Six Months On!

I do apologise for the lack of updates here recently. We've been rather boring lately, so there hasn't been a lot to post about!

That said, as of yesterday, we've been here for six months! It's gone really quickly (as has 2016 in general), but in some other ways it's gone quite slowly. I guess it's been six months of adjustment, adventure and settling. (And yet we still don't have a lounge! LOL.) There have been positives and negatives for all three of us. Off the top of my head, here are some:

Positives:

~As I've been saying all along, ballet has been the no.1 positive for me, personally. Obviously this is just for me, not the three of us as a family unit. But as I've said before, I never thought I'd do it again, so it's been a little dream come true which is just amazing. Plus, it's been a great way for me to meet some new people, and our teacher is one of the most lovely people I think I've ever met. I managed to get on pointe within a few months, too, so that's been a small achievement for me!

~It's been great seeing Robert in the city that's The place to be for software engineers and architects. I think it's been really good for him to be surrounded by so much more possibility for his career. I'm very proud of him, and really proud to be married to someone who's so smart and so full of potential. :-) 

~Lots of kids things around! SF in general has been very convenient, but it's great that there are so many child-friendly things around. The kids' museum is our second home (and there's nothing like it in Sydney!), and the restaurants here are all very kid-friendly, which is great. The playgrounds here are also awesome, in that they're all gated and have really good play equipment! There are also so many family-friendly things around that just don't even exist in Australia. So that's been great to check out!

~The arts support here is awesome. If I'm ever able to build my own career, it's great that it might be in a city that supports the arts as a legitimate career; not something that should be done for people for free.

~Convenience of the city has been great. I feel like everything's on our doorstep (literally). Whether it's just outside our apartment or online. Robert's had an Amazon addiction since we got here: we can order something in the morning and have it delivered by the end of the day (even on weekends).

~Weather. As someone who cannot handle temperatures much higher than 25C or so, SF is great! It's Summer here (still), and it rarely gets above 25. It's hot in areas outside SF (in the Bay Area), but SF stays cool.

~Having an adventure has been nice. It's been good for me to be somewhere we didn't know anyone and to be somewhere we can explore and start anew. I really felt like we needed a new start.

~The internet's been pretty great. LOL.

Negatives:

Unfortunately, I think this list may have grown since I last posted about positives VS negatives...

~In general - and obviously I'm making a huge sweeping generalisation here - the attitude of people here gets on my nerves. It can mostly be seen on the road. There's a big attitude of entitlement here: people think they should all be first, they deserve more, they deserve to be in front. After seeing it, it's almost no surprise at all that they're always suing one another over petty, stupid things. It's a regularity to see people yelling at one another on the street or out of their cars. It's just charming.

~It's expensive here. Everything is expensive except for the ice cream! It makes Sydney look cheap.

~I miss my family a lot, and it's sad sometimes to see our son not growing up around family. That said, my mum was here last month, my mother in law will be here in a couple of months, my family should be here over Christmas and my sister in law and her three kids will be here in January! So at least we have amazing immediate family (the people who matter the most) willing to make the effort to come and see us! That means a lot. :-) 

~The politics. I don't think I need to say more.

~The homelessness in this city is sad. It's a constant reminder of how lucky we are, but it's terrible to see such poverty right on your doorstep. It also makes you realise how fine the line really is between being comfortable and ending up on the street...

~As a parent, I'm so far not a fan of the way school's run here. They get most of the Summer off, and the new school year starts in August. That just makes no sense to me. Shouldn't school just start at the start of the calendar year? I also don't think the school year's broken up into four terms the way it is in Australia. I think Summer is basically the only break they get, aside from public holidays. That sucks. 

~The health system. We've yet to find a GP, but everything depends on your insurance. Even if you're dying, what hospital you go to depends on your insurance. I don't think you can call 911 and just be whisked away to the closest hospital. And if you don't have insurance? Well, I guess you're just dead.

~Robert's had to make a few trips back to Sydney for work. For a few days. He's on one now. I don't think it's really what he wanted, and they're not long enough to justify the toddler and I going back for a bit.

~Although the convenience of things has been great, I feel like it spoils you. The ease of life here almost makes you feel like a spoilt brat. It sometimes frightens me to think of raising a child in such a society where everything is just easy, and therefore makes you think you're entitled to whatever the hell you want.

...I think I had more to say, but I should probably stop being a lazy parent and go and spend time with the toddler. I realise I sound a little cynical with those negatives, but generally life has been OK here. Give us another six months, and things will probably be different again. 

This post looks incredibly boring without any pictures. Lots to come in the next post!

As usual, thanks for reading/visiting!

xoxo