In the small white car there was a Basotho hat, and a big green bag. And boxes full of photos showing many things and people. There were dishes and toys, a hairbrush and clothes. And a woman singing, as she drove away in the car.

Goodbye Pittsburgh. Good bye buildings in the Pittsburgh skyline.

Goodbye Steelers, goodbye Pens.

Goodbye Strip and goodbye Phipps.

Goodbye old barn selling tobacco, goodbye Schenley soccer practice.

Goodbye bratty kitty, goodbye near-Western city.

I’m proud of myself for driving pretty well. I left Pittsburgh at 1pm… and reached my destination at 9pm. That was partially due to a detour into Harrisburg in search of Starbucks. Harrisburg was uncomfortable for me. It felt like a ghost town, and there were signs of a strong, far right, Christian community. 9pm arrival was also partially due to the difficulty navigating new highways and roads, poorly lit, after dark… but I made it. And the half hour inching towards the tolls, but anyways…

I’d like to post a complain to the state of New Jersey, though. I was looking forward to my welcome sign. Don’t all states have “Welcome to [our state]!” signs when you cross the border?? All I got was a “Last Pennsylvania Exit!”

I spent most of the drive singing. Didn’t do any serious thinking. Did a lot of silly thinking and enjoying the view of the mountains. Remembering my favorite things to look for when I would drive into Pittsburgh from Baltimore, months ago.

I feel like there’s some intrinsic difference to Eastern State highways, but I can’t put my finger on what it is, and may just be imagining it.

I’m dead tired – this post might reflect it. Off to bed, methinks…

For those of you who follow this blog, but don’t speak with me directly… here’s the update: I’m moving. I’m leaving my flirtation with the West behind. I’m returning to the North East. I’m going to move in with some family I have there, and try my luck in the New York area.

Truth be told, the city I’m moving to is a lot like Pittsburgh, with the advantage of nearness to the true metropolitan big cities. I’m only realizing now, really, how isolated Pittsburgh is.

I don’t post everything on this blog, so the decision may seem like a shock. But Pittsburgh has had much longer than it’s fair trial period… it led me on for a while… and that’s that. It didn’t work out.

There are things I’ll miss, of course. I’ll miss the great hiking opportunities, I’ll miss the cat, I’ll miss my great roommate (who would have been leaving this summer anyways). I’ll miss one of my volunteer sites here that I’ve put a lot into and gotten a lot out of.

But I’m looking forward to the fresh opportunities. New York offers a lot more, both socially and professionally. I can admit aloud, now that I’m leaving, that Pittsburgh has been extremely lonely for me. In as diverse a city as New York, I’m bound to find people I connect with, and there’ll be family right there. I’ve already contacted one place about volunteering, but finding a job is going to be my priority. I haven’t decided whether to aim for a job in my field at first, or simply a reasonably well-paying job with some volunteering or a part-time job in my field on the side. I’ll figure it all out. I’ve grown a lot through this experience, taken very specific lessons from my experiences. I’m sure they’ll serve me well.

I’ve started getting the “we’ve received your application and are beginning to review all applicants” messages.

Not much more to say on that front for the moment.

My room is still a work-in-progress, but the kitchen is pretty much set up – a few things that are hiding in my room, like my measuring spoons, are all that’s left.

I know this probably doesn’t look all that organized, but figuring out how to make this all fit took on the proportions of my first childhood encounter with the Russian nesting dolls:

Pots!

Actually unpacking all of my new pots made me appreciate even more the present – Ema and Abba, thank you! The pots are fantastic and I’m sure I’ll make good use of them all.

There were also a few mysteries that I solved along the way… like, why do I have two mixers?

Two mixers?

(Solution: One is an iron!)

And some mysteries I didn’t solve, like…. what is this?? It’s hollow, which implies to me that it’s a piece of something. The darker portion is some kind of mesh.

What is this??

Without camera flash... mystery object is actually silver-toned.

I decided to go for broke on my Farmer’s Market produce and make my favorite soup – a Tomato-Green Bean vegetable soup. First lesson from that experience: don’t let vegetables defrost so long that they spend a day in their own juices. The soup still tastes great, but the green beans don’t seem quite right to me.

My roommate asked me last night if it’s really worth it, making everything from scratch. I’ve decided that she can decide for herself after I make homemade applesauce. I have the apples, just waiting for a stretch of time that we’re both home!

The moving in is going well! I’ve flown through most of the boxes; just one or two left. I joined the supermarket, set up the computer all myself (I’m proud!), and checked out the first available Farmer’s Market.
Pittsburgh has a Farmer’s Market every weekday in different spots (seems the same way in other cities I’ve been to). The one today was small (I wanted to take a pic but the layout wasn’t conducive to a photo that would capture more than one stall)- but friendly. Half the people seemed to know one another. At the Amish baked goods I got asked by a stranger whether I’d tried the chocolate chip cookies; we talked about different cookies for a few minutes, and she waved goodbye to me before she left.
My landlord was saying the other night how farming culture is really dying because there isn’t enough money in it, but now farmers are making corn and soybeans a cashcrop because of the fuel situation. I read a few days ago, though, that there are states fighting gasoline additives, and advertising their “pure gasoline”. There was definitely an immense amount of corn at the Market today. Maybe when I’ve gotten more oriented… or when it’s less crowded… I can talk to the sellers.
I have a meeting with the volunteer coordinator at one of the Pittsburgh museums tomorrow. I took awhile to think about how I’d feel vounteering at one museum if and when I get a job at another (since I’m volunteering at two museums, that’s inevietable). I decided it would be good for the museum community to form more interconnections and that I’d enjoy the diversity.
I left the USB at home, but my parents are sending it up. So I can post photos soon.

