Rebecca with America part 4 ( Food in LA)

FOOD

I am a foodie and now not only I just enjoy eating but lately I have developed my interest in cooking as well. Cooking makes me feel really productive. Anyway. To foodies I know there is nothing more thrilling than trying new food items and so in America, I also used to get excited every time I got a chance to try new food.

Pakistanis are in hunt of only Pakistani food in any foreign country they travel to because we Pakistanis like desi spicy food. Without spices there is no life in cooking. In fact, desi people don’t enjoy their meal until their nose starts running and eyes getting all teary. *sniff sniff*. The other problem that is faced by Muslims in non-Muslim countries is every time you have to make sure if you are dining out, you must not order any pork or bacon or anything that is haram. Now this really is a big trouble because not every restaurant there serves chicken recipes.

Starting from where the food struggle began: the plane. God saves us from the meal they serve in airplanes! No matter how expensive and good the airline is, food they serve is never ever tasty. Not even for once, mistakenly. Travelling USA all the way from Pakistan is a really long journey and it becomes terrible when your stomach cringes of hunger. I only preferred juices and desserts every time they served us the brunch. Sometimes even the sweet doesn’t taste good. So overall the entire plane journey is very torturing.

After landing in LA, it was almost 12 in the midnight and I especially was so hungry but I didn’t think it would be okay to tell my uncle that I was hungry. When we reached home, it was nice of him to offer us some pizza and doughnuts. I could have eaten a whole box of pizza and more than one doughnuts because first of all both of them were so very yummy and secondly I was very hungry obviously. The doughnuts were from Yum Yum donuts. Throughout my trip I wanted to eat those doughnuts one more time but I felt shy of asking anyone there to buy me doughnuts. This wish of mine was left an unfulfilled wish. Now if I talk about Pizza there, Gina’s pizza and California Pizza Kitchen known as CPK’s pizzas were the best, also the pasta. Besides American food we got to eat Chinese, Persian and Mexican food out of which Mexican was THE WORST FOOD. The more I fled from this food, the more I had to eat it. Whenever any of my family members had to take us for Mexican food, I couldn’t resist them. Mexican cuisine included Tacos, Nachos, and Burritos and there are so many food items that I don’t know about their names but they sure tasted really unpleasant to me.

Chinese food there was the real Chinese food. Not like the one we eat here in Pakistan. Persian food was more or less same as that of Pakistani food so that one was my favorite too.There is a restaurant there which is very famous for selling an extra ordinary tasty burger. We tried that too but it just didn’t satisfy me as much as I heard from people. The burger was good but not thaaaat good.  

Chick-fil-A!! This was one of my favorites although I didn’t get to eat much of its food just the French fries and an Oreo shake and I am a big fan of Chick-fil-A because of both these things. The best thing about dining in restaurants is the waiters don’t let your glass stay empty. They refill your drink until you tell them to stop. We were allowed to refill our glasses as many times as we want but they don’t charge us for the refills we do. Coming to desi food i.e. Pakistani and Indian food. There was a Pakistani restaurant that served really yummy food. Spicy biryani, tasty nihari, mouth-watering qorma and many other items so whenever any gathering takes place in someone’s home, they order food from that restaurant and I can tell you out of all the foods we enjoyed this restaurant’s food or you can just say that the hotel was being run through us only. :D

Artesia is place, basically a mini India with Indian shops and restaurants where 95 percent Indian community is found. Evening snacks like Gol Gappa, Chhola Chaat, Bhel puri, Chhola Bhatura are served very delicious there. All kinds of sweets, icecream and falooda, rasmalai etc. Pakora samosas are considered must with evening tea.
Potato chips, biscuits, toffess and even the ice cream did not match the Pakistani taste. They were totally different which I did not enjoy. God knows which taste is the real one.
In the end I must say cakes there are very pretty and tasty. J

Rebecca with America Part 3

Paul Getty Museum:

Museums are cool plus sometimes boring as well. This museum did not fail to surprise me with its architecture, the things they got there inside and the environment. Paul Getty was a collector of art and antiquities and so this whole museum has got only his collection from very olden times, say 1600s or even older than that. Every piece of art had its description written beside it which I tried to understand but there was no way I could get it into my mind. The paintings about the prophets, religions, holy books, antique furniture etc. were really eye catching. The only thing I was worried about was I was going with all men only, my uncles, my brother and father. I did not really get bore as I thought I would be but I sure was stuck between my brother and father in back seat of car. :/  and the good thing about this place is my pictures here came really nice ;)
They have different kinds of plants there. One of them was hydrophobic, which does not take water and it seemed insane to me. 

