The 18-Month Rollercoaster

It was approximately 18 months ago that Ted and I made some decisions that started a jam-packed, rollicking journey that would mark an Interesting Period of our lives. Here's a brief timeline and some of the main events that have happened in this time:

In these past months, I've learned a few things:

~ Boston is ripe with American history -- one can randomly come across some plaque or stone marker indicating what Important Event (such as where Washington first took command of American troops) related to the American Revolution occurred there. However, there doesn't appear to be a whole lot of information regarding First Nations populations here or pre-contact populations (you know, before the Pilgrims with their hats arrived at Plymouth Rock), so  I tried to find out a bit more about the area. Boston (and I think Cambridge) sits on the Massachusett traditional territory, the tribe the state of Massachusetts is named after. I've tried to look up information about this particular tribe, but apparently, while there are small bands living around the state, the people were nearly wiped out during post-colonial contact. Their language (and the word Massachusetts) is a dialect of Algonquin. Here's a map from Wikipedia:

~ Massachusetts has a form of socialized healthcare and has for some time. It's a point of pride, apparently.
~ I've mentioned this one before - the immigration process is a painful exercise in waiting... which I whine about despite coming to the U.S. under good circumstances and carrying a Canadian passport (the point being that this very likely makes it much easier for me than someone carrying another sort of passport or identification).
~ Apparently, one needs a Social Security Number (aka "a social") in order to do a number of things such as: apply for a job, get a driver's license, apply to see if one is eligible to take a social work licensing exam, get a bank account (although, we were able to circumvent this somehow), do volunteer work (they need your social to run a check on you), etc. One cannot get a social until their immigration stuff is done. See above point.
~ A surprising number of people do not know what you mean when asking for a washroom. One should request a bathroom.
~ Boston has a super great food scene. I'm glad I had a full physical, including blood pressure and cholesterol check earlier this year. Who knows what the numbers will be the next time I have a check up.
~ Reconnecting with old friends, even ones you haven't seen or spoken to in years (even since junior high school), is always lovely and fun. You get to hear all the interesting things that have happened with people in those intervening years. It's never boring.
~ Job-hunting, particularly when one is trying to pursue new-ish areas of social work that have long been of interest, is not the time to be squeamish! Many applications were sent out! Many interviews (in person and via phone) were scheduled! Many diplomatic rejection letters/responses came in.... I started the process tentatively at first and eventually found myself perusing job postings and saying to myself, "well, I don't necessarily fit 100% of the preferences or requirements, but I'm going to apply anyway!". And I did. The worst that could happen, I figured? No response or a "no" (something I was getting used to, anyway). I mean, it still sucked. And some days, Ted would come home to find me being overly-dramatic and bemoaning my life (like I said -- dramatic). I'm sure he was always really happy about that.
~ One in-person, super supportive person in your life can change everything. Ted and I have a great support network. Unfortunately, most of this network is currently not in Boston and while emails and such are fantastic, it's just not the same as commiserating with or bouncing ideas off someone in person. So, we've leaned heavily on each other as we navigated some of the milestones we've recently experienced. I'm not certain I would have survived the emotional ups and downs that have occurred without Ted. I'm sure there were times where he wasn't certain he would survive my emotional ups and downs, either. But, I'd like to think the reverse is true as well and while his emotional ups and downs look very different from mine, I'm sure he had them, too. Having that person also gives us the freedom and luxury of BEING dramatic and wallowing in short-lived dumpitudes before getting our act together (sometimes at the prodding of the other person), acknowledging how blessed we are, and plugging along.

A Summary of Shenanigans

Hanging out at Boston Common

Just after my first Easter in Boston, some of my very favourite people trekked across the country by way of Minneapolis for a quick visit. Despite the months-long separation, we quickly embroiled ourselves in our usual idiotic and funny (to us) shenanigans while racing around, taking in the sights. While the trip was short, the memories will be long - I present a 6 day trip to Boston and New York City in a series of picture collages! 

Day 1 (Boston): While Mac, Cheese, and Crumbs battled jet lag, we took a stroll around Harvard, went on a Duck Tour around the city and along the Charles River where Sara got to DRIVE A DUCK BOAT, and ended the night with watching the hilarious musical, The Book of Mormon.

Day 2a (Boston): Walked most of the Freedom Trail which took us around to most of the historical landmarks in Boston related to the American Revolution, had chowder (chowdah) at Quincy Market and ate cannolis from Mike's Pastry.

