If you ask an Indian about what you are doing this weekend, the reply will be going to my hometown to meet my family. If I talk about myself, I am lazy in visiting my home every weekend or even twice in a month. It was like at least once a month. So, among those four weekends, two were spent in doing rest and chilling on the bed. And the other one was spent in exploring restaurants or in shopping. But still I had something to do. If we talk about spending weekends in USA, especially when you are not working then it needs options.
1.Exploring Cuisine
Chinese
This was my favorite thing to do, you will find every kind of cuisine in US. I used to love Chinese food while living in India.Chinese food that we eat in India is Indo-Chinese with a variety of vegetarian options available. I was shocked when I visited a Chinese Buffet in Arizona, I couldn’t find a single thing that I loved except the dessert. I customized fried rice to include mushrooms and other raw veggies only, yes you can. There was vegetarian sushi available, but it was ok in taste. There was also one vegetarian pizza for the rescue among a lot of variety for the non-vegetarians. You will have fruits to eat but visiting a Chinese cuisine in US for a veg guy on the whole is a wastage of money.For the non-vegetarians,there is everything you can find in the world to eat even the snakes.
Mexican
I loved this Cuisine; you will surely love this if you are an Indian. Yes, you will find our favorite food called “rajma chawal” there with slight modifications. There is a famous veg bowl in Chipotle restaurant to order in which there is boiled rice mixed with boiled beans with sauces and greens. You can customize it to include cheese, lettuce, salsa or sour cream. Chipotle is a common brand available in every part of US. Then there was cheese quesadilla, which is like an Indian cheese paratha, but the cheese is not paneer here. There is a variety of cheese to choose in US, they have done a whole engineering on it. Then comes the veg burrito which is like a wrap including veggies, boiled rice, beans and cheese.
2.Watching Movies
I still remember going to AMC theatres thrice a week. We were their stub members which have the perks of ” watching three movies a week for a monthly subscription and some free popcorn and coke meanwhile”. I would surely recommend this while living in US.AMC theatres are beautiful in ambience with big screens and amazing sound quality. Visiting their Dolby theatres is an experience in itself. You will find a lot of restaurants nearby and shopping stores for fun with the family.
3.Explore nearby places
We usually make plans to visit places which are popular and far away, but we forget to explore our nearby unexplored places. On day we visited a local park in Indiana near to our home and it was beautiful ,full of greenery with a bridge and a natural stream of water. Local parks in US are beautiful and consume less time in travelling. You can have a picnic or grill party with your friends and family.
You can check the weekend getaways near you on the state’s websites. I also remember hiking a trail nearby popular by the name “Devil’s Bridge” not far from Phoenix where we were living that time. We also visited a nearby zoo and a lake with our friends which was a one-day trip and was fun.
4.Inviting friends at home
If you are new in states, only the colleagues are the first people you interact with. And there is no family support. So, friends become family, you can invite people at home for a lunch or dinner to start with . If your interests match, then you will not need to think about the following weekends. You can also explore any restaurant together. We have been lucky to find some good friends both in Phoenix and in Indiana. We hardly find time to sit at home except in Indiana, where we stayed at friend’s house for a change during lockdown and they used to come to our’s.
4.Visiting a grocery store
Many surveys analyzed that Americans spend a lot of time in shopping for grocery. For me it used to bring a change in my mood. Because the stores were not only for grocery but included everything you can buy even clothes.They were decorated during festivities. Even if it is for window shopping only, I like roaming around stores.
You will find that different stores serve different functionality. Like Costco can be visited if you want to buy things in bulk. We used to buy flour, sugar, milk, potatoes etc. the things you want in large quantity. People visit Walmart for the cheap price of grocery. We used to visit Kroger because of the high quality of products.
5.Join games
My husband used to play cricket with his friends occasionally during weekends.No doubt I was bored but it used to happen to him when I was with my friends.So, joining a sport is another way to spend weekends in USA. We sometimes used to visit bowling centers and play in groups. I improved my bowling skills. Then there were gaming centers by the name “Dave & Busters” just like smaash in India, where there is food along with a lot of indoor games to play.
6.Follow your hobbies
As I mentioned earlier in the blog that we have a hobby of photography and we have planned a lot of trips just to capture nature. We have visited many wildlife parks, some even twice or thrice to take good shots of animals. Because the animals are not in the same mood, you can capture their different activities.
If you have a hobby like singing or dancing,then there are related events organized on weekends. You can check your state’s websites to check for those events.
7.Party and drink
If you like partying then US is the origin guys ,there are a lot of clubs and bars in every state.Alcohol is like a normal drink like coke.But the thing I missed in US were the Indian songs to dance upon. Most of the songs would be like never listened . I don’t know but I find Punjabi beats more impressive on dance floors, that is my personal choice.
8.Cafes and reading
We used to visit Starbucks for a coffee and good ambience. It provides a good atmosphere to read. For a person like me who stays indoors the whole week, there is a need to change the surrounding. Moreover, we felt that Starbucks is kind of affordable in US. Their good Wi-Fi is an added benefit. I remember preparing for our exams together in Starbucks where we would be spending at least 3 hours a day. In India, CCDs are a good affordable option.
9.Religious Visits
If you are a person who like to visit temples in India, you can find a lot of events and poojas happening in US temples. There was a website in Phoenix by the name “azindia.com” where we could find Indian religious activities happening in temples and gurudwaras. Their website was quite handy. Moreover, if you have an eligible work visa, then you can join Indian offices, salons, realtors etc. all these jobs were listed on the same website.
Even some Indians arrange various poojas at home like sunderkand and invite friends and neighbors. Together you listen to the paath. You can prepare some food accordingly. This way you can have a religious event arranged at home on the weekend.
10.Learning Hubs/Workshops
If you want to learn something new like a language or a skill, there are various coaching centers available. If you are working, then weekend courses are perfect for you. One day we felt the need to attend a real estate workshop, so we registered for the event by Facebook and attended the seminar. These are generally conducted on weekends keeping in mind the working individuals.
11.Volunteer for a NGO job
If you love keeping pets or taking care of older people or good in communication, then there are various volunteering jobs available in which you will get the experience certificate. These are legal if you are on a H4 or non-working visa making sure these jobs should not be related to the field you were working in history. So, you can spend your weekends in helping people and contributing to a good cause.
You can read about celebrating KARWACHAUTH in US from the below link.
