Lori and I recently returned from a 2 week trip back to Minneapolis, our first time back since moving last November. It was great to see friends, family and co-workers throughout our time in the hometown. When preparing to leave and head back to Bangalore it was odd to think that we were completing our visit and about to head 'home'. Our new home, thousands of miles from where we both have spent most of our lives. I actually woke up from a nap at one point during the Minneapolis trip and in a daze thought to myself "Are most of my personal belongings in an apartment on the other side of the world?"..."Yep, they are, this is real and not a dream!".
What has been nice is that we actually felt really good about getting home to Bangalore. Sure we miss the great people, good food, fresh air (ok I'm going to stop this list to prevent home sickness!) but our new life is one that provides daily excitement, challenges and always something new to learn.
I have been very lucky to have many great homes throughout my lifetime. Buckle up folks, we are about to head down memory lane. No photo available for the first home, but life started way back when, in a little town called Lacrosse, WI. Fun fact: I was born in WI, but have never lived there. My parents decided to head over the bridge to the local hospital, give birth and go right back go good ol MN where I lived for the first four years of my life in La Crescent. I remember a huge room in the basement where I would spend hours playing and as well as a great neighborhood friend. Good start home #1.
At the age of 4, my family moved up to 10841 Yellow Pine Street in Coon Rapids, MN. This town has always had a complex with its name. A few years ago, they actually took a vote to change it - two options: River Rapids or Rivertown. Neither options worked and according to our friend Wikipedia the town was named after the many raccoons in the area vs. concerns around ties back to racism. And no, I never owned a gun rack. Thanks to GoogleMaps, you get a view of this lovely home, where I lived until the age of 18, leaving for college in 2001. It was a great house to grow up in, plenty of space in the back yard for a pick up baseball game, football game or building a tree fort.
What has been nice is that we actually felt really good about getting home to Bangalore. Sure we miss the great people, good food, fresh air (ok I'm going to stop this list to prevent home sickness!) but our new life is one that provides daily excitement, challenges and always something new to learn.
I have been very lucky to have many great homes throughout my lifetime. Buckle up folks, we are about to head down memory lane. No photo available for the first home, but life started way back when, in a little town called Lacrosse, WI. Fun fact: I was born in WI, but have never lived there. My parents decided to head over the bridge to the local hospital, give birth and go right back go good ol MN where I lived for the first four years of my life in La Crescent. I remember a huge room in the basement where I would spend hours playing and as well as a great neighborhood friend. Good start home #1.
At the age of 4, my family moved up to 10841 Yellow Pine Street in Coon Rapids, MN. This town has always had a complex with its name. A few years ago, they actually took a vote to change it - two options: River Rapids or Rivertown. Neither options worked and according to our friend Wikipedia the town was named after the many raccoons in the area vs. concerns around ties back to racism. And no, I never owned a gun rack. Thanks to GoogleMaps, you get a view of this lovely home, where I lived until the age of 18, leaving for college in 2001. It was a great house to grow up in, plenty of space in the back yard for a pick up baseball game, football game or building a tree fort.
10841 Yellowpine
In 2001, I moved to Collegeville, MN (aka St. John's University) and lived in the dorms for 2 years. I still do not understand how you can pay tens of thousands of dollars to go to a university and they get away with putting two people into a 10X20 foot room, yet it helped foster creative ideas in how to use ever cubic foot of that space...COLLEGE!
My 3rd and 4th year of undergraduate school helped show the true frugality side of myself. I lived in an apartment building that was dubbed 'the Creameries' due to being built on the site of an old town Creamery, but new owners had made the sad attempt to paint this previously all pink building a light tan and call it 'The Lofts of St. Joe'. Good effort, but they didn't fool anyone. These apartments were so old and dirty, we actually recommended our guests to keep their shoes on when visiting. By my senior year, we had 4 guys in a two room place. One room for the office and one room for bunks. I've never played more darts, drank more sparks or jammed out to Red and Blue jeans in my life. Great times, great home.
After college, I moved to Minneapolis and had the chance to live with two great friends in Linden Hills, just a slight upgrade from 4 dudes in one room. A bit odd for 3, 22 year old guys living in a very comfortable Lake Harriet neighborhood (some families which would buy a house, tear it down and rebuild a McMansion) or very old retired couples/people that had lived there for over 50 years. Nonetheless, a welcomed change. 4212 was a locale that could not be beat and good times that will never be forgotten. Including great annual Halloween parties, a 90's themed throwback get-together and a locally held Good Run 5K to commemorate all of the memories.
4212 - RIP Circa 2009. Now home to a Linden Hills McMansion
In 2008, Lori and I bought a home in South Mpls of which we both love and are so lucky to have rented out to great people, taking care of it while we are away. Its been fun to 'own' a home (or as I like to call it, rent from Wells Fargo) and develop a great place we like to spend time at as well as work on creating a community around us. We miss grilling in the back yard, having Saturday morning breakfasts on our porch and walking to the many local establishments for a coffee or a brew (special shout out to the Chatterbox Pub, the Angry Catfish and Busters on 28th).
Fast forward to the present and we are in Bangalore. In November we moved to the Oakwood, which was an outstanding accommodation for the first two months here (with the exception of the nightly loud music of our friends at the SkyBar or the UB City Amphitheater). For more details, see our friend Cliff's Blog - entry February 16th, yet all entries are quite entertaining.
After a couple of months at the Oakwood, our home furnishings arrived from the US, we got the keys to our new apartment (spent several days cleaning it up) and then moved in. Sydney Court is located in downtown Bangalore. We were very lucky to find such a nice, new apartment in a great location of the downtown area. It is just a few minutes to many of the highlights of the city. Its a five unit complex with a couple from the UK, a guy from New York, one local Indian family and one open unit. My personal favorite amenities are a stable back up generator and new water purifier. Only about 4-5 power outages so far (much less than the daily outages we have heard that other friends here have had to deal with).
Lori and I have finally stared to feel very settled after getting all of our things unpacked, buying a few home furnishings and making this our new home. Enjoy a few photos below.
Welcome to Sydney Court
Dining Room
Living Room
Master Bedroom
Guest Room / Yoga Room / Library aka hang all of our clothes room and let them pile up
Office and 'music room' that needs to be used for a bit more music at some point
Hallway
Kitchen
Porch, surrounded by some great greenery / tropical trees
Home Sweet Home!
