Sunday, August 19, 2007

Sunny cooling San Francisco

Hi Guys,

I know you people are waiting patiently for all the photos I have taken, but it's hard when you are out the whole day and only back in hostel in late night. I will try to set up a photo web album using Picasso as soon as possible once I found my permanent accommodation. Everyday is a new experience and I love the weather here except for the glaring sunshine in the afternoon and sunset. You can even get sunburn while walking on the streets of San Francisco and Berkeley despite the cooling weather. Been walking miles of streets scouting for off-campus accommodation these few days. It's really inconvenient going around Berkeley without a vehicle and taxi is crazily expensive after fare plus tips, starting price is already $4. Average meal cost is between $4-6 before 8.25% tax plus tips. There's no such thing as canteen in American, everywhere is cafe or restaurants and if you wanna save on meals, the best deal is one big slice of pizza which cost about $3 plus. In conclusion, if you wanna live here, you gonna earn here or else you going to be a street beggar soon. Even rent here is expensive as well, about 500-1000 per person per month pending on the housing you are looking for. Met a group of nice friendly pretty Asian American girls who invited us to view their apartment when we are for looking for units in the same apartment. They came from Taiwanese, Japaneses and Koreans decedents. Generally, Asian Americans are nicer to their foreign Asian counterparts but they can't or hardly speak their native languages which is shame in my opinion. To those who think Singapore is a multi-racial society, it's nothing compared to American where there's lots of different immigrants from all the over the world which make up quite a sizable percentage of the country population. I can safely say Asian make up about 30% of the population in San Francisco and Berkeley, so it feels pretty much at home except these Asian Americans speak like other white and black Americans with the same accent. We can understand their English but they can't understand our English. Yep, it's quite funny and I often need to fine tune my accent to make myself better understood. Think in no time I might pick up the American accent if this continues, who knows? Going to Fisherman's Wharf and Alcatraz Island tomorrow. Yippee!!!!

1 comment:

hanwern said...

heyoes! sounds exciting and at the same time expensive.....have fun and more fun!