Life in San Francisco

You may want to read this if you are planning to do a work and travel in USA especially during winter. Cautions: it may be ugly but it is what I encountered. 

I am trying to look back, recall and reflect on whatever good and bad things that happened to me while I am in San Francisco. When I try to trace back our group chat's media files on Whatapps, my face is broaden with smile. It feels so sweet to see every photos taken, places we visited and every events we participated. Thank you to the 5 Malaysians. Thank you for playing your part well and teaching me something along the way. However, there is always two sides of a coin. So you probably get to know the dark side that I didn't reveal on other social medias through this post. *giggle 

So the story begins. We touched down at SFO and hired Uber to get to our hotel. We have no data as we haven't signed up for any mobile plan. We didn't want to sign up any at the airport because we have been hearing about the higher charges for the same mobile plan at the airport. We connected our phone to free Wifi at the airport and tried Uber. It is about $35 for the trip. We hired 2 Uber as we carry many luggage. It is always a pleasant ride with Uber. 

We signed up for personal mobile plan which costs us $60 per month for 5GB data with free calls and texts. It is kinda pricey for us. We later discovered a family plan via other J1 students so we went for the family package which is only $38 per month with unlimited data, free calls and texts, I have no idea why the sales associates at T-mobile did not mention about the family plan to us at the very beginning. Is it about the sales? Hmm... Due to miscommunication, we are paying $58 for the first month since we signed up for the family package. It is second unpleasant encounter with T mobile. I hope that is the end of the unpleasant encounter with T mobile. ;S

Lesson: Don't trust the sale associates, do your own research and make sure you voice record whatever the deal they promised to you LOL. 

Let's talk about my housing in SF. FYI, we are staying at Hotel North Beach for the first month because housing is not provided by the employer and it is not easy to access to rental in San Francisco before we finally figure things out later. 

It is kinda torturing as 5 of us are squeezing in the same hotel room for the first month. Luckily, we are all tolerance enough to survive the first month. LOL. Each of us pays about $640 for monthly rental. We are kinda surprised by the high housing rate in San Francisco so I kinda understand why housing is not provided. 

We have been through a lot of ups and downs while hunting for housing in San Francisco.

We decided not to stay at the same hotel for the next few months due to the following reasons.

1. The state law restricted the maximum stay at a hotel. We could only stay for 1 month at the same hotel. We have to apply for tenants if we want to stay for period longer than 1 month. At the same time, we have to apply a week earlier together with our income statements and some application fee (about $35). It doesn't guarantee a pass that we could stay at the same hotel and the fee isn't refundable. 

2. 5 of us staying in the small room is kinda torturing as we work different schedules.

3. The house keeping is complaining about our room being too difficult for cleaning. To admit, 5 person in a small room can be overwhelming as we have no enough space for closet and shoes. There is barely any extra space in the room. We have to store our toiletries on the table. There is only a table in the room so imagine how packed is the table. We ain't very happy with the feedback from the housekeeping.   

4. We prefer to have our own toilets, kitchen and more space.

So we tried to look for housing via Craglist, facebook group (Bay Area Rooms and Apartments) and many other websites. Honestly, you are expected to be super cautions and independent (so forget about the agency or US sponsor for promptly and concrete reply for identifying housing for you) when it comes to housing. The rate is around $3000 per month for housing in SF area, a little less when it comes to unfurnished houses. Most of the housing require a minimum lease of one year which is totally irrelevant to us. An unfurnished house at $3000 a month excludes utilities fee is way too much for 5 of us. We are expecting a lower rate than $640 per month as it is the hotel rate. Reality hits us hard, lol.

I found a really good deal on Craglist which claims to have a 2 bed rooms apartment at California Street. It is a fully furnished apartment attached with superb looking photos of the interior of the apartment. The landlord claims to be away from the city and could only mail us the keys after payment (which is one month rental and deposit) so we did not get to see the house before we pay. We are way too desperate for a housing at this rate (which is considered cheap in SF) so we were not very suspicious about the validity of housing until I asked one of the church members about it. She is kind enough to help me google every personal information provided by the landlord and comes to a conclusion that it has a high probability to be a scam. So we decided not to go for it.

Then God made a way when there seems to be no way. I happened to email my church pastor about housing in SF weeks ago and there is a church member who is kind enough to offer us her house at a cheaper rate. She is kind enough to not to charge us any deposit and let us move in before we could make the full payment. 

Note: our wages were on hold by the bank as our bank account is less than 1 month old. Which means we got the money in bank which we could not access to until it is processed by the bank. The only thing we could do was to check our bank account and wait until the day it is finally processed. We felt so poor and helpless. We are totally unprepared for this as we can not even pay for our rental. I felt bad about the situation but felt so thankful at the same time for her kindness. We could be homeless without her offer.