Middle school- 7th or 8th grade. The big song right then was Janet Jackson’s “Everywhere”. We’d hang outside around a picnic bench at lunch, singing it aloud. I liked it enough- or maybe it was the Backstreet Boys’ ‘As Long As You Love Me’, because it certainly wasn’t ‘Mm-Bop’ or anything else on the tape- to beg my sister to order the ‘Now’ cassette tape. My parents wouldn’t buy anything through 1-800 numbers, but my sister would.

I found the cassette tape on the living room floor this afternoon. So I’ve left the calming strains of Secret Garden and one of my flamenco CDs for Janet Jackson. It’s oddly uplifting- not so odd, I suppose, since the message is that the ones you love will always be with you. But it’s doing more to calm me than the lutes or flamenco guitars.

My goal is to finish the packing today so I have tomorrow free to spend with my parents. I may actually achieve that goal… it’s going pretty well. Or at least, I’ve decided it’s going better than it looks! I’m hopefully learning from my mistakes… at least I’ll never try packing with duct tape again. I thought duct tape was good for everything!

John made a comment to me earlier by email that got me thinking about taking more responsibility for driving my own initiative. As I’ve said before, I have these dreams and I want to achieve them. I think the step now is to push myself to not be too patient. That’s an odd thing to say, since I’m not a very patient person. But I’ve been lucky enough to have always been met halfway by opportunity- I would get myself the internship, but the internship would offer me the job. Now I need to push farther. Ron commented last week that if we waited for the money, we’d never do the programs- so he stopped waiting for the money and did the program without it. I’d like to maintain enough flexibility to take surprise opportunities- but it’s time to make more of my own, and to take them farther than I ever did before.

My friend’s daughter and I have an arrangement. Whenever I go to visit her mother, she requests the promise of a storytime with me in the next few days or next week. In return, she goes to bed promptly and doesn’t sneak out of bed at all during the night.

It began because of my Children’s Lit requirement to do two read alouds. I’m not sure that she enjoys this as much since my laptop died and I stopped recording the storytimes and sometimes-following games, but she keeps requesting it anyways.

Sometime in the last few months, I found a whole series of Babar books at home. Personally, I think Babar was created as British propaganda during occupation of India (there was even an Indian officer named similarly to Babar), but I’m still willing to read the storybooks (it’s not so blatant that I worry I’m passing on the racist legacy) and she loves them.

The other children complain that I don’t spend as much time with them. I haven’t come up with a great solution to this yet, but I try to spread myself around.

The point of all this is simply that in the long development of my friendship with this person, I’ve come to have as much a relationship with the family overall. But I was still touched when, in response to my comment that I won’t have my parents to visit in Baltimore, my friend’s husband said: "We’ll be your Baltimore home."

Work today was good- the payoff of more time on the floor vs. aching feet is a good one. I had about every other hour for Brain; I more or less finished the script revamp and now I need to seek out more activities. I’m not sure what I think of the revamp. It’s a less engaging read, but it may be that in demo shows, it’s more important to have engaging activity with a little lecture than to have all engaging talk but too much talk and not enough activity.

Quite frankly, having more floor time made me less stressed. When I’m given a 4-hour chunk of time for Brain, I get stressed about feeling like I’m expected to finish it. Which is impossible now. An hour is more manageable, and gives me time to play with the visitors and rest my mind- and get away from the computer and freezing office area.

I impressed some visitors by fixing a jam in the kinetic machine. And some college-age guys in Dino Hall, one of whom said "Years of study were a waste. I just learnt everything in 5 minutes from you." That’s what happens when you ask if Astrodon is a brontosaurus!!

And of course there was the moment of skipping down the hall with Nancy, singing "Wizard of Oz".

I finally got an appointment at the Mac store- took a few weeks- to discuss my laptop and the Hebrew font issues for Omek Mikra.

I’ve been thoroughly stressed by suddenly planning a move in three weeks, immediately after finishing school and work, instead of five weeks with some time to take things a little more slowly. At some point I’ll de-stress enough to apologize to my parents for being strung out…. but in the good news, one of Aaron’s friends can help me unload. That’s progress. I’m waiting to find out what kind of cookies he’d like with his beer………

There’s not much to post this Saturday night. My parents want me to see about moving earlier; I’m searching for moving-van price quotes. It may actually work to my advantage- if I were to move the 1st, I think Aaron will be in Pittsburgh to help me unload. Going to speak to him later hopefully to find out.