First week in Vermont

We've been here for close to a week now, and things are starting to come together. The house we're in is cute, if a bit small. It is, however, half-again the size of our apartment in Oakland, so I can't complain.


So far my general impressions of Vermont and Vermonters are very positive. I'm particularly happy to report that the stereotype of Vermonters being cold and aloof has been completely untrue. Everybody's been exceptionally friendly, and some folks are even quite chatty. I think a lot of the friendliness has been what you might expect from a small town, but it's gratifying that we're finding it in a place with a reputation for being reserved. One particular example -- when our moving truck arrived on Sunday, our neighbor showed up and helped us unload it, then later that afternoon while we were starting to sort through the boxes and assemble furniture, he showed up at our backdoor with dinner for us. (BBQ pork sandwiches, potato salad, and zucchini cooked with onions. Mmmmm.) I thought that was really nice and welcoming.

One other experience I'd like to relate, which I'll file under "quintessentially Vermont" only because nothing like it has ever happened to me before, happened earlier that same afternoon. We walked down to the store to get a veggie to go with our dinner (this was before we knew our neighbor was going to surprise us and spare us from cooking). There's a grocery store in town, but we live about three quarters of a mile out, so we were going to stop at the little market on the highway that's closer to us. When we got there, we were sad to see that the store is closed on Sundays (welcome to living in a small town!), so we were going to have to walk all the way to the grocery. But then we noticed that some people across the street from the market had a produce stand set up in their front yard with all sorts of veggies including some tasty looking greens. We walked, but there was no one around so we weren't quite sure what to do. Then we noticed a dry erase board on a table with the prices listed, and next to it, a cardboard box with "Make your own change" written on it. Sweet! We gathered up our selections, paid our couple dollars, and headed back home. I don't think I've ever seen a produce stand on the honor system before, but it showed up at the right time for us. Anne called it the Produce Stand of Requirement.

In general, things are going well. We're slowly unpacking boxes, and I started to get moved into my new office yesterday. It'll be nice to finally have my own office! (If you've seen pictures of the campus, I'm in the building with the bell tower.) A couple days ago, we took the plunge back into car ownership and bought a Subaru Impreza. (The Subaru is the state car of Vermont, we've been told.) We need to drive into New York and pick it up today, then drive down to Albany to return our rental car. Grocery shopping is one area where Vermont, at least the part of Vermont where we are, falls short, so we've also mapped out our ethnic grocery options in Albany. We'll be well stocked with masa and fish sauce after today!

Overall, things are going well. I've been busy enough that I haven't had much time to miss the Bay Area. I'm sure I will, but Vermont has been pretty cool so far.