Sunday, August 18, 2013

Los Angeles - Day 1 - Getting the room

After I got my baggage, I went out of the airport. The California breeze touched my face, and made a good feeling. I've never had any idea about the California weather when people were saying it was awesome. But I completely understand it now. It is because of the wind. It comes from the surface of the ocean, and it gets cool, and it creates and unbelievable nice weather. "Wow! if there is breeze like that all the time, this is my city. I can't believe it. It is like heaven's weather!" I thought to myself.

The city was very big. It was very similar to Tehran in many cases. These scenes were the first scenes that I saw from LA. They were astonishing.



I took the free airport bus to the metro station. I just know that I need to be in a Metro station to find my path. At the station, I bought a Metro ticket with 7 days unlimited travel. It costed 21$. Then I took a train. In the train, I was just thinking that how similar it is to Tehran. Even the train was like the subway of Tehran. It went through poor parts of the city (like south of Tehran) to the more expensive parts of the city (like north of Tehran).


It was also surprising when a man came in the train selling some chocolates and biscuits. "Only 1$ each." He was shouting. It really surprised me because I had this thought that this kind of things could be found only in Tehran's subway. The people in the subway were looked like to be poor. Some also were very fat.


Some parts of the city was exactly like south of Tehran. I took several pictures there. The building were old and dirty, and even there were not many trees there. It doesn't look like to be an American city at all.


My mobile GPS doesn't work inside the train all the time, so I had a difficulty to find my path. Finally, I found it, and I took the last bus to the room that I rented. The public transportation system looked like to be very reliable and wide-spreed. It was very similar to the public transportation of Tehran. The bus, however, were newer and more comfortable. The streets were also similar to Tehran's street. There were many four lines street with large walk-side, and there were dirty in many areas.


It was 7:15 that I was almost in the area of the house that I rented from Airbnb. I was taking pictures of the streets that a woman told me not to take the pictures of her house. She was a 45-50 years old women who sounded to be a janitor there. I went closer and I saw that it was the address that I was looking for.
"Hello. I was looking for this address." I said.
"This address? why?" she answered.
"I am Woody. I rented a room in this house." I said.
"Oh, why didn't you call me? I was about to leave here, and usually I am not here at this time. You were supposed to check-in at 3 pm." she said.
"Yes. But I didn't know that I should be here at 3 pm sharp." I answered.
"OK. Come in. I can show you your room. Usually, I leave here at 3 pm. Since you hadn't call me I thought that you were not going to come anymore. You were very lucky" she said.
"I usually don't call anyone unless it is necessary. Since I didn't get anything from you, I thought that I was OK to come here without a prior notice. Where is Eliza?" I said.
"Eliza? She is not living here. She lives in another house. I help you to get your room." She said. "How many days are you going to be here?" she asked.
"Nine days." I answered.

We went up stairs to the second store of the building. I liked the view of the house from there.


When she opened the door, the hot air came to my face from the inside. I stepped into the house, and it was very hot. "Oh my god, I made the biggest mistake of my life to get a room here." I thought to myself. "I can't stay here even for a few minutes. How can I sleep in this hot air. I wish I could sleep outside. It is weird because the outside air is so fresh and cool. How can I cancel it? I rented it for nine days. Let's stay here for one night, then I can find a hotel."

Then, she showed me a room that had a bed in it with a large window. And then she showed me another room that was very small and short ceiling. It had a very small window.
"Which one did you rent?" she asked.
"I don't know. It says that it is a small private room." I answered.
"Both of these rooms are small private rooms. Which one do you like more?" she asked.
I thought to myself that I can't stay in that small room. Even if I rented that one, I can't be there even a single night. so, I said, "I like that one with a large window. I can't stay in a room without a window." I said.
"Nobody is going to come here. So, I can give anyone to you. You said you are going to be here for a week?" she asked.
"Actually, more than a week." I answered.
"OK. So, choose any room you like better." she said.



The house reminded me the student houses in Shiraz. A small house with a few stuffs in it.



The outside view of the house, however, was like a villa in north of Iran. Not only this house but also many other houses in this part of LA were very similar to those villas. Hopefully, she gave me a fan, and it became cold enough for night. I had a chance to get that bigger room; otherwise, it doesn't worth to stay on the other room.



I went out to buy something for dinner. It was around 9 pm, but the streets were very crowded. Some shops were also still open. It was awesome for me. It was just like Tehran. You didn't feel that you were living in a dead city in LA.


The shop was also like shops in Iran. It was small with very a few items located near the pedestrian. The price was high, and I expected it.



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