Tale of a Recent Transplant

First, full disclosure: I am a city person. In fact, I just moved to San Ramon several weeks ago from Connecticut, which is part of the New York metropolitan area (although my religion is actually New York).

My life, my love was the city – getting off the train and inhaling the energy, the culture, and the people. At one point when I lived in the city, I even walked four miles to work each way.

So, why am I here? For the last few years, my husband had been getting more and more fed up with the weather in the East and had been working on me to consider a big move. Finally, since our youngest daughter was graduating from high school, it was the right time.

So, we came to the East Bay several times, researching and viewing model home after model home in new developments until we found “the one” here in San Ramon. A few days after our daughter graduated, we packed up the moving van, packed up the car, and started on our road trip, which lasted four days.

Eventually, we arrived at our brand-new, completely decorated home. (We used a local decorator, but that’s a whole other story.) We unpacked our 218 boxes and had the few pieces of furniture we moved put in place.

By the way, a former neighbor of mine in Connecticut gave me one piece of advice before I left. She said, “Don’t tell people how you did things back in the East; no one cares!"

So, what are my impressions of my new environment?

• I must always have a jacket or sweater with me for the inevitable evening change in temperature.
• It is necessary to pay close attention when driving straight ahead because there are sometimes three left-turn lanes. (And it’s possible to make U-Turns almost anywhere – very liberating!)
• I have to learn to be patient when crossing streets and wait for a green light and for the little “man icon” to light up. (This is virtually impossible for a New Yorker. I have never waited for a light or even crossed at an intersection in my life!)
• It is possible to negotiate the price of a smog test. (Smog test – really?)
• The written driving test is more difficult than SATs.
• Safeway Supermarket seems to have what I call the five-second rule. That is, if an employee sees me standing in one spot for five seconds or more, he will come over and ask if he can help, with a big smile on his face. (That’s really great, except if the aisles were arranged intuitively, that nicety wouldn’t be necessary.)
• Peet’s coffee can burn a hole in your stomach even faster than Starbucks coffee can.
• My three-hour cable TV news discussion program is over before I even wake up.
• Wine. (Need I say more?)
• Although people refer to San Francisco as “the City,” well you’d have a tough time getting me to say that.
• Grilled brussel sprouts are an appetizer in every restaurant – and my husband actually likes them.