October 24, 2004

Wow, what an amazing neighborhood we moved in to! For example, here's a story that highlights that:

Across the street from our house is a large 2-story home that we've wondered about, but didn't know what the people were like. Now, we've met some of our neighbors: there's Don & Debby across the street who not only have offered to help us with everything from insulation to advice on our remodeling efforts, but Don helped David remove the old built-in appliances and chased away some suspicious characters entering our back yard while we were out of town.
There's also Julie and John. Julie is the neighborhood watch-captain and on meeting us presented us with a map and contact information for all of neighbors as well as an invitation for the 18th annual block party for our street. (Block Party? Who has a block party these days, much less in a city the size of Los Angeles? Answer: OUR STREET it seems. COOL!!)
Then there is Jerry: the "father of the street" who will take care of your yard if you can't. Yesterday Jerry stopped by to introduce himself and offer his assistance and said "if there's any tool you need, don't go buy it, come borrow it from me". This generosity of spirit was further demonstrated tonight when our neighbor Julie said almost the same thing, adding "if we don't have it, we'll know of a neighbor who does". Now this is behaviour we might expect in Kerrville, TX - a rural small town. We would not expect it in Los Angeles, one of the largest cities in the world! We surely feel blessed to have landed in such a good spirited, warm and welcoming neighborhood.

So tonight we see these neighbors across the street, whom we hadn't met. Marieke suggested that we go say hello, and we did. Upon meeting them we were invited for an Armenian cognac. We begged off for an hour to finish up the work we were doing at the house and returned, expecting a quick drink, some peanuts and a brief visit. What we got was the Grand Tour after which we returned to the dining area, discovering a fully set table with beautiful cristal and several bottles of different cognacs. We were asked to sit down and before we knew it, dishes ranging from spiced, roasted lamb, vegetables, fruits, beer, cognac and more arrived in front of us. Conversation, food, music flowed. Assistance for our housing renovations from direct help to professional referrals to use of tools was offered. Dishes were cleared away, more family members were introduced to us, Armenian coffee, chocolates, nuts and fruits were placed before us. After about 3 hours we finally left, truly amazed by their generosity , warmth and hospitality.

A neighborhood is more than just a group of houses or living quarters. It is the spirit collectively of the people who live there. We truly feel fortunate to have landed in such a wonderfully spirited place. More notes to follow.

October, 2004

The big news is that we bought ourselves our first house. All very exciting, yet at the same time overwhelming as it is a 'fixer upper'. Well, at least we won't be bored the next few months. We'll be busy remodeling and turning our first house into a real home. You can check out the photos here, we'll update it on a regular basis with shots of our 'work in progress' all the way to the Before and After.