Disney Land:
Now this is the place everyone adoressss! There are very few places which are loved by both older and younger people and Disney land is one of them. It’s a whole new world in there where I could not help imagining myself living in those princessy castles and leading a life of fantasy. There were some very cute rides leaving very beautiful surprises for you inside. It takes about two days to visit both the parks of Disney land but we managed to see both the parks in one day with not going on all the rides. We left for this place at 8 o’ clock in the morning and spent a whole tiring day till 10 pm. The sun there was so hot all day and the worst part was the waiting lines on each ride were for about either 45 minutes or even 90 minutes or more than that so we had to wait in lines under this bad scorching heat of sun and after waiting for such big time, we only get to enjoy the ride of hardly 5 minutes. The best part of this place was the electrical parade which happens in the night time. Oh my God! I cannot describe how beauuuutiful it was to watch all the Disney characters dressed in their colorful lighted outfits. I bet if you go there you might never would want to come back from there. Disney Land gave us a farewell with the most amazing fireworks I had ever experienced in my life. I thought this was going to be the only place I enjoyed throughout my trip unless I went Universal Studios.

Universal Studios:
This place is like a dream come true where you get to see everything behind the scenes and you realize how deceptive the TV is, yet everything looks so damn real. The first small world I was excited to go in was the Harry Potter land. There were so many thrilling rides and everything there was made so so so real that I would have died to live there in Hogwarts. So there this was a ride called Harry Potter and the forbidden journey. It sounded so exciting to me and the ride had recently started in that time. What happened next was I never expected from myself. I never ever close my eyes no matter how scary the 3D rides are but this! Oh, my God! They literally made you feel like you are flying in the air on your broom with Potter and his friends. I squinted my eyes throughout the ride. I did not enjoy the ride with my eyes totally open. I let my cap slip a little so that the brim comes before my eyes and I can tell everyone that I couldn’t see anything because of the fast motion of the seats, my cap slipped down. Smart huh! :D Mostly the rides there were 3D and worth the fun. One more awesome experience I had there was the Jurassic Falls ride. The ride was slow and steady and beautiful all the way but when ended…Dude! I dare you to go on that ride. :D


                               


Griffith Observatory Park:
This is a perfect place if you want to witness a beautiful sunset. I had never experienced such beautiful sunset in my life. The view of Hollywood sign and seeing the closing of the day is all you would ask at that time. Griffith Observatory is all about Science and Physics and Chemistry and all the subjects that you might have hated in schools. There a show takes place every night where they show and tell you how the world came into being, how much efforts did it take to a number of scientists to explore the world and how the world is still expanding. They made us show the Jupiter planet through their some very complex telescope. There sure was a circular yellowish-orange thing up there in the sky but God knows if it really was Jupiter.
There were so many things there that brought back horrible memories of my school and college. Worst of them was seeing not-so-fun Periodic Table.

We paid a two days visit to Dallas as well. I would say Dallas is the American Islamabad. Not much crowd, no street lights because people want their privacy and no traffic and total silence. Dallas was fun but not as much as LA. J

Rebecca with America part 2 (Places of LA)

 SOME OF THE PLACES I HAVE BEEN TO.

LA has not got much places to visit for those who are residents here but it is two times more interesting for the tourists again. 

Swap Meet:
A market that when I went there I realized it’s the American Sunday Bazar, second version of Sunday Bazar in Karachi, Pakistan. You find second hand things there in comparatively cheaper prices which are easily affordable. Not only this, but the outer as well as inner appearance also made me thought it is actually the Sunday Bazar. I used to love shopping in Sunday market because no matter how useless the thing is but you find it attractive when it is sold in cheap rates. I thought I would enjoy this Swap Meet too but I realized either I have just grown up that I don’t enjoy cheap shopping anymore or the stuff there was not much appealing. So I bought just a bag pack for my school which are ordinarily found in Latifabad as well. :D

Hollywood:
My first exciting place to visit in America. I was so excited to see the famous Hollywood sign up there and I just wished if I could ever go there. I had always wanted to walk on the Walk of Fame where you could read the names of well-known Hollywood celebrities but that street was so crowded that I actually saw just the name of Bugs Bunny and no one else’s. The real thing that was most enjoyable in Hollywood was Madame Tussaud’s. There they have wax statues of random Hollywood stars for you to strike pose and take pictures with them. There were so many wax statues but I chose only few for the pictures whom I knew because there was no fun in taking pictures with the ones whom I didn’t know. To me it’s like the ones who take autographs of the TV stars they don’t know about. Rihanna was one of the statues whom I took picture with and realized she came into my dream once randomly and was speaking in Sindhi out of nowhere. Weird!

Beaches:
Beaches there in LA are so beautiful and so fresh that even someone with aqua phobia would fall in love with the waters. I have been to a number of beaches there some of them are, Fishermen village, Redondo Beach, Palos Verdes and Laguna Beach. My favorite one was Palos Verdes. The fresh breeze there makes you feel like you want to spend the rest of your life sitting there watching the waves of water pushing each other and hiding in one another. Palos Verdes had this top cliff which if you climb then it is probably going to be the best view you would ever want to see. You won’t be able to differentiate between the water and sky from there.
I wasn’t into beaches before but such pretty views are worth capturing. 

