Gimme Shelter
Chicago, Illinois - a city that I'll always have fond memories of thanks the last week of adventure. I took a Greyhound bus from Toronto to Chicago, via Niagra Falls over a week ago now. I only planned to stay one day and head on through to Minneapolis, but an unexpected turn of events led me to stay for much longer than I'd intended.
In short, I had a chance meeting with 3 young people from different parts of the US who had landed at the hostel at the same time. All three had moved to Chicago to start new lives (not unlike myself leaving Australia) - G a social worker, M a nurse and D a wizz-kid computer tech guy. None of us had jobs or much money so the week following our meeting was a wild ride up and down the 'hierachy of needs' i.e food, shelter, etc. That is, finding ways to meet the basic units of life, with the clock ticking. It was such a grounding, here and now experience, shared with decent, genuine people who worked well together.
I pretty much came along for the ride, knowing that I can't live and work in the US. The instant chemistry between the four of us made it seem so natural. It was a wild week. It would have made a great reality TV show if someone had followed us around with a camera. Putting it into words is a little difficult 'cause you had to be there I guess. It's cool to document this for myself anyway.
It all started when we met at the hostel. Extroverted G was the alchemist who got this eclectic group of people together and pumped about getting out of the hostel and into a decent apartment asap. Jobs would have to be priority number 2.
The first day we spent tracking down possible places to live and long train rides out to the burbs to find them. We eventually came upon a interesting option - an old house owned by a dentist and his attorney daughter. It was this great cavernous house and a real 'renovators dream'. We were salivating about all the creative things we could get up to in that place. Rent was incredibly cheap too. It turned out though that the owners were intending to demolish the place in a couple of years and hence weren't interested in spending much money on it.
After looking at the house again late in the day, we realised that is really was run down. Then the attorney let slip that it was pretty-much a crack house not too long ago with 15 people crammed in who were eventually evicted. So, with the sun setting and no reservations in any hostels, we realised it was going to be tough to get a roof over our heads that night without spending heaps on a hotel.
(What I found disturbing is how 'nice' the attorney was with us, especially after she found out I was a trained lawyer, while she was outright rude to the disadvantaged-looking immigrant family who arrived on the door step to look at the place. It made me realise that yes, even though none of the four of us were in a particularly favourable position, we're still middle-class kids. What's the worse that could happen? I wonder where that family is now, with winter approaching and Chicago's first snow hitting yesterday.)
G embarked on a search for accomodation and came through with a deal at a decent hotel down town. So we all piled into this room for the night, enjoyed a bottle of vodka, and got to know eachother better. The next morning, the ever-perceptive M realised there was something odd about the hotel. We eventually asked the front desk guy what was going on and it turns out the hotel has 80% repeat customers who are all gay! M said it was something about the decor, short haircuts and small number of women that tipped her off. Needless to say, this impressionble young backpacker avoided eye-contact with a some of the punters strolling around the corridors after that...
Day two and while three of us were still lounging about the hotel, G landed an unbelievably good and affordable apartment in Licoln Park, very close to beautiful Lake Michegan. The skills he picked up during his pevious job as a property manager must have come in handy. The day was spent negotiating details for signing contracts and moving in. By late afternoon we were exhausted and enjoyed a quiet stroll along the shore of Lake Michegan.
That evening while eating dinner, M and I made a snap decision to see if we could get into see Nina Hagen play a gig at a near-by club. Nina Hagen is a 50-something year-old German singer who came to prominance as a provocative post-punk artist. We ran at top speed to make it in time and ended up getting in for free because the gig was almost over. We still got to see a handful of songs. Nina seriously impressed with her classicly trained voice, sexy stage moves and just plain cool songs. I'm determined to track down some of her stuff.
The next day we moved into the apartment. That evening Chicago was hit by the strongest thunder storm in 9 years! M and I got caught and were completely soaked. It was very intense.
Well, it probably doesn't sound as epic as it seemed in real life, but like I said above, you had to be there. It's funny, I had such a great time even though technically is was stressful and I barely knew these people. Maybe that's a good idea for a tour business - instead of showing people sites, just land them in a hostel with a bunch of strangers and give them a set time to succeed at set, real-world challenges! It sure beats wandering around on your own with a Lonely Planet.
I moved on a few days later for Minneapolis but I came back. I just wanted to come back and hang with my new friends a little more. I'd sure like to be moving in myself. Chicago is a great city and while massive, it's seems kind of like a more sedate version of New York. I'll stay a couple more days and then fly out for Western Canada where I'll look for work and settle for the winter.