Day 2b (Boston): Stopped for midday drinks at the aptly named Frost Ice Bar.

Day 2c (Boston): Continued wandering around the Freedom Trail, including the North End and ended the day by spending several hours at The Bell in Hand - America's Oldest Tavern.

Day 3 (Boston to New York): Spent the day taking the Amtrak from Boston to NYC (about 4.5 hours trip). Our first night in NYC found us down at Times Square!

Day 4 (New York City): Our first full day in New York started with a meal at Katz's Deli, followed by a bus tour of the city, riding the subway, and checking out the neat architecture! We finished with a meal at The National and checking out the Waldorf Astoria.

Day 5 (New York City): Went to Top of the Rock, the Public Library (where Sara re-enacted select scenes from the Sex and the City movie), and Chelsea Market.

Day 6 (New York City): Our last morning was spent biking around at Central Park before capping the trip off by enjoying some wine on the train back to Boston!

Practically Locals!! (Reprise)

I'm back on the grid! I'm no longer an anonymous (well...actually, I am still anonymous, but you know what I mean) person who has to truck around her passport for ID purposes wherever she goes! I got myself some bona fide U.S. identification bearing my name, face, signature, and in one case, my fingerprint.

My passport reassures me that I'm still Canadian, though. Phew! :)

Besides the ID thing, I've slowly been attempting to integrate into the community beyond the neighbourhood and restaurant/eatery explorations we still do and the visits to the wine store across the street.

I'm volunteering at the little community centre near our place that have various neat programs that run out of it for kids of all ages. I get to help out with middle school aged people who are at once hilarious, sassy, naive, worldly and terrifying. It's a community centre in a true sense: it's been around for ages and generations of families have gone through here; it's an old building that you can tell has been added onto over time, making it look a bit like a building that's been cobbled together; there's a weekend market that happens here with fantastic locally grown/harvested/made veggies, seafood, cheeses, etc.; and it really feels like a meeting place for the neighbourhood.

Just beyond that tree there is an art piece titled "Inner City Totem"

Also, to feed my love of learning languages (although, I don't have a natural aptitude for it), I've started taking Spanish lessons! At this point, I can have a super basic conversation as long as it doesn't deviate from asking basic questions (names, where one lives, how someone is), listing members of the family, listing random foods, and occasionally asking at what time something is (when I can remember how to formulate the question). And I can count to 50. Ta-da! Learning!

Also, I can list random nouns. Makes for riveting conversation, no?

See? I'm practically a local!

Hasta luego (<-- learning AND applying new skills).

Seen Around Beantown

In the last couple of months, we took in a couple of notable Boston sights: the New England Aquarium and the Museum of Fine Arts. These were great indoor activities for a few of those blustery New England winter weekends.

New England Aquarium:

The Aquarium had a really neat set-up that was both engaging and beautiful with a large penguin exhibit right in the centre. There was also a Giant Ocean Tank - a huge cylindrical tank that rose from the floor up to the ceiling (about 4 floors) - that was filled with various sea-life and served as a coral reef exhibit. Plus, they had a couple of "touch tanks" where we got to feel rays as they swam by and other little critters.

These fun guys greet you outside 
the entrance!

This picture doesn't do this ENORMOUS
 guy justice...

                     

     

          

Overall impression: Thoroughly enjoyable, although I was sad to see few to no amphibians/reptiles. While the New England Aquarium had wonderful exhibits, it did make us realize how large the Vancouver Aquarium is.

Museum of Fine Arts (MFA):

A museum that has a bit of everything from the well-known great masters such as Monet, Manet, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Titian, to ancient artifacts and weird and whacky contemporary pieces. There was also a fairly decent exhibit on First Nations art, in both traditional and contemporary styles. 

Fun fact: museum admission includes a free 'repeat visit' within 10 days which was a handy little perk that we took full advantage of. We ended up spending about 7.5 - 8 hours over 2 Saturdays at the MFA after we got over our shock at how large it was (something neither of us were expecting for some reason). 

Our favourite exhibit was the one showcasing John Singer Sargent. His portraits were amazing and so full of life, which even an art rube like myself could recognize. We also played our own private game of searching for Very Ugly Painted Children. There were many. May I present, the winner:

Our very favourite piece, judging from the amount of giggling we did (because we're super juvenile):