experience « Amritha Alladi

Got swamp water runnin through my veins

October 25, 2011 at 4:15 pm | Posted in Ramblings, Seen and Scene, Travel Diaries | Leave a comment
Tags: comparison, experience, job, life, Louisiana, Monroe, swamp

Monroe-bound.

After two and half months of living at home with my parents while job hunting and freelancing for The Gainesville Sun, I finally got some good news. A Gannett paper in Monroe, Louisiana was interested in hiring me as a reporter to cover their city beat.

I didn’t really know what to expect. I’d never even been to Monroe or heard of it before I’d applied for the job. In fact, I’d never been to Louisiana or driven more than three hours anywhere, so the thought of driving more than 11 hours to get to the city I’d soon call my “home” sounded daunting. But Louisiana couldn’t be too much different than Florida in terms of climate, right? Maybe slightly colder in the winter. And from what I’d read of Monroe, it seemed like it might be somewhat like Gainesville too: large medical centers, a university, and a tight-knit community about the size of Gainesville, if you include the nearby towns that are grouped into the Monroe Statistical Area. Gainesville might have a much larger university— an enrollment of 50,000 compared to the University of Louisiana-Monroe’s 8,000— but it would suffice. (Before you ask) It’s about four hours from New Orleans.

What did I know about Louisiana? That perhaps the French I learned since fourth grade could finally come into use after living 21 years in Florida (Parfait!), and that Cajun food probably wouldn’t do me much good. Thankfully, I learned after getting to Monroe that being in Northeast Louisiana, they weren’t huge on Cajun cuisine (phew). To my dismay, no French was spoken either (quel dommage).

I decided to split the trip up, driving north to Atlanta first to visit some friends and to stop at the Hindu Temple to seek blessings before starting the new job. From there, I took I-20 West for…. well, hours, but that initial drive was far from boring. It was exhilarating because I’d never seen Alabama, Mississippi, or Louisiana. Something about driving that far on your own on the freeway is absolutely liberating.

Driving from Atlanta, I passed by Atlanta’s Six Flags theme park and Stone Mountain, past the Talladega Superspeedway, through downtown Birmingham, past Jackson University and Jackson Zoo and across the Mississippi River.

Finally seeing the first sign for Monroe, I got really excited.

It was in that moment that I didn’t care anymore that a few people back in Gainesville raised eyebrows when they learned I’d be moving to Louisiana. Why wasn’t I moving some place more hip like New York City, they asked. Or Boston or Philly? A couple even warned me not to come back with a southern accent (not kidding, though I wish I were).

But moving to what they considered the “deep south” turned out to have its benefits– southern hospitality. Since the moment I got here people have been nothing but welcoming and helpful. My bosses, coworkers, sources and absolute strangers have been so accommodating. All this time I thought Gainesville had been a really warm and friendly community, but I’m glad to learn that Monroe is just the same. I don’t think that’s something I’d get from living in a big, bustling city, but I’ll wait until I move to one to find out for sure.

For now, all I can say is that compared to the swamps of Florida, the bayous of Louisiana aren’t so far off. Some might call this job offer fate.

Crossing the Mississippi River into Louisiana. Vicksburg on one side. Village of Delta on the other.

Esta, Guam

July 24, 2011 at 6:27 pm | Posted in At work | Leave a comment
Tags: America, experience, Guam, Harry Potter, jobs, journalism

(Photos by Masako Watanabe) Pacific Daily News Managing Editor David Crisostomo presents me with a poster of myself as a Harry Potter character on my last day of work at the PDN.

I guess one might call it a liberation of sorts, although in all honesty, the fact that I left Guam on Liberation Day has nothing to do with any sense of freedom I feel right now.

I loved working there, and the truth is, freedom can be scary when you have no idea what to do with it next— i.e. unemployed.

It’s just that I promised myself “only two years on Guam,” not a day more, not a day less, and it happens that two years ago, that clock started ticking, a day before Liberation Day, when joined the Pacific Daily News. The next day, after processing through HR, I was covering my first assignment, the Liberation Day parade, clad in all black, a mixture of rain and sweat dripping from my face and neck onto my reporter’s notebook, smudging my notes as I was interviewing locals on the significance of this decades-old tradition of lining along Marine Corps Drive to view some 30-something floats in commemoration of U.S. Marines’ liberation of Guam following the Japanese occupation.

I didn’t know standing under that unforgiving sun two years ago that I’d hear a dozen more wartime stories and pleas for war reparations for Guam’s survivors;

• that I’d feel a slight sense of resentment myself when President Obama twice postponed and then canceled his trip to Guam after building up local officials’ hopes that he would personally address residents’ concerns regarding Guam’s role in the East Asia realignment;

• that I’d want to put bar bouncers in their place by citing Guam’s high per capita enlistment rate every time I came back home and my Guam driver’s license wasn’t accepted as a valid form of identification (“Maam, we need a U.S. id… or passport”); or

• that in two years I’d actually care for the people of this tiny island, who for years have been begging the federal government to recognize and compensate them for their contributions to the country, and the federal government, like a mother refusing to acknowledge a child throwing a tantrum, wouldn’t even flinch.

Ultimately, Guam was the two-year stand that I actually fell for. I should have known better.

