IN THE CITY - NOTHING IS SIMPLE

It's really quite amazing how people adapt to city life - the things that are strange to me now will probably be old hat in a couple of months. I thought I'd write about some of these things while they are still new to me!

Display A: To park your car



Now, this picture can be deceiving- but it helps explain. Really, when you go underground it IS NOT white, but rather quite cold and dark and concrete looking. When you park your car in the middle of the city - you go underground. And I don't mean just a little underground, I mean, really underground. Duane and I drive around the block from our building, go down a ramp, turn right, go under a bridge, watch for rats, and then turn right into our garage. From there a very nice (unless it's 2am) person takes your keys and puts your car wherever it will fit. They have these "car-elevators" so that they can put in a car, and put it up, and then fit another car in, and lift it up, ect. How facinating! we are not allowed to park ourselves, no wonder it costs $260 a month just to park our car.

Display B: To dispose of trash

On every floor (we are on the 11th) at the end of the hall there is a trash chute.


This is a pretty, shiny trash chute. A great example of what ours looks like (its in a wall) except ours has years of who-knows-what clinging to it's exterior and when you open it up you face a blast from the bog of eternal stench.



And then you put all your trash away and it sinks into the abyss. I am so grateful that there is someone at the other end of the abyss who is taking care of it for us, however, it would be very easy to forget where trash goes and who has to take it there if you only had to open up a door and toss it in. I am going to try to remember what a landfill looks like so I don't get too disconnected from real life while I'm here in the city.

However, there are many things about city life that are simply WONDERFUL

Display C: Going to work out



Going to work out one of my favorite parts of the building. I simply get in the elevator, hit "38" and go to the pool and fitness center on the top floor! You can even get a personal trainer to teach yoga if you want. I SO feel like the little girl, Eloise, who has everything at her fingertips.

Display D: Going Grocery Shopping



I tried to get a picture of the store we usually use, but you get the idea. You simply get in the elevator, hit "L" for lobby, and your there! Our current building had a store that went out of business, but for now it's easy to just walk over to the next building and hit "L". What a great idea!

Many of you have already been to the city, but for those of you who found this entry interesting, thanks for reading it!