This is the first time I have been to the USA and what a sight it was, right from the moment I started looking out the window as the plane descended. It rarely snows in Seattle and I must have been very lucky to see snow on my first trip to USA.

After touching down, both Jiren and I took a shuttle van service to our housing quarters next to University of Washington. However, we realised that we had ended up at our block instead of the office, which is like half a mile away. Just as I was about to head out on a long slow walk in the chilly weather, the apartment door was opened by the operations manager and we managed to enter the building.

As our room will not be ready for the next 5 hours, we decided to visit the small town in which we were located. Many amazing sights greeted me as we toured the various shops. The first was a bookstore that reared cats and allowed them to move around freely. Next, we entered a shop that specialises in poultry meat and eggs, a rarity in Singapore. As we entered a supermarket, I realised another interesting aspect of the way of life here. Every single price tag consists of the actual price of the item as well as the price per pound, probably facilitating the comparison of prices here.

As the weather turned chillier and rain became snow, we decided to head back and wait out the remaining 1 hour by playing chess.

Finally, we managed to get hold of our room and started unpacking.