What I do know now is that my connection to Guam isn’t cut. I know I will be returning, at least to visit. So until then, esta, Guam.

Hafa Adai, from where America’s day begins

September 4, 2009 at 9:46 pm | Posted in Seen and Scene | 1 Comment
Tags: blogging, difference, experience, Guam, intro, Pacific Daily News, politics

The verdict is in, and I am guilty. Guilty for not e-mailing people back home. Guilty for not blogging. And guilty for not bringing you along with me to this marvelous speck of an island at the edge of the world.

I’m sorry. I’ve been enjoying myself too much, but now that the excitement of the first month has died down, I’m ready to share it with you.

Guam is an island that’s about 30 miles long and 4 miles across at its narrowest point. It is made up of villages, not cities. There are about 19 total across the island, and for the first month I was living in Tumon, in the central part of the island which is known as the hot tourist spot. Tumon Bay is lined with hotels, restaurants, all the major designer stores like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Tiffany’s, which are all part of the Duty Free Shopping plaza.

But now I live in Agana Heights, smack-dab in the middle of the island, and if I roll out of bed and trip over I’ll be at my workplace. Pretty convenient. (Hagåtña and Agana are the same thing, except when the Spanish colonized the island, they couldn’t pronounce Hagåtña. Now it has switched back to Hagatna).

That’s the nice thing about the island. Most of the time, anywhere you need to go is only about 15 minutes away anyway, unless you’re going very far south to Inarajan or Merizo, or very far north to Yigo or the Andersen Air Force Base.

I cannot stress enough just how friendly the people are. When I was on the plane flying from Tokyo to Guam, I met one Chamorro family who told me about the island’s weekly fiestas and how people are always willing to help you. Now I see what they mean.

Before I got here, I imagined there would a heavy Japanese presence, but now I see it’s mainly Filipinos and locals—Chamorro. I’ve had the chance to meet so many different people it’s insane. I made friends here within just the first two days because people are so open and my friend from work took me to a barbecue the day that I landed. They’re REALLY big on barbecues here (sucks for me as a vegetarian). The couple who hosted the barbecue invited me to their wedding which was two weeks ago. I believe they’d put me on their guest list as “that Indian girl.”

….I’ve only known them about three weeks, but I guess that’s ok since they’d only been dating for four months—

—Things move fast here, because people are so used to just coming here a short while and leaving again, due to the widespread military presence. Friendships happen immediately. The locals get married and have children sooner than would be expected on the mainland, at least from what I’ve noticed. But after living in a college town all of my life, it’s refreshing to finally ask the people I meet “What do you do?” instead of “What is your major?”

One gripe I have here is that no no one understands the importance of customer service. Guam is just one of those places where people take their own sweet time. If they don’t have the ingredients for something at a restaurant, oh well. So while they are friendly—they are laid back. Must just be the island culture. No one goes out of their way when it comes to customer service, which is interesting, since recruiters from hotels at last week’s island job fair said that’s what they look for in employees, especially since more openings are in food and beverage services.

It drives me nuts, but I’m slowly getting used to it.

I thought when I got here I would be the only Indian in Guam. Well, the e-mails and phone calls I’ve gotten from aunties and uncles on the island proves to me that there is an entire community that has lived here for decades before I landed. I had the chance to go to their “temple” two weeks ago. It’s not really a temple per se, but more like a cultural community center. Most of the major murthis are there: Shiva/Parvati, Vishnu/Lakshmi, Ram/Sita/Hanuman, Saraswati/Lakshmi/Parvati, Krishna/Radha…so basically there’s something to suit the needs of everyone, regardless of sect. But primarily the center has served as a hall for Sai Baba devotees, and outside, there is a small pavilion which houses a Shiva lingam.

When I took up the new position I was excited about the adventures Guam would bring, but naturally nervous about the distance away from home. The recent discovery of a Hindu temple here has made me see this differently:

Something has pulled me here for a reason. That same force will protect and propel me forward.

Dave Gorman’s Googlewhacking: there’s still hope

June 17, 2009 at 5:41 pm | Posted in Ramblings | Leave a comment
Tags: book, comedian, Dave Gorman, experience, Googlewhacking, novel, travel

I am aware I haven’t been posting lately and I almost felt bad for it, until I realized I have a legitimate excuse: I’ve been busy with job applications and freelance writing.

I think most of my friends and family have reached their limit at hearing my whining at the status of my job applications.

So I took a break today and decided to go back to some GRE studying, since graduate school may be the more realistic option in this job market. I was over at a friend’s place studying when she played a recorded show of British comedian Dave Gorman.

Just as I’d lost faith in my future viability, the story of Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure lifted my spirits. I was just telling another friend of mine on the phone this morning that I’d like to write a book at some point in my life. I just haven’t had the kind of life-changing or crazy experience to write about yet. But I’m 21. There’s still time.

Dave Gorman set out to write a novel when he turned 31, but a bet by his friend caused him to travel the world in search of Googlewhacks instead, on Random House’s dime. Well, he got his book. It just wasn’t a novel.

I was so inspired and entertained by Gorman’s story/show that I immediately decided to post this for you guys to check out. He toured in 2003, so maybe you’ve seen it already. But I saw it 12 minutes ago, so I thought I’d share one of the few clips available online if you hadn’t.