Blog chadash (aka change is good)

We have new contact information all across the board, so why not a whole new blog? Please update your bookmarks to:

Lovings in Cincinnati

Otherwise known as http://lovingsincincinnati.blogspot.com

Check for new updates there... at least it's easy to remember. :)

A different kind of culture shock

There are some big cultural differences I've noticed between here and home. Like, there are African-Americans everywhere, but almost no Hispanics. I went on Wikipedia out of curiousity, and it said that the city is 52.9% white, 42.9% black or African-American, and 1.2% Hispanic or Latino. I've heard almost no Spanish, but there's quite a lot of German influence in restaurants and names of streets. Sadly, the Costco looked exactly the same, with only one black family in sight and the rest lily-white. (The pizza tasted the same too).

I've never seen so many churches in the same radius as here, either. Baptist, evangelical, Christian Scientist, you name it, there's a church for it, and the signs are big. Ohio isn't technically in the Bible belt, but Kentucky is, and Kentucky's a fast 10 minute drive away. When we came back from the airport we saw a huge statue of Jesus lifting up his arms, and not five minutes from our house is a gigantic billboard on how abortion is murder.

Everyone seems nice, and very friendly. People go out of their way to help you, whether it's the woman in Rite-Aid who showed me where the dollar aisle was, or the waitress who gave us her favorite recommendations and then told us what *not* to get. It's been a real pleasure talking with any of the locals so far - I hope the trend continues!

As far as our house is going, it's being put together slowly but surely. We've bought the little things that help it feel like home, like a laundry basket and plastic hangers. So clothes are in the closet, our one pot and pan are in the cabinet, and Jonathan's computer is proudly on display on the desk we bought from the previous tenants. The rest of our furniture and boxes get here Friday, and our mattress and box spring arrive Thursday. I think next Saturday will definitely involve unpacking, and poor Harry Potter will have to wait til later in the week.

Hello from the Midwest

We did it! We moved. I write this from the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, home of Graeter’s ice cream and the best Thai food I’ve had (who knew?)

It was a travel experience not to be envied, I’ll tell you. Our flight from LAX to Atlanta was delayed an hour, which caused us to miss our connecting flight. We were scheduled on a new flight instead, one which left three hours later. Then *that* flight was delayed forty minutes in Atlanta due to bad weather. It was so bumpy that even I got queasy, and poor Osher threw up in his carrier case. I later found out, when opening baggage, that our bags had gotten left outside at some point in the Atlanta storm, as most of our clothes were soaking wet.

We finally landed, rented our car, and drove an hour to our new place. It’s totally empty, but clean, spacious, and has a great yard and ample storage space in the basement. We bought the cats a litterbox, blew up our air mattress, met our landlord, who’s quite nice, and then Jonathan and I went to buy little things for us – adult not-fun things, like sponges and dish soap and a toilet scrubber brush. Tomorrow it's off to Costco to buy food.

Dinner last night was the aforementioned Thai place, and the local ice cream sho for dessert. The DSL people came today, our car supposedly arrives in the afternoon, Jonathan starts work on Monday, and the moving van with our stuff arrives next Friday.

The cats are settling in nicely. A bit freaked at first, they’ve been very cuddly... nothing like two huge moves in two months to make a pet feel insecure and want love. In lieu of living with our little ones, we bought Jan two new baby rats before we left. They're adorable white balls of fluff. Ruthie, she hasn’t even named them yet. :)

Book recommendation

On a totally separate note, my visit to Aunt Lois' has inspired a wholly new appreciation of nature in me. In search of understanding the world that is not-city, I just read Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer, set in the southern Appalachian mountains. Kingsolver (who also wrote The Poisonwood Bible) was raised in rural Kentucky, in the "wrinkle on the map that lies between farms and wildness," and she has a graduate degree in biology. It shows. The woman is a poet, and weaves three separate storylines of a park ranger, a farmer's wife, and an elderly organic farmer into a dizzyingly beautiful tapestry. I learned so much about nature, human relationships, and the connections between the two of them that I can't praise the book enough. Go read it. Now. Click here.

Jerusalem friends

Mara and Mark were here for four days, and we had a fabulous time! They played tourist (Santa Monica Pier, Rodeo Drive and the like), we went to In N'Out, and they even rode the motorcycle with Jonathan. We were sorry to see them go, but at least Mara will be at the LA HUC campus, so I'll see her whenever I visit home.

Mara and Jonathan about to take off on the Hybusa. I think most people forget that we have one. It was one of the scariest things Mara did in her life, but it was worth it, she said.

Jonathan and Mark being tough and manly.

Me and Mark.

Moving

Well, so there's been a slight change in plans. Turns out the movers are coming Friday rather than Thursday, which means there's no way that we can have everything shipped Friday afternoon and drive 10 hours north to be at a wedding Saturday morning. Instead, I'm staying here and Jonathan is flying up by himself. He'll come back Sunday.

I'm so sad! I had wanted to go! Shawn and Kristie, our cousins, had even asked me to do a blessing at the reception. I had to bow out... can't bless, must move.

Squee!

Jonathan and I are going to four weddings in the next three months, and I need a good wedding dress. Yesterday Beverly and I went shopping and we put together a whole outfit. (pictures will follow)

The best part though? The dress I wanted, and ended up buying, wasn't on the rack in my size. The sales lady said hold on a minute, and then she TOOK IT OFF THE MANNEQUIN!