Hello!
It's been ages since I've blogged! I just looked and saw the last time I wrote anything we didn't even know when we were moving! Crazy! We've been in Cincinnati for the past 3 months! Chad started working shortly after we got here. We went back and forth between his mom's and hotels for the first couple of months due to things just not working out with the apartment we wanted to get into. It ended up working out though! We ended up moving into the house the church owns. It wasn't available when we moved here, but it became available later. We originally thought we didn't want to live here for various reasons, but we ended up deciding that it would be a good idea. I love being in a house and not having to worry about neighbors living above or below us! Now we are working on saving up some money for a car. Having a car would make things a lot easier in a lot of ways, but then we would have to pay a car payment, insurance and gas. I think that we're finally getting to the point where we can save up and actually have some money to put down on a car be able to afford something.
Living in Cincinnati is very different than living in Chicago. Slowly but surely, I'm adjusting to living here, but there are still moments when I miss the big city! The public transportation system here leaves something to be desired. For the last 10 years, I've always lived close to several buses and for most of that time we always had at least one train close by as well. We do live right off of a bus line, but it doesn't take us to a lot of the places we'd like to go. Right now we are dependent on people to get us where we need to go unless we're doing something in our neighborhood. Thankfully we do have a lot of stuff in walking distance. Unfortunately, Chad's job isn't close by or off a bus line so he has to get rides to work. We did figure out that he can take the bus fairly close to his job and he could probably get a ride from there to work.
I need to get a job as well. That would help us be able to get a car quicker, but I may need a car to get a job. It would be nice if I could get into teaching piano and voice lessons and maybe even some beginner flute lessons. I really enjoy teaching lessons. I'll just have to figure out how to find students. It would be nice to be able to work at home so that when we start having kids, I don't have to quit my job. Chad could teach trombone lessons as well to make a little extra cash.
My parents are coming this week to visit. I'm looking forward to seeing them and showing them around Cincinnati. I know we're going to Jungle Jims. We've also discussed going to the Creation Museum, but it's pretty expensive. There is plenty to do around here in just a couple days. I'm sure we'll figure stuff out.
I feel your pain. I did two years in Dallas without a car, and it's a car city. It was rough, I felt pretty trapped at home. Here's my advice. Take lots of walks and enjoy your time trapped at home together. :) Realize the solidarity you currently have with refugees, immigrants, and the invisible class of society that also don't have cars. Make friends with those people on the bus, and be the light of Christ to them. You'd probably never meet them anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteIf you need a vehicle and absolutely can't afford a car, consider a moped. They're a lot cheaper and so is the insurance, but if you do get one, lock it up. Mine was stolen.