I missing living in the city.

It's interesting, isn't it, how some people are city people and other people are not. Bethaney wrote in a post on her blog after visiting Ottawa that she was just not a city person. I imagine if someone were to ask me 15 years ago if I were a city person then, I would have adamantly denied it. Now, I'm not sure how people don't live in cities. Or at least, in towns. On my most recent trip to West Virginia, to visit family, we passed through a very small, poor town. I said to my mother, "What do these people do?" It's kind of hard for me to imagine living so remotely from everything. Where do they work? What do they do for stimulation? How could they possibly find someone to marry? You'd have to have a very limited palette, because as Nina pointed out, you can't even buy pumpernickel bread. I'm so far removed from that kind of living now, I'm not sure how anyone manages.

I'm sure you're all horrified. I guess in a way, it is kind of horrifying, to be so completely transformed from wanting the kind of life with which you grew up. Though honestly, I feel like if you don't live in both the country and the city, you'll never know which one you really prefer. And of course there needs to be people who prefer both places, as there needs to be all kinds of varying opinions on everything. I lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for 11 years, and just this summer moved away. I don't mind Lancaster. It's a pretty big town, the population last year was nearly 60,000. There are art studios and coffee houses and old buildings and an opera house and a symphony. There's a central market where the farmers come twice a week to sell produce and meat and baked goods and tea. There are some Thai, Indian, and Japanese restaurants and grocers, plenty of shopping, a few small vineyards, some breweries, and a newly opened wine bar. It's definitely liveable, by anyone's standards.

What I miss is the public transportation, and walking to everything. I miss walking up the street for Thai or Mediterranean or pizza or coffee or the health food store. And unfortunately, I don't actually live in Lancaster, I live outside of it. So I have to drive to go to anything. I'm really not used to it. And it's hilarious how lazy I became, living in the city. I was laughing about this just the other day with a friend of mine who lives in Boston. She said that anytime she actually has to get in the car, it's a big to-do. It was the same for me, in Pittsburgh. Even driving two miles away was annoying. Obviously not that annoying, because I still did, frequently, drive, but it's just so weird how acclimated you become to your surroundings. I really miss walking places. And I really miss the variety of ethnic food available. Living in the country has its advantages. It's very quiet here at night, we can have a big yard and a garden, and the countryside is beautiful. I just wish I could still go to the ballet and eat Ethiopian.

Here are some photos from my last trip to Pittsburgh. Josh now lives in a neighborhood called Bloomfield, which is like the Little Italy of Pittsburgh. Not the nicest neighborhood (but by far not the worst, either), but boy, does it have great food. Josh goes to this little Vietnamese restaurant frequently (like 4 or 5 times a week I guess!), as it's only a couple blocks from his apartment.

Josh's beef pho. He says that the biggest draw for him is the ritual of adding everything to make it just right.

Brad and his grilled chicken something.

My crispy tofu stir-fry. It was awesome. And they had this really great hot sauce that was so good. A nice clean hot: no flavor, just heat.

The cool kids.