Exploring the Neighborhood

After unpacking all of the boxes this morning (it was a small shipment), I went out to grab some lunch. After over a week of America, it felt nice to walk somewhere. Back in my China life, I haven't had a car for two years and so I walked nearly everywhere I went. Even though the school and the grocery store were both close by in Shenzhen, it still felt nice to use my legs whenever I left home. Living with our parents for the past few weeks, I've been doing a lot of jumping in the car to run errands. So the walk today felt good - and how many things I passed felt even better.

I am ashamed to admit that I walked past a number of little local places and ethnic lunch spots to grab my sandwich at Panera (sidenote: I can type it, but I can not actually adjust to saying that name aloud. In my vernacular, its still the Bread Co.). Taking a leisurely walk back, I picked up delivery and take-out menus at Thai, Japanese and Vietnamese places, also passing a diner, a pancake house, and a micro-brewery. I browsed inside the vintage shop, spent some money at the fabulous toy store, and then ducked into CVS. I'd say my only complaint about the neighborhood is the lack of grocery store within walking distance.

Dave and I walked the other direction last night, where we explored a few parks with playgrounds, and found a strip of Latin American hole-in-the-wall eateries as well as a bike shop, a camera shop, and a small Hispanic grocer. I believe that we also have a public library, a farmer's market and few other parks within walking distance as well. And both a tasty pizza place and a super-tasty burger and milkshake spot are a stone's throw away.

I can use the car to run to Target or do the grocery trip. But I am pleased that I'll be able to walk out to lunch, order delivery for dinner, and take the girls via stroller or bike to buy birthday presents or hang out at the park. I think we're going to like Northern Virginia just fine.

Author's Note: You can tell a few things about the author by what I write.
#1 - That I have posted twice today, and rarely for the last few weeks shows that I've been by myself all day today, and not at all for the past few weeks.
#2 - That I have discussed the apartment and the neighborhood, but not the new job shows that I am the stay-at-home mom and not the now gainfully employed Foreign Service Officer. Dave started training on Monday, is very impressed by all 88 of his classmates, and is looking forward to a quite compressed series of seminars and workshops over the next 6 weeks.