So we moved to a new place which is away from the downtown. It is 30-40 min by bus. We had a hard time trying to adapt to the difference because we have to spend on transport and it is time consuming to travel back and forth everyday. Btw, we are still very thankful for the housing. That is the best we could ask for at that time. Imagine someone who never see you more than twice decided to let you move into her house before you make the full payment. The landlord is kind enough to provide us cooking utensils, microwave oven, pillows, beds and blankets so we do not have to spend a fortune and only use them for less than 3 months. *how kind.

Lesson: open a bank account as soon as you landed. Never make the payment when you don't get to see the house with your eyes. Always ask around and pray hard. LOL

As the housing is settled, we are have to deal with the utilities fees. We paid $332 for our gas and electricity fee, $80 for water bills for the first month. We are totally devastated when the bills arrives. I don't understand the waste water consumption fee and how it works. 5 of us took our shower twice a day and each of us does our laundry once a week. I wondered how much is the utilities fee for a family of 5. Living cost is indeed very high for us in SF. Our employers are cutting hours due to slow business and we gotta pay so much for the fees. *faint

Lesson: work 2 jobs or more so you could still make money when the employer cut your hours. Trying to cut down on the heater usage and wear more layers at home. Shower once a day or less?

Anyway, as we moved we started to figure out how the muni bus works in SF. We used to walk in the city when we are staying in downtown. It is challenging but thanks God we get to know how to take Muni bus and Bart now. We bought a monthly bus pass for $73 at Walgreen and spent another $3 for a new clipper card. To check on the bus schedule, we use Apps like munibus.com and on time. They are very reliable. I also come to realize that not everyone pays for the bus fare when they hop on the bus. 

Reality: As long as you did not bumped into the controller and you enter at second or third gate, you are fine. There are also people who bring radio and play music loud in the bus which is kinda inconsiderate. *sweat

Bus could be delayed at time, fully occupied that it can no longer take more passengers. There are times when we are almost late for work due to inaccurate departure and traffic jam. To play safe, we always depart earlier so we won't be late for work. 

ps: my employer is super strict when it comes to running late to work. 

That's all about my mobile plan, housing and transport in SF.

Let's talk about work at SF. 

I work as a cashier at B Bakery in San Francisco. It is a bakery and cafe which caters sandwiches, pizzas, tacos, soups and drinks at Fishermen wharf. The first day of the orientation was briefing about the safety measures at the workplace. We get to try and know some of the raw ingredients of the food served at B Bakery on our second day. Very detailed explanation are given by the manager who is kind enough to answer every questions. We are expected to memorize the ingredients in the sandwiches, tacos and pizzas so we could answer the customers when being questioned. We learnt a lot about the type of breads, cheese and meats used for making sandwiches. This is how serious Americans are when it comes to sandwiches? A sneak peek in the kitchen...

I like the work itself but it depends on who you are pairing with to make work more enjoyable. Some colleagues are very nice and teach you step by step, some are very straight forward in expressing their emotion and could shout at you. Is this something that can be explained as cultural shock?  Asian has a more conservative way of expressing anger. Some colleagues see you as a newbie who needs help, some see you as a troublemaker who invade their territory. Some time you feel like you are not being appreciated for the right thing you did but being nagged and reminded of every single mistake you made. But wait, that's reality. You don't always meet lovely people and stay in a positive working environment. It takes time to break the ice and prove yourself. It is fine if people do not appreciate you. Do the right thing even no one is watching and be proud of your effort. This is what I learnt at my second job. 

Lesson: Don't focus on the negative vibes sent to you but be reminded of the good people around you and hands that gave help. 

There is one thing that still confuses me. Our first job employers promised a min working hour of 32 per week but we ended up working like only 22 hours a week as the business is slow, This greatly affects our income and travel plan. What is all the promises on job offer about? what is exploitation about? I felt sad for the slow business but you took us in and promised us. We are not even given a proper and formal explanation when it comes to cutting hours. Whenever we tried to talk to our US sponsor, they either reply us late or trying to relocate us to other city for jobs. 

Lesson: I am still trying to let go of the facts that I couldn't make enough to cover my initial cost for this program and for travel. Things happens, you couldn't predict and you could do nothing. That is how weak human can get. 

ps: I get more hours at second job so it covers my living expenses and helps a lot.

Enough of the sad story, let's talk about the good and bright side!

I happened to meet some really nice people during this program. We are all J1 students and connected via work. Some are from Peru and some are from Argentina. This is how I learn some Spanish.

.There is something I cherish the most during this trip to SF. Tadah, it is the church life and people I met here. They made my SF trip. I didn't really get to engage with any Americans at workplaces so they are the only Americans I engaged with and love spending my time with. How blessed to meet everyone of them. Thank you for always showering us with food, love and care. 

There are people who demand for love and people who show you love. Thanks for being the lovely one and showering me with your love. Thanks God for everyone of you who brighten up my life.