MG
In short, I had a chance meeting with 3 young people from different parts of the US who had landed at the hostel at the same time. All three had moved to Chicago to start new lives (not unlike myself leaving Australia) - G a social worker, M a nurse and D a wizz-kid computer tech guy. None of us had jobs or much money so the week following our meeting was a wild ride up and down the 'hierachy of needs' i.e food, shelter, etc. That is, finding ways to meet the basic units of life, with the clock ticking. It was such a grounding, here and now experience, shared with decent, genuine people who worked well together.
I pretty much came along for the ride, knowing that I can't live and work in the US. The instant chemistry between the four of us made it seem so natural. It was a wild week. It would have made a great reality TV show if someone had followed us around with a camera. Putting it into words is a little difficult 'cause you had to be there I guess. It's cool to document this for myself anyway.
It all started when we met at the hostel. Extroverted G was the alchemist who got this eclectic group of people together and pumped about getting out of the hostel and into a decent apartment asap. Jobs would have to be priority number 2.
The first day we spent tracking down possible places to live and long train rides out to the burbs to find them. We eventually came upon a interesting option - an old house owned by a dentist and his attorney daughter. It was this great cavernous house and a real 'renovators dream'. We were salivating about all the creative things we could get up to in that place. Rent was incredibly cheap too. It turned out though that the owners were intending to demolish the place in a couple of years and hence weren't interested in spending much money on it.
After looking at the house again late in the day, we realised that is really was run down. Then the attorney let slip that it was pretty-much a crack house not too long ago with 15 people crammed in who were eventually evicted. So, with the sun setting and no reservations in any hostels, we realised it was going to be tough to get a roof over our heads that night without spending heaps on a hotel.
(What I found disturbing is how 'nice' the attorney was with us, especially after she found out I was a trained lawyer, while she was outright rude to the disadvantaged-looking immigrant family who arrived on the door step to look at the place. It made me realise that yes, even though none of the four of us were in a particularly favourable position, we're still middle-class kids. What's the worse that could happen? I wonder where that family is now, with winter approaching and Chicago's first snow hitting yesterday.)
G embarked on a search for accomodation and came through with a deal at a decent hotel down town. So we all piled into this room for the night, enjoyed a bottle of vodka, and got to know eachother better. The next morning, the ever-perceptive M realised there was something odd about the hotel. We eventually asked the front desk guy what was going on and it turns out the hotel has 80% repeat customers who are all gay! M said it was something about the decor, short haircuts and small number of women that tipped her off. Needless to say, this impressionble young backpacker avoided eye-contact with a some of the punters strolling around the corridors after that...
Day two and while three of us were still lounging about the hotel, G landed an unbelievably good and affordable apartment in Licoln Park, very close to beautiful Lake Michegan. The skills he picked up during his pevious job as a property manager must have come in handy. The day was spent negotiating details for signing contracts and moving in. By late afternoon we were exhausted and enjoyed a quiet stroll along the shore of Lake Michegan.
That evening while eating dinner, M and I made a snap decision to see if we could get into see Nina Hagen play a gig at a near-by club. Nina Hagen is a 50-something year-old German singer who came to prominance as a provocative post-punk artist. We ran at top speed to make it in time and ended up getting in for free because the gig was almost over. We still got to see a handful of songs. Nina seriously impressed with her classicly trained voice, sexy stage moves and just plain cool songs. I'm determined to track down some of her stuff.
The next day we moved into the apartment. That evening Chicago was hit by the strongest thunder storm in 9 years! M and I got caught and were completely soaked. It was very intense.
Well, it probably doesn't sound as epic as it seemed in real life, but like I said above, you had to be there. It's funny, I had such a great time even though technically is was stressful and I barely knew these people. Maybe that's a good idea for a tour business - instead of showing people sites, just land them in a hostel with a bunch of strangers and give them a set time to succeed at set, real-world challenges! It sure beats wandering around on your own with a Lonely Planet.
I moved on a few days later for Minneapolis but I came back. I just wanted to come back and hang with my new friends a little more. I'd sure like to be moving in myself. Chicago is a great city and while massive, it's seems kind of like a more sedate version of New York. I'll stay a couple more days and then fly out for Western Canada where I'll look for work and settle for the winter.
MG
posted by Matt G at 12:35 PM
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