Downtown:

Downtown LA is where all the tall buildings are and where most of the people have their jobs and offices and businesses. It’s that area of the city where mostly blacks are homeless and drunk, where people are not classy and where robberies happen. So yeah it’s not just the Pakistan that is not safe but every well developed and well organized country has this flaw.
So actually you cannot call it the safest area. I paid a visit there with my cousins in night time and night there is so sparkling with all the twinkling lights. There is this very elegant library called The Old Book Store. Since I have lately become a book lover, I was literally in love with that library and the architecture. The organization of books, the colored paintings, those antique chairs and benches everything was just so appealing to me. It’s the perfect place for the ones who are insanely in love with books and want a very calm and friendly environment. Trust me, you will get there all you desire for. Though the prices of books there were out of my reach but if only I had enough time, I could have done reading at least a book. 

Sky space:
Here comes one of my most favorite parts of the trip, Sky space!!! It’s a building where people go on 70^th floor and enjoy the beautiful view of LA from there. It looks so pretty in the night especially because of all the lighted LA. Scenes like these are hard to write in words but I wish everyone who loves travelling should put this place down in their travel list. I sat there watching the moon and moon staring at me back. I wondered so many thoughts sitting right there and gazing the artificial lights and natural light of moon. I saw far far away thinking about where this city ends where the darkness strikes, where the world ends and what my people back in Pakistan must be doing and who possibly must be missing me :D Basically at this point you will find yourself amazed at the beauty of LA and your never ending thoughts.
There was a glass slide too from 70th floor to 69^th. I so wanted to do that slide but what stopped me was my cousin reminding me ‘but it’s a glass slide. It’s a glass!!’ again and again. This telling her held me back and made me scared even though I was not, partly. That is the time I still regret till today for not going on that slide. I realized we are going to die anyway one day, stopping yourself from the thing you love is like dying every day in regrets.

Rebecca with America.

‘America’, the word itself sounds so beautiful and appealing that people think it is a country where people live an alluring and comfortable lifestyle. Lesser do people know about the real America, those who acquire important knowledge, those who live here and those who hate America of course. The real America is paying tax with every single candy, giving up your comfort for survival and still gain just less than half of the salary and worst of all not having water in public washrooms. Gross! Every coin has two sides, America is one of those countries that you will love and hate at the same moment.
 I experienced America for a month, enjoying the beautiful county Los Angeles. LA has no night life but it still manages to stay beautiful showing off its breath taking mountain views from far away. LA has got the worst daylight you will ever witness. The sun here happily tans you taking no long.
My life there in America had been full of adventure, good and bad. I am recalling all those moments by writing. J

The journey from Green flag to Red and Blue.

I was so excited when I heard we, I and my family got the visa after waiting for about three months after our interview. When every morning I used to wake up and asked my mom if the visa arrived? The answer in no always made me lose all my hopes. I thought all my shopping will go in vain and that I will never be able to enjoy my new clothes at some new place. Because when you make your mind on something and that doesn’t happen, you are heart-broken of course. Also, I was worried if I would miss my school and so it happened of which I was afraid but thanks to my teachers that cooperated with me and were lenient enough to let me enjoy my trip with no tensions or work load at my back.
Previously, I used to complain to my parents that I have never travelled in an airplane. Now that it just happened, it kept happening that I started feeling nauseous thinking about the plane every time. We travelled from Karachi to Abu Dhabi to Paris. Yes Paris! But couldn’t see the Eiffel Tower sadly. Okay that doesn’t end here. From Paris to Boston and from there we were supposed to take a flight that landed directly in LA and so we sent our luggage in that flight too but I don’t exactly know what just happened but we missed our flight because of some misprinting in our boarding passes. That was the time I thought we would spend our whole night at airport like some roadside beggars. :D but luckily we got the tickets which instead of going to LA, was going to Dallas first and then LA but again this flight got delayed and we got the boarding passes for another flight that went to New York first and then LA FINALLY.

It seemed to me like we were on an American airports spree or something. The journey in airplane is always pathetic. I had carried my laptop and a book if in case I thought I get bore but none of them was likely to end my boredom in plane because you literally hate everything when you are travelling in such packed and tiny seat where you can’t even straighten your legs and wish to punch and hit and kick the crew members for no reason and to make it even worse they serve you the most tasteless food on Earth. Sometimes the meal served in airplane is just inconceivable. You cannot figure out what that food is in front of you. Okay how about taking some nap? Nah. Nap is not in the dictionary of travelling in aero plane. Overall, it was a really tiring journey with five pathetic take offs and five landings. When we landed in LA I couldn’t believe that I have finally made it till here until we realized our luggage has not arrived. Yes, another tragedy. We spent our whole night sleeping in uncomfortable clothes and the next half day in those same ugly clothes. When our luggage was finally home, I had tears of joy just like the first time when I heard about the good news of my niece’s birth. JUST KIDDING. (    About the bags)