Test for Emma

Seeing if this works!

Donation Amount:

Well, let's see.

Settling in

I finally found an apartment that I could call a - for lack of a better term - house. It's about one-third the size of the place we were in Bangalore. I have a number of gripes about it, but there are some good things as well.

The good ones:

• Peaceful. The apartment complex is within its own area and there's nothing in the surrounding area except trees. The only thing you can hear during the day is birds chirping.
• Ample parking space.
• I'm on the ground floor (or first floor, if you want to call it that). Makes it easy when you are moving things.
• Shopping centers within 3 miles.
• 26 miles from New York City (50 minutes by bus).
• Close to several highways, including I80.
  

The bad ones:

• Noisy neighbor upstairs.
• No washing machine/dishwasher in the apartment. There is, however, a common laundromat in the basement.

More bad ones later.

More hunting

Apartment hunting, that is.

I think I'll be better off if I strike a deal with a realtor. Not that that's going to be easy. They usually charge a month's rent as commission - and I think it's a bit too much, with rents hovering $1,000+ in the towns I am interested in. Maybe I should strike a deal with both the realtor and the landlord.

Today was spent looking over another apartment - condo, even. A 900 square feet hard-wood floored apartment in a town that has about ten registered sex offenders. Sigh. Strike that one off the list.

I have very little time to finalize on a place. I should get a break, damn it! It shouldn't be so hard to find a decent apartment or two-family home to rent.

Getting an identity

Applying for a social security number was the number one thing I did after coming to New Jersey. Without an SSN, I could not be enrolled on the company payroll, I could not open a bank account, and I certainly could not apply for an apartment.

Unfortunately, it took time to get it. A good one month. All this time, I stayed at three different places: first at a friend's house, then at an inn and finally at a boarding house. I am still staying at the boarding house because I haven't found an apartment that I would like to move in to yet. Sure, there are lots of apartment complexes right where I am - but they are way over my budget.

My requirements are a bit different: since I am not planning to buy a car right away (no credit history = no attractive loans), I want to stay in a town that has a train station. Or is at least close to my workplace so that I can ride a bike.

In the past one month, I have spent over $150 on public transportation (including over $50 spent to get to NYC and back three times). That's a lot of money. My expenses on food have been a bit over the top as well. I need to control the spending for just one reason: clearing out debts built up over the last 3 years in Bangalore. Once I do that, I should be able to secure and build a financial future.

A brief history

In the not-too-distant past, I had an opportunity to work in the US. After having been in India all my life, I thought it would be a good change and decided to take it up. The job offer and visa formalities were completed in December last year, and I was required to join in March.

Well, it's March now and I will be flying there, the 8th of March to be precise.

For someone who doesn't even have experience moving to a different city, you can already imagine the chaos going through my mind.

The work will be based in New Jersey, in a small town close to the Watchung Reservation. Northern New Jersey suburbia is not exactly my kind of life, but I am not giving up without trying.

This blog is an attempt to document the moving process, in the hope that it will help others.