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Though it may seem as if I haven't been around, I actually haven't been absent. I come here several times a day to check out what my buddies are up to. But do I say anything about myself? Not recently! So, in an attempt to be sure I post at least twice this month, here goes...
I really like living in northern Chicago. Where we are, it's very much like being in one of the bigger cities in Pakistan, believe it or not. They actually call it Little India up here, though it could just as well be called Little Pakistan! It still amazes me sometimes that living in Chicago can still remind me so much of Pakistan. Some of those reminders are as obvious as the smell of curry coming from restaurants, the sweet shop that sells barfi and jallaybee just a block from our house, the sounds of conversation in a foreign language that we can understand, the sight of burqua-clad women or the ready availability in the corner grocery store of bitter gourd, a vegetable native to Pakistan and India. Other reminders are more intangible, like the way people gesture when they talk, or bob their head in a South Asian manner. So we definitely feel at home.
We haven't gotten out into the other part of Chicago very much as yet, but we have gotten downtown a couple of times -- and want to do more. We're coming up on better weather for being out and about, so we have plans to start checking out some of those museums and parks that look so inviting in the Not For Tourists Guide Book we got ourselves for Christmas. Downtown just one bus and a longish train ride away -- which is part of the fun for us. Being from towns in Wisconsin where they didn't have public transportation because you could walk just about anywhere you wanted to go, we think riding the bus and the elevated train is a real treat that can't be beat! :-D We don't get to do it often enough, because where we are living now, everything we need daily is within walking distance -- even the place where we work is only a block away! :-D
Today is looking like a lovely sunny day, though I'm not sure how warm it is going to be. Either way, it will be a good day for a walk for exercise. There is a lovely little park with a pond about a mile away, and I think I'll go there today and watch the ducks. Maybe if it's warm enough I'll sit for a bit and do some writing!
I really like living in northern Chicago. Where we are, it's very much like being in one of the bigger cities in Pakistan, believe it or not. They actually call it Little India up here, though it could just as well be called Little Pakistan! It still amazes me sometimes that living in Chicago can still remind me so much of Pakistan. Some of those reminders are as obvious as the smell of curry coming from restaurants, the sweet shop that sells barfi and jallaybee just a block from our house, the sounds of conversation in a foreign language that we can understand, the sight of burqua-clad women or the ready availability in the corner grocery store of bitter gourd, a vegetable native to Pakistan and India. Other reminders are more intangible, like the way people gesture when they talk, or bob their head in a South Asian manner. So we definitely feel at home.
We haven't gotten out into the other part of Chicago very much as yet, but we have gotten downtown a couple of times -- and want to do more. We're coming up on better weather for being out and about, so we have plans to start checking out some of those museums and parks that look so inviting in the Not For Tourists Guide Book we got ourselves for Christmas. Downtown just one bus and a longish train ride away -- which is part of the fun for us. Being from towns in Wisconsin where they didn't have public transportation because you could walk just about anywhere you wanted to go, we think riding the bus and the elevated train is a real treat that can't be beat! :-D We don't get to do it often enough, because where we are living now, everything we need daily is within walking distance -- even the place where we work is only a block away! :-D
Today is looking like a lovely sunny day, though I'm not sure how warm it is going to be. Either way, it will be a good day for a walk for exercise. There is a lovely little park with a pond about a mile away, and I think I'll go there today and watch the ducks. Maybe if it's warm enough I'll sit for a bit and do some writing!
