Transplanted

Tonight Brandon and I met Judy and Ed for a post-election celebration at a great pizza joint. And since Thanksgiving is next week, we started talking about funny things people serve at their turkey feasts. Ed mentioned that some friends of his do it Italian style with pasta dishes galore. So I couldn’t help mentioning the first Utah-related Thanksgiving food I could think of: weird Jellos.

I grew up in Utah, as a Mormon no less, and I’ve experienced lots of pot lucks with green jiggling Jello molds with things like little marshmellows, carrots and even cabbage in them. It’s like someone took a look at all the potato casseroles and decided they ought to eat less starch. Seriously I gotta imagine that whoever decided to put vegetables in their green Jello mold was a desperate woman (or man). And, as promised to Ed and Judy, here is a recipe for green jello with cabbage: 

http://www.recipezaar.com/Lime-Jello-Cabbage-Salad-149284

When Brandon and I flew to Atlanta back in May to find a house we had two days to do it. With the help of a nice CNN-appointed realtor named Lucy whose non-stop chatter in a thick Mexican accent drove us a little bonkers, we found one. Actually, we found two rentals that we liked. But on our second trip back to the one we chose, Lucy and I sat down in the back yard and she said, “Listen, Kristy.” And I said, “To what?” And she beamed back, “Exactly. Look at this place. It’s so peaceful and quiet.” So I looked around and really took in the scene of towering trees everywhere. And she was right, there wasn’t any noise getting through the dense foliage. With that, and it was Brandon’s first choice, too, we decided to take it.

And it has continued to be quiet, which is nice. But the trees have their bad points, too. For example, for the last couple of weeks, leaves have been falling and covering our yard to the tune of about a half an inch thick and today we finally raked them all up. After more than two hours of running a smooth operation we liked to call scoop and squish (one person picks up and the other person compacts), we were pretty wiped out. But at least we can see some blue sky now!

Here I am opening one of the bags the best way I knew how:

So this whole living-in-Atlanta thing has mostly been positive. I whole heartedly believe in getting the most out of life, including making big life changes that really challenge me. But that doesn’t mean it’s always been easy. At times I miss the comfort of having a small community of people I know. And I kinda get what Jim Morrison was saying with the line “People are strange when you’re a stranger.”  So I suppose that’s why I teared up when the instructor of a class I’m taking showed me some kindness last night.

First of all, the class is called “Islam Behind the Headlines” and it’s mostly a quick (five classes) overview of the Muslim religion compared to Judaism and Christianity. It’s taught by a Middle East scholar, Professor Gordon Newby who speaks Arabic fluently and I’m guessing Hebrew, too. He is considered an expert in his field and serves as the chair of Middle East studies at Emory University. So when I approached him last night with an idea of mine I was a little intimidated. But he couldn’t have been more helpful and encouraging. We talked at length about it and then compared notes about our experiences in Utah.

Maybe it was also the fact that he walked me to my car and seemed to genuinely care that I make it home safely, but I was genuinely touched. There is just something about the kindness of strangers (when you’re a stranger).

So it’s been a while since I posted a moving-related blog. Sorry. The election was just too exciting and now that it’s over I can go right back to obsessing about sillier things–like my new life in Atlanta. And I don’t mean to imply that I don’t take my life seriously, quite the contrary, it’s just that I’ve matured enough to realize that in the grand scheme of things it’s just my little life.

At any rate, now that I’m going on 5 months in the 404 (yeah, I can do the nicknames all night) I see patterns starting to emerge and one of them is reluctance to invest here. I don’t mind taking a class or starting a writing group or making a few new friends, but checking out the housing market is another story. In fact anything that says “Hey, I’m staying” doesn’t quite jibe with me. For example, decorating the house. Normally that’s something I’m all about. Not this time. Don’t much care. And it’s possible that it’s just that the rental house we’re living in has a bunch of limitations, but I think I could make it work. No, I think it’s more about the transition.

Utah still feels like home. Atlanta still feels like a place I’m hangin’ for a while. Now, I’ve also matured enough to realize that life in general is just one big hangout. And while I hung out in the same place most of my life, I think it’s good to check out some other spots even though I’ll always essentially be doing the same thing: getting stoned and drawing pretty pictures. (Joking)

So last night we got to see Coldplay in concert the day after the election. Chris Martin, their lead singer jumped around like a wild man proclaiming things like Atlanta is his favorite city in America–come on–and that, after the election, America is once again the leader of the world, just where is should be. I understand…we’re all excited about the possbilities. Beyond that, the music was great especially their new hit “Viva la Vida” check out their video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvgZkm1xWPE

Today, November 5th, 2008 we can finally say President-elect Barack Obama. I’m a little in shock, actually. Thinking back to 2000 and 2004 I sort of half expected this one to get away from us, too. But, finally, the American voters got it right. Sure it took an economic meltdown to do it, but do it we did.

Brandon and I both had Friday, October 31st off so we decided to go cast our vote early for Barack Obama. We were going to go to a polling location closest to our house since lines in Georgia are all long (some people have had to wait more than 5 hours), but I got assigned to work at a poll this Tuesday in some town called Lithonia about 20 miles from our house (and considering Atlanta traffic, it’s more like driving to another state). So Brandon kindly suggested we cast our votes there so I could familiarize myself with the drive. It turned out to be a great decision.

We had to park in a cemetary, which I thought was fitting considering it was Halloween and all, and walk a fair bit before we saw the long line of people. And it didn’t take us very long to realize we were nearly the only white people among the hundreds in line, but within a couple of minutes (literally) we made a few friends. We ended up spending two hours talking to a social worker, two truck drivers, and a couple who had just moved here from California so she can attend law school. We could have all had green skin, race mattered so little.

After we actually cast our ballots for Obama (and Biden, of course), we both felt such a sense of pride–okay and some relief that the long wait was over. The people who were still waiting in line wanted to know who we voted for (and how long they would have to wait). People were shaking our hands, thanking us, someone even pointed at me and shouted “Obama mama” while others just shouted “Obama!”

And as we walked past the hundreds of people who all would have clearly waited days just to vote for Obama, nearly all of them looking at us wondering if we’d summoned the courage to vote for a black man, I got a little emotional. It was a combination of knowing what this election means to black people in America, the change that Obama brings, feeling proud of my country again and simply saying goodbye to eight disastourous years.

And McCain might pull off an upset, in which case we will be moving to Canada, but right now we’re just happy about the possibility–as you can see in Brandon’s face the night we voted: