We arrived in Charlotte early yesterday morning; we'd made it as far as Asheville the night before. We came through the Smoky Mountains, which was a beautiful drive. I followed a car that I'm sure was Lola's cousin; it had bumper stickers for Obama '08 and some little indie bookstore, and I felt like maybe I was going to do okay here...Home base for the house hunt was going to be a campground just across the border in S. Carolina. It was 100 degrees; we had just gotten the animals unloaded when the camp manager came over and clarified the pet policy: oh, yes, they allow animals, but the animals must stay IN THE VEHICLES. I suppose this is not a problem if you have an RV with air conditioning. It is a major problem if your two vehicles are a RAV4 and an old Ford conversion van, both of which are running Death Valley temperatures inside. Needless to say, we relocated to a different campground, one with a dog-friendly air-conditioned primitive cabin.
The housing search is going to be...interesting. ("Interesting." I think that's the right euphemism for difficult and full of compromise and feelings of why the hell didn't I get this taken care of earlier?) That was my chosen trade-off, though, for my unofficial 3-week internship at WSU, and some extra time in Seattle.
But the good news is, Charlotte seems to be someplace I'll be happy to call home for the coming year... on the rare occasions that I get to have a life, anyway. There are neighborhoods with hip little restaurants and shops. I found at least three promising taco carts.
I wandered, completely randomly, across an Indian grocery. I went in to check it out and literally started clapping my hands and squeaking with joy. Everything smelled so good. (This is what happens to me after four years in a place where I can't buy masoor dal.) I tried to explain to the man behind the counter why I was jumping up and down like an idiot in the middle of his store (just came from small town, love to cook, haven't been able to find the right ingredients, overjoyed to have the right resources again...). I'm not sure he understood a word I said, he just nodded, smiled, and looked bemused.
Next items: someplace that sells long beans and fresh bird chilis; a Goodwill; some decent live music venues.
3 comments:
Be looking for some good spots, 'cuz we damn well may be heading out your way.
The city must be keeping you busy, as you've already presented us with diminishing returns.
That or you've been recruited into the Greater Charlotte Young Republicans and can't get away from the meetings (I kid).
Two more interviews tomorrow at T-Mobile. Still not allowing any optimism, but I see light.
PS: Even though I'm hurt by your devaluing my musical taste so egregiously, check out Hayes Carll.
Dude! You hot-linked my car!
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