Sunday, May 13, 2007
And here's the update
It’s been a long time with no news from me. My sincere apologies for that. So here’s a little recap since the last somewhat decent log about my apartment.
I am still living in my studio apartment near Hollywood. I do hope to be moving to (at least) a one bedroom in the New Year when my one year lease term is up. But that kind of depends on the rents at that time. Los Angeles is not the cheapest place to live.
I am also still working as a Manager for a Movie Theater up in the Valley. A job I really love doing. The hours can be long and the schedule is very flexible, but I guess that comes with the job. The job definitely provides me with some high volume management experience in a very busy industry. And I am enjoying one of my benefits, to be able to watch free movies on my days off thoroughly.
My decision (after getting the right to apply for a Green Card) to go for it and move to the USA, is still and always will be the best decision I have made. Yes I do miss my family and friends back home in Holland, but I feel really at home here and cannot see myself moving back to Holland at all.
Some people that move here from a different country can face major obstacles and face a culture clash. Thus far my journey has been quite smooth, knock on wood. Yes I had to get used to the busy traffic in LA, yes I faced turn downs when applying for apartments with no credit score and no written job offer, and I was even turned down when applying for a secured credit card as I had bo credit score at the time, which was pretty frustrating because I needed a secured card to start building that same credit score LOL. And yes even though I was used to most US products in the supermarket aisles, I still had to get used to brands and different tastes here in the US all over again. But it is all so worth it. At least it is for me.
Looking at some other immigrants, I am very lucky and have come very far in such a short period already. I met a guy last week that came fresh out of Bolivia. He understands English, but is very hesitant to speak it and is struggling with it. He left a good job in Bolivia behind and now works various minimum wage jobs as he just cannot land a fulltime job. Seeing him struggle like that, I am so happy to be where I am at this point in time. I do have some advantages over him though. I speak the language pretty much fluently, with no accent what so ever. I have a college degree and some experience working for US companies and in the US as well. And even though at the time almost every one declared me insane to start working for McDonalds and Burger King with my recreation management college degree…it is just this experience that turned out to be one of the major factors for my current employer to hire me. They know here that these companies have the best management training programs available.
Well, what else can I tell you but I am doing very good. Because of my job and the hours I work it is a bit hard to start building a social network and make new friends here unfortunately so I kinda miss the social part, but hey I’ll just see it as paying my dues LOL.
On my Dutch log I have been posting pictures of some of the products I have in my fridge and kitchen cabinets here in the US. However somehow it just does not seem to be logic here as this log will mostly by read by friends already in the US. Who cares that I have Maxwell House coffee, Little Debbie’s brownies, cheap fresh O.J, and Mountain Dew and the different kind of Easter candy you have here LOL. Or of you do just let me know…
One more thing I would like to mention is that I found a great place for a nice view of Los Angeles…the top floor of the The Grove parking structure on The Grove Drive… below please find some pictures. I made them with my cell phone so the quality might not be the best but enjoy…
I will update this log on a more regular basis from now on. I should have lots of nice things to mention. One of the events I am looking for this summer is the release of Shrek 3 and Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix. Other than that I am very anxious to find out if the indy film “On Broadway” starring my ‘man’ Joe McIntyre will come to the LA film festival. If so Joe, most likely will not be there as he’ll be doing the Summer stretch of the Dancing with the Stars tour. This is so ironic. When I was still living in Europe Joe was doing a lot of shows in the Los Angeles area as this is where he lives. Now I live in the US, in L.A in fact and where is Joe…everywhere but L.A (performance wise that is…he still lives here but I have no idea where exactly)…that is so typical LOL…
I am still living in my studio apartment near Hollywood. I do hope to be moving to (at least) a one bedroom in the New Year when my one year lease term is up. But that kind of depends on the rents at that time. Los Angeles is not the cheapest place to live.
I am also still working as a Manager for a Movie Theater up in the Valley. A job I really love doing. The hours can be long and the schedule is very flexible, but I guess that comes with the job. The job definitely provides me with some high volume management experience in a very busy industry. And I am enjoying one of my benefits, to be able to watch free movies on my days off thoroughly.
My decision (after getting the right to apply for a Green Card) to go for it and move to the USA, is still and always will be the best decision I have made. Yes I do miss my family and friends back home in Holland, but I feel really at home here and cannot see myself moving back to Holland at all.
Some people that move here from a different country can face major obstacles and face a culture clash. Thus far my journey has been quite smooth, knock on wood. Yes I had to get used to the busy traffic in LA, yes I faced turn downs when applying for apartments with no credit score and no written job offer, and I was even turned down when applying for a secured credit card as I had bo credit score at the time, which was pretty frustrating because I needed a secured card to start building that same credit score LOL. And yes even though I was used to most US products in the supermarket aisles, I still had to get used to brands and different tastes here in the US all over again. But it is all so worth it. At least it is for me.
Looking at some other immigrants, I am very lucky and have come very far in such a short period already. I met a guy last week that came fresh out of Bolivia. He understands English, but is very hesitant to speak it and is struggling with it. He left a good job in Bolivia behind and now works various minimum wage jobs as he just cannot land a fulltime job. Seeing him struggle like that, I am so happy to be where I am at this point in time. I do have some advantages over him though. I speak the language pretty much fluently, with no accent what so ever. I have a college degree and some experience working for US companies and in the US as well. And even though at the time almost every one declared me insane to start working for McDonalds and Burger King with my recreation management college degree…it is just this experience that turned out to be one of the major factors for my current employer to hire me. They know here that these companies have the best management training programs available.
Well, what else can I tell you but I am doing very good. Because of my job and the hours I work it is a bit hard to start building a social network and make new friends here unfortunately so I kinda miss the social part, but hey I’ll just see it as paying my dues LOL.
On my Dutch log I have been posting pictures of some of the products I have in my fridge and kitchen cabinets here in the US. However somehow it just does not seem to be logic here as this log will mostly by read by friends already in the US. Who cares that I have Maxwell House coffee, Little Debbie’s brownies, cheap fresh O.J, and Mountain Dew and the different kind of Easter candy you have here LOL. Or of you do just let me know…
One more thing I would like to mention is that I found a great place for a nice view of Los Angeles…the top floor of the The Grove parking structure on The Grove Drive… below please find some pictures. I made them with my cell phone so the quality might not be the best but enjoy…
I will update this log on a more regular basis from now on. I should have lots of nice things to mention. One of the events I am looking for this summer is the release of Shrek 3 and Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix. Other than that I am very anxious to find out if the indy film “On Broadway” starring my ‘man’ Joe McIntyre will come to the LA film festival. If so Joe, most likely will not be there as he’ll be doing the Summer stretch of the Dancing with the Stars tour. This is so ironic. When I was still living in Europe Joe was doing a lot of shows in the Los Angeles area as this is where he lives. Now I live in the US, in L.A in fact and where is Joe…everywhere but L.A (performance wise that is…he still lives here but I have no idea where exactly)…that is so typical LOL…
