When people ask me how I found my "States-home," I answer that it found me. That’s basically how it happened, well, or almost.
Those same acquaintances who helped me with my job asked me one spring if I needed housing for the summer. Or rather, it went like this: "Hey, you're going to live at Lena's." Yeah, great, that explains everything :P
I didn't know who Lena was, how many kilometers from town her house was, or what the payment terms for the room were. The guys shared her contact info with me – their mission was accomplished, and it was up to me to contact her myself.
I reached out. Everything turned out to be simpler than I thought. They agreed to pick me up, feed me breakfast, explained all the terms, told me about themselves, and explained how to get to the destination – I was satisfied. My new home was 10 kilometers from the Bethany boardwalk, in Frankford – that's 20 minutes of pedaling on a bike, 5 minutes by car, and over an hour of trudging on my own two feet – great. Not the closest option, but at least it implies some physical activity ("P" for profit!). $90 a week for "chambers." Per person. As it turned out later, I was the only student Lena agreed to host for the summer (=> the bed in the room is mine and only mine - no need to share with anyone - and the dresser is mine, and the chair, and... - total pros, whatever way you look at it).
On the morning of June 28th, I stood at the threshold of my new "home" with a huge suitcase in one hand and a backpack stuffed to the brim in the other, thinking about how to muster the courage to ring the doorbell. Here goes nothing – I press the button. A sleepy girl opens the door and immediately starts showering me with questions that she answers herself: "Well, how was the trip? Shall we have breakfast? Let's! Omelet! With blueberries? That's my favorite, you have to try it! Put the suitcase here! It's heavy, I bet. Oh, you probably want to take a shower, come on, I'll show you where everything is! Don't be shy, I don't bite! Come on, come on, why are you stuck there!" Lena turned out to be more talkative than I had imagined.
When I saw the room she led me into with the words "well, there you go, make yourself at home!", I couldn't believe my eyes. I immediately grabbed my phone and texted my mom: "I'm in princess chambers. Everything is super!". And indeed, "my" tiny room looked like the habitat of a little girl from a good fairy tale: huge windows overlooking the neighbors' "toy" houses, a tall bed with a bunch of all sorts of blankets and pillows, ocean-themed paintings on the walls, carpet on the floor, flowers, a mirror, a dresser, a huge closet – and I'm going to live here? No, really?!
Throughout middle school, I played "The Sims." Creating sims, introducing them, marrying them off, having kids – that wasn't interesting to me, but building houses – yes! Entire cities! You type in the coveted "motherlode" – and your soul starts dancing: here there will be a tree, here – a pool, here – a swing, here – we'll stick in a fireplace, here – something else, and so on and so forth. I could play for days, not paying attention to my angry mom. I thought, if only it were like that at home, put this here, that there. Just take it and change your city beyond recognition. Sigh...
The first thing that came to my mind upon arriving in the States was that I'm in "The Sims." Honestly. Everything is too perfect and doesn't resemble the reality I'm used to. Streets polished to a shine, roads without a single pothole, lawns so green as if someone painted them with permanent paint, and so even as if they were mowed with a ruler, houses too toy-like to live in and too beautiful not to doubt that they are real. In every "community" there's a pool and a tennis court – it's your business to enjoy it all. People jog in the mornings and wave their hands when they notice familiar and unfamiliar faces, children walk exotic dogs, teenagers ride longboards, and elderly couples roll entire carts with all sorts of necessary and unnecessary things to the beach. Pinch me, someone, hey!
I wonder what "cheats" the person who controls all this uses? I'd love to find out.
