Sometimes I feel a little bit down about living in such an urban place. During law school, we lived here.
Then we moved here:
Then here:
And now we live in the dusty, busy, loud, urban city. The other day, Kevin mentioned a cute little house with a yard full of flowers, and I cried. While I am excited about our crazy lifestyle, that is one thing I already miss.
Today I went out to visit a friend who lives in some Consulate housing outside the city. It took about 45 minutes or an hour to drive out there, and on the way, we passed this bridge. I didn't have my camera with me, but I stole this from the internet. I thought you might like it, Melanie. Seattle could use one of these:
Anyway... once we got out past the airport where this housing area is, I was bowled over by how beautiful it is. There are spacious mansions with lawns and yards, plenty of bushes, and little fountains in the front yards. It's quiet and gated with cute little cul-de-sacs to go on walks. Since it's outside the city, the area surrounding the complex is more of a village feel. Part of me wanted to jump into the next available house out there!
But after spending the afternoon out there, I realized that I actually prefer living in the city, despite the concrete and all the noise. The grass was nice, and we could really use a park nearby. But I love the convenience of
My friend that lives in that complex can go out and buy fresh fruits and vegetables, but if she wants anything more than that, she has to plan a day-long trip into the city, hiring a driver or arranging for a car somehow. Ditto if there is any activity or event at the Consulate. Only a few American families live out there, and just a handful more German families. I got the feeling that the people out there feel kind of isolated and lonely. I know that it's taken me these several weeks to get settled in, and I feel like my biggest obstacle is the road construction that makes me walk TWO WHOLE BLOCKS out of my way just to get to the other side of the street. I blame that for my not having any food or groceries in my house. I can't imagine how unsettled I'd be if I lived an hour outside the city, out of walking distance of Walmart or any store, and beyond the delivery limits of Ikea.
I would love to have a yard and a garden. But with a newborn coming this summer, I know I wouldn't have any time for it. I love having my independence: being able to get around, go to the doctor's, shop at the store, and find places to go and people to talk to in my little urban neighborhood. I never thought I'd feel this way, but I'm so happy we chose to live in the city!
4 comments:
That is a pretty awesome bridge! I'll have to show it to my coworkers to help them with ideas for Calif. There's a time and place for everything... dang it.
(i kept coming back to this blog to see what melanie would say about the bridge!) :) :)
You know, I was thinking about this bridge last night (um.. don't most people dream about bridges?) and why it was so tall when its just on what looks like flood plains. I looked on the internet this morning for more info but couldn't find it. I would bet that an architect was definitely involved... those crazy artists.
This post makes total sense to me! I hated being in an apartment with Cal---no yard, busy streets, cramped space, parking garage stairs AND an elevator to deal with when bringing home a load of groceries---but it was so fun to live the urban lifestyle of walking to restaurants, cafes, shops, the doctor, etc. And Cal LOVED all of the vehicles he could see in our neighborhood---ambulances, fire trucks, buses, construction vehicles, even the light rail train. The suburbs are nice, but kinda dull.
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