Chicago is a business center
Chicago is an intellectual and moral cesspool
Chicago is most famous for deep dish pizza
Chicago is the (United States) nation's third largest city
Chicago is so two years ago
More at http://www.googlism.com/where_is/c/chicago/I recently jet setted out of Singapore for a really quick trip to the U.S. I was attending a training course (aka "school") for work and although the flight was gruesome it was a great week.
I spent three nights in Chicago city and really liked the place. As soon as I arrived, it felt like I was back in a 'real' place. I got on the train from the airport and it was old. It was dirty. Some of the passengers looked a little scary. It was a stark contrast to clean and efficient Singapore, which I found really refreshing.
Chicago is a city made up of particularly amazing architecture. It is a combination of old and new (see below) that really works. After getting up one morning to see the sunrise and also getting to see an amazing sunset on my last night there, no matter what the light is, i think the city is beautiful.
The city had some great art museums and installations. In Millennium Park, the famous
bean provides a fun place for reflective games and people watching. I was also impressed with Crown Fountain, mesmerised by the water and the smiles on people's faces as they played.
I visited both the art institute and museum of contemporary art. We went to the MCA on friday evening for their monthly "first friday" drinks. One of the exhibits included a 4 metre high poster of the human genome, which showed up the two genes that can cause Tuberous Sclerosis (the genetic disorder my sister has). That was kinda cool, though Warwick had to do some smooth talking to get the security guard to let me take a photo!
Div from work was kind enough to hook me up with one of her friends, Jules, who showed me a side of Chicago that I would otherwise not have been able to see. I went to a great Chicago dive bar (the whirlaway lounge) and discovered the best beer I have ever tasted (Fat Tyre from Colorado, yes I had a beer drinking week... no lectures about the gluten thing please). Jules also recommended the MCA first friday drinks and took us to a great deep dish pizza place (no, i didn't eat the base).
The school itself was heaps of fun, and I actually learnt more than I expected to. We did a lot of project management (Scope, Quality, Effort... something else..). I also met a great bunch of people from all over. I have at least one visitor to Singapore in November and I have a tour guide to Taipei lined up - and a whole lots of other new friends. School re-invigorated me about work and what I really want to do. I've started to make some more concrete plans about next year and feeling much more positive about life generally.
Arriving back in Singapore 27 hours after I left (but actually 2 days later care of that darned date line) I was confronted with a horrible haze. Indonesia has bad forest fires and the winds are blowing them straight into Singapore. Frisbee games have been cancelled, I have a cough and international tensions have increased. Here's hoping things improve soon.
