welcome to the azalea garden!

Here I am! After being stuck in the godawful hellscape of southern Arizona for years, since the very beginning of the pandemic, I’m finally free! I touched down in Boston on the night of March 16th—or, to be completely technical, the early morning of March 17th, at around 1:30am. And it’s been pretty nice so far!

The flight kind of sucked. I’m not an anxious flyer at all, but when other people start to get worried about the things that might happen, that’s when I start freaking out a little. Unfortunately, that ended up happening! But it’s not a big deal. I got over it pretty quick, and it wasn’t brought up again once I was physically on the plane so it went away. The big problem was how fucking late both of the planes were. The first took off on time, but some dipshit must not have been following protocol, because there was such a jam upon landing at the airport in Atlanta that it took almost half an hour to be able to get off the plane. Boarding for my next plane was scheduled to start right before I managed to get off my first one. Fortunately it got pushed back a little for some reason, but I still had to run through ATL—which is a massive airport, by the way, and not easy to navigate because of its size and all the people there!—despite it being very hot and very packed. This also meant I wasn’t able to get dinner. Arrival to Boston was a little late because of the delay, and for some godforsaken reason, we had to wait around 20 minutes after landing for the plane to reach its terminal. God. It was so obnoxious.

Lenna, one of my housemates and my longest-term friend, met me at the airport and helped me carry my luggage—a godsend, considering I had over a hundred pounds with me. I’m especially grateful considering they were willing to meet me there despite having to be up at six in the morning. Another housemate, Rocket, let me have the chicken wrap he had in the fridge so I wouldn’t have to worry about finding somewhere to order food from before going to bed. I’m also so grateful for that too, because there’s no way I would’ve been able to sleep without eating first. It’s also very fortunate that Lenna spends so little time in their room and likes sleeping on the couch, because their loft bed took forever to arrive and my mattress was delivered to a completely wrong address. (Both things have arrived, so they’re sleeping in here nightly; they’re a super heavy sleeper and they don’t come back in the room after leaving in the morning, so the arrangement has caused no issues!)

I woke up around noon or so the next day, for once without the help of an alarm—and I had such an easy time waking up and starting the day, which never happens. I decided to go out around one o’clock, and Erica, the third and final housemate to mention, offered to come with me so that I wouldn’t be wandering around on my own. We went to Dunkin’ Donuts (a true Massachusetts staple, apparently), then to Subway for lunch, and we ate at a park across the street from the Subway. It was really nice! I hadn’t talked to Erica much before then so it was really nice to sit in the park and chat with her.

I made plans to visit Lenna at Central Library, and it looked like a straightforward trip, but Erica came with me to help me find it. She took me to the wrong library, however, and we ended up being out later than expected for that reason. It was a massive fucking library, too. Absolutely huge. Multiple storeys, a tea room, a large courtyard, the largest computer room I’ve ever seen in a library. Erica and I both got lost inside it multiple times. It’s so big. I’m so excited to go there again.

While walking to Dunkin’ and then to Subway, I learned a crazy amount about this place. Erica told me that there’s among the lowest rate of car-related incidents in the country here, which I suspect is because there are apparently extremely hefty consequences for hitting people that just don’t exist elsewhere in the country to such an extent; for this reason, you don’t have to be nearly as careful when crossing streets as I’m used to. I’m used to huge stroads, never crossing unless the “walk” light has activated, and constantly looking around to make sure there aren’t any stupid motherfuckers trying to drive over the crosswalk regardless of if it means hitting me or not. I worked with two people at the same job who had been hit by cars, and it feels impossible to have any kind of life in Tucson without having some degree of connection with at least a couple of people who have been hit by a car while lawfully crossing a Tucson street. I also suspect that the Bostonian impulse to honk over absolutely fucking everything might contribute to traffic safety.

There are a lot of places that look a little haunted, too. There’s a law firm near my house that looks like it’s right out of an 1800s gothic lit novel. Dark brick and roofing, covered in vines, clearly very old, surrounded by an ominous aura—and there are plenty of buildings that have the exact same vibe! It’s so nice. It’s so fucking cool. I love this place. It’s all sorts of buildings that seem kind of haunted, too. Churches (mostly Catholic; seems like this place is pretty Catholic!), businesses, homes. If it’s a building, it can look haunted!

I’ve never been on a proper train before, but I took the red line from my neighborhood up to Cambridge and it was really exciting. I then got off and walked around Cambridge, following Erica until she navigated us to the wrong library. But even that was fine. We just had to find our way back to the green line and stay on it for a while, but that kind of sucked. Every stop and every start was so aggressing, and for some reason it seemed like it just… really forcibly jerked every so often? Just randomly?? It was so unpleasant. It was so unpleasant, especially since there weren’t any seats free so my very first experience on the green line involved clinging to one of the metal poles for dear fucking life because every jolt was so violent I was constantly afraid I was going to fall over.

We went to H Mart after the library. Lenna asked if I wanted to go and I almost said no because of how exhausted I was, but I’m really glad I went! I’ve desperately missed going to Asian grocery stores. There’s so much food I love that I haven’t been able to get in forever because I just haven’t lived anywhere near any Asian grocery stores.

On the first weekend I was here, Lenna took me out to watch Nezha 2, which was fun. (There’s a part that required six computers because of how much detail went into it.) The second weekend, I went to a friend’s house and got to meet his wife; I also met his cat, who I have loved so dearly for at least a year now. His name is Sashi and he is so round, with a face that squishes incredibly well. And I had hotpot with Lenna and Rocket; it was my first time having hotpot, and it was really good.

Other than that, I’ve been tirelessly putting in job applications, but I’ve so far only been contacted by MLMs and some bullshit devil corp that’s probably not an MLM but is incredibly shady. (“We received your application and thought you’d be an excellent fit!” What application? Fuck you.) This is unfortunate, but there’s not much that can be done about it. But I finally did my taxes today and I should be getting $1300 back. With that much, I should be able to justify fast-tracking my visa to get a decision on it so as to hear back about it in 30 days. It’d be an extra £500, but with my tax returns and significant trouble finding work, it might actually be the most financially responsible decision to make. I’ve already told my partner that we can fast-track my visa, so long as I’m able to make up the cost by working once we’re married (working is permitted with a spouse visa but not a marriage visa, but I’m not comfortable not working to make up what has felt like an unnecessary expense up until just a couple of hours ago)—so that’s what I’m betting on now. My tax returns will mean a little over $3k in the bank, which, if I’m only here for another month and a half, or maybe two, should be plenty for bills, necessary expenses, an appointment to have my biometrics taken, and a flight to the UK. Until then, I’ll continue submitting job applications to every place I meet the minimum qualifications for.

I’m excited for whatever April has in store for me. I hope to be living with my partner ASAP, but I’ll enjoy Boston for however long I’m here for.