It’s hard to believe more than a month as passed since we arrived in NY. We are settling in and trying to find our routine. It’s still a little tough because it’s summer and so many things have a different rhythm in the summer: churches change their service times, traffic flows are lighter without school busses, everything is under construction, etc.

But we make do. I notched day 24 at work yesterday. The job has turned out to be just what I wanted but not quite what I expected. Every institution has its quirks and this one seems to be especially quirky. Granted, I’ve had some exposure to, but haven’t really been immersed in, higher ed so I know that’s where some of the WTF moments come from. I can say that everyone I have worked with so far has expressed how glad they are that I am here. And every conversation I have had has given me more proof that they really need me. It’s a big change.

Another cultural difference that I’m slowly adjusting to is having an admin to help keep track of things. While I’m sure this would have been an option in previous positions, here it is an expectation. The first question I get when I meet someone is “who is your admin” so they know who to work with to schedule meetings and stuff. So everyone say a prayer for Tricia who is new to the position (but not the University thank goodness) and has to help me navigate the expectations the culture has for any flavor of Vice Provost. That said, the ability to wear open toed shoes is very nice and required new office appropriate sandals to things up a bit. (ICYMI – the dress code at my previous establishment did not allow open toes – peep toes were acceptable though. {sigh})

Frank is also gainfully employed outside the home – much sooner than he had planned! While we were waiting to close on the house, I saw an ad on Craigslist for a tech at a European race shop. They were looking for someone to work on Porsches, Mercedes, etc. Well say no more! He interviewed and was hired the next day. Right now he’s only part time – 3 days a week until fall – because he wants time to arrange things in the basement, drywall and equip his garage, meet with contractors for the patio, etc. In a few weeks, he moves in the race shop at The Little Speed Shop where he gets to work on project cars and make things go faster.  You can imagine how much he hates this job!

And even Buddy is adjusting – he is actually making doggie friends!  A couple of weeks ago we were hanging out in the neighbor’s pool with new acquaintances who had a dog (springer mix I believe) and the patience to help Buddy learn how to play nicely.  We think we have figured out his psyche:  he barks at you for 10 minutes and if you are patient enough to put up with that and not bite his head off, then you can be friends.  This is what happened with CJ:  he barked incessantly from the other side of the fence for a good 8-10 minutes and when we opened the gate and let him in to be near CJ, he barked a little more and then spend the next 45 minutes running all over the neighbor’s yard with his new friend.  Now if we could only figure out how to get him to be less threatening when he’s doing his “Hi I’m Buddy” bark-a-thon, we might be able to actually start taking him places!

One other difference in this move from the last one:  we are a little more realistic with our expectations.  We wanted KC to be something that it wasn’t.  Don’t get me wrong: it’s a great city and we really enjoyed living there.  But like people often do with any new relationship, you make excuses or overlook the little things that spoil the dream of perfection.  The closet door that just wouldn’t close right in the quaint little house was “charming” instead of annoying.  The rate of violent crime and homicides was a shame but happened in another part of the city so we didn’t dwell on it.  Here we are accepting the imperfections for what they are.  The landfill is closer than we realized and when there is a strong south wind, we get the aroma of rotting cheese and moldy olives.  I hate that and there are efforts underway to fix it but I’m not going to make excuses or pretend it’s any less awful than it is.

Other quirks that I should note:

• Seven digit dialing: this is just plain cute. After spending decades in dual area code regions (703/301 and 816/913), we now live somewhere with only one area code. So billboards, commercials, and even business cards only sport 7 digits.
• The hills are nothing to sneeze at: after just three weeks of trying to build my running milage back to where it was before the chaos of the move, I have developed extensor tendinitis in my right foot – something that commonly happens when running up elevations. Luckily my neighbor is a podiatrist so we were able to nip that in the bud.
• The shortage of primary care physicians is real: we cannot find anyone within 25 miles taking new patients. In fact, one of my new coworkers told me that her doctor’s office gets calls daily to see if they are taking new patients. Apparently, someone has to die so you can get their spot. Kinda like season tickets for the Packers. 🙂 Right now it’s not a problem but it’s not something that I take lightly. We have pretty much everyone we have met asking their doctors if they could possible squeeze in one more person.