was a fitness centre where there were 5 tread mills, dumbbells, and few other fitness machines. It had a changing/bathing area also. Behind the centre was a swimming pool, open at the top and hence covered with ice! I thought that had they made this swimming pool inside the building with Sauna and Jacuzzi, people would have been raring to go there :)

It was hardly 6’o clock but felt like the darkness at 7 in India. The sun rises here around 7 in the morning and sets around 5.30, so it gets dark very soon! In summer it would be the opposite and this happens because of the tilted axis of the earth. (am very much interested in Space and related stuff, you know :D) I sat on the snow for the first time ever in my life and it was oh! my butts! we took some snaps also. We couldn’t explore much and there was nothing much there either. It was getting even more colder and our nose and ears became red in colour and started paining due to the freezing cold. We had to run to the apartment but the roads were slippery so we couldn’t, but thanks to our woodland winter shoes, we reached bit faster than expected :D

TV was not an entertainment when compared to the internet. Sreedeep was more into books or he gave way for me to browse more, eh? Anyway, thanks Sreedeep!

By 10 we finished our dinner which was rice and tomato curry (Sreedeep special) and after checking my orkut I went to my bedroom. All my friends wanted to know how my journey was, since there were hardly any friends of mine who visited countries other than the Middle East/Australia.

The King size bed in the bedroom was big enough to accommodate 2 more people! No bad thoughts here, I just wanted to say that it was really big. It was so cozy that hardly I dumped myself onto it than I slept.

We got up at 6.30 in the morning so that we can start for office by 7.30. Sreedeep got me corn flakes and milk and, and, and… that’s it, corn flakes and milk only!! I have to survive on this for the next 2 months!! Chalo, yeh bhi sahi.. We got a call from Cacky that she is reaching our building in a minute or 2. We put on out jackets and slowly headed towards the entrance and waited for her. Its gonna be a day begin for my work in the big United States….!!