The Bostonian Abroad

For the first time in years I actually have a bit of the ol' Christmas Spirit! The weather has turned cold, the leaves have fallen off the trees, and it gets dark early! How odd that I should appreciate something so much which is so mundane! And this over Hawaii no less! I got used to never-changing beauty, perfect weather every day, always leaving the windows open, day and night, 24/7. It became desperately monotonous and made the daily grind that much more difficult because it echoed the sameness of the sterile and generic office environment. So much has the spirit returned to me that I have recently put up Christmas lights, a large stocking on the front door, and smaller ones on the fireplace mantle! For the first time in my life I can imagine Santa, someone in whom I was never permitted to believe in the first place, coming down my wee chimney and through my fireplace, ready to leave presents under my tiny rosemary tree I bought at Home Depot. I'll even leave cookies...

Tessie, 'nuff said! 

Yesterday was a bad day. I got dressed up early in order to go down to the DMV and get my new driver's license. I had a long list of things I was going to accomplish that day, and, based on my achievements the day before, I was hoping to carry on the momentum. Alas, it was not to be. I arrived at the DMV and began to wait. And wait... After about 20 minutes, I began to appreciate the fact that we were given chairs instead of having to wait in a long line - like in Hawaii. I also began to fret that I might not have the requisite paperwork to get the Hawaii car registered here. I called Lorrie and asked her to get ready to fax something over in case it was needed. I was sure that this would be all that I would need and that I would be able to get what I wanted to get done. Nope. When I got called up a half hour later - not bad by DMV standards - I was told that I needed to have my wife present in order to change the registration because the car was in both our names. Damn. ...

After a few months of transitions, we are finally settling in at our new home. Thus far, it has been entirely pleasant to be here, and with each passing day, I feel that our decision to move here was the right one. Of course, this is, as always, a developing view as we have not yet begun to look for jobs. However, we have socialized a couple of times, and in these tentative socail interactions, we have felt welcome and accepted. It's amazing to me that in our short time here, we already feel more positivity and acceptance than we ever felt in our torturous five years in Hawaii. When people ask us why we left, or how we could ever think to leave such a beautiful place, I really feel guilty in having to tell them of all our problems there. It feels like I am ruining their idea of the place by throwing in our reality. At the same time, I feel a bit bad to speak ill of the place; isn't that funny!? Five years of unhappiness at virtually every aspect of that place save the we...