Life in Olympic Village

About a week and a half ago, we loaded up the Golf with everything we could possibly fit into the world’s smallest car. Jeremy worked some pretty miraculous feats of packing, and I was stunned by everything we were able to cram in. We spent three days driving across the country surrounded by the detritus of our life. The kids were great sports, though, and the highlight of the journey for them was the hotel swimming pool in Ames, Iowa.

Now we are all settled in our new home in St. Paul. The complex we live in is full of university students, most of whom have families, and most of whom are international students. The buildings are fairly dated; our apartment was built in the 1950s, and the “new” buildings were built in the 1970s. It’s a cross between Hooverville and an international housing project. After batting around several possible names for our new place (we always like to name our homes, sometimes more creatively than others), we settled on “Olympic Village.” It’s a great place. We have really embraced the lifestyle of our new international digs, including hanging our laundry out on the line with our Chinese neighbors. The only thing I don’t like is that I’m pretty sure they’re all better cooks than I am. Every evening when we’re fixing dinner, the scents of curries and sundry Chinese food waft through our open windows. Jeremy usually wanders wistfully to the window and says, “Wow. Doesn’t that smell good?” The truth is, it really does. Maybe I’ll have to figure out their culinary secrets in the short time we’re here.

The apartment itself is fairly basic, but in excellent repair. The paint is fresh (though we do wonder how many hundreds of layers of paint have been applied to this one apartment in the last 60 years) and the upstairs carpet is new. The kitchen, though small, is pleasant. We even have what I like to call a “Fisher Price” stove—a tiny apartment stove that looks too small to be real. But it works well and still has four burners. What more does one family need? We have no dishwasher and no garbage disposal, no internet, no microwave, no apartment laundry, (though there is a communal laundry at the end of the building), and no air conditioning. Believe it or not, none of these have been problematic other than the air conditioning. The weather hasn’t been horrible, but today, for example, the temperature is in the 90s and the low tonight will only be 75. Then tomorrow it’ll be in the 90s again. That makes for some hot times inside.

Other than the periodic heat, I can’t say enough good about the Twin Cities. Other than the odd bridge falling into the Mississippi River, this seems to be an ideal place. Yes, I know I haven’t hit winter yet, but of all the wintry places I’ve lived in (and you may know that’s been quite a few), this is the only place that actually seems prepared for a long winter in terms of having lots of fun indoor things to do. There are indoor conservatories and museums, lots of great libraries, and of course the Mall of America. And both downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis have extensive skyway systems, so you can enjoy a winter day downtown with minimal exposure to the elements. Genius!

As is our tradition, on our second day here we went to the library to get everyone library cards. Our closest library is small, but it’s in this beautiful old brick building, and the children’s section is in a circular room. You’d have to have known me for pretty long to know how excessively fond I am of round rooms. We’ve also visited the Como Park Zoo, which is free (with a nominal requested donation), Ikea, and the Mall of America. And we’ve gone to several fun parks. All of this in less than a week, and there’s still so much to see and do! We haven’t even been to Minneapolis yet! We look forward to upcoming visits to the Children’s Museum, and, of course, the State Fair. Some of my alert readers will know that we live within a very near proximity to the State Fair. Even though we haven’t gone yet, we have enjoyed several concerts and fireworks show from our bedroom. And by “enjoy” I mean “stay awake until 11:00 p.m. listening to Big Head Todd and the Monsters and waiting for the fireworks so we can go to bed.” Last night we were favored by a concert from Tim McGraw and Julianne Hough. We’re super pumped about some of next week’s offerings: Weird Al Yankovich and Kiss. Goodness. We actually are excited about Prairie Home Companion and are more or less indifferent to tonight’s guest: Carrie Underwood.

Sorry there aren't more pictures (Mom)! I'll get some good ones posted soon...

On the road again

When people start asking me when I'm going to update my blog, it makes me feel like perhaps too much time has passed since my last entry. So thanks, Julia, for a motivational (if virtual!) kick in the pants. Here's what we've been up to lately:

On July 29th, we loaded our earthly possessions into a trusty 16-foot Budget truck and drove from lovely Coeur d'Alene, ID to lovely Utah. As is always the case when we move, we were sad to say goodbye to the wonderful friends we made during our two years in Coeur d'Alene. I've long wished that I could just pack my friends up in a suitcase and take them with me from place to place, but since that's not possible I am just grateful for the people whose paths we are able to cross. We've truly been blessed with wonderful friends.

Contrary to what you might be thinking at this point, we are not actually moving to Utah. At present, we are on a little vacation, visiting family and preparing for another big move--this time to Minneapolis. Jeremy has a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Minnesota this fall, which we are super excited about. Since the fellowship is only four months, though, we decided to put our stuff into storage and travel dustbowl refugee-style to Minnesota, taking only what we can fit into our compact car. It's going to be a good time.

We're quite enjoying our time in Utah. We've been able to visit with a lot of family and see our favorite Utah sites. For example, today we drove to Provo for our traditional BYU campus visit (Go, Cougars!). Clara and Jonathan had a great time running around, visiting old friends (of mine), and eating ice cream in the Cougareat.

When we finished at BYU, we drove to the cemetery to visit Sam's grave. I think it might have been Jonathan's first visit, and though Clara has been there before she seemed to understand more where we were and why we were there. We decorated his grave with pine cones and sticks we collected, then we knelt for a family prayer at his graveside. It was a tender, peaceful, memorable experience.

It's an interesting thing to teach our children about their brother. I want them to know about Sam without worrying them needlessly about death. Today when we were driving home from the cemetery, Clara said, "Why did Sam die?" I said, "I don't know, exactly. He was very sick." She replied, "Why was he very sick?" I said, "Well, he got very, very, very sick in Mommy's tummy, and then he was born and he was still very sick, and then he went back to live with Heavenly Father. We were so sad for him to die, but we're glad that we can remember him and that we can see him again someday." She didn't say much after that, but I hope I said the right things. I'm grateful for Clara and Jonathan, and for Jeremy. Even when our lives are in upheaval, like they are during a move, I always feel safe and at home with my family around me. And it was nice to feel like all five of us were together today, even for just a moment.