Preliminary results and analysis

So I will be returning briefly to the land of the Golden Sun. I thought it would be a good time now for a dump of my analysis of Ohio.

We have had more than our fair share of run-ins with the police officers. There is a speed trap very near our house where the speed limit changes from 45 to 25. There is no school or other reason for the slowdown. As far as I can determine it is purely designed to provide revenue to the city. So obviously the officers here don't have enough to do. I'm not fond of that way of using the police but I understand that's how it's done here.

We are having a somewhat difficult time adjusting to the weather. Even for the portions of the summer we were here it was raining pretty regularly, and although it did not get terribly humid it was a noticeable difference occasionally. Now it has cooled down and is getting cold enough where riding my bike is a unsavory prospect in the morning. Which has cut down on my exercise, I'll have to find other outlets.

We are having some trouble assimilating into the local groups. It seems a majority of the cause for this is they have a different method of being together. While I am used to seeing my close friends at least once a week, if not more. Apparently the going structure here is to see each other once a month, or fewer, and to compensate you just have many more friends. Of course that means the quality of your friends gets lower because you can not be picky and still have a social calendar. It seems a terrible way to do it, but I'm having trouble transitioning people onto a more frequent social schedule. So to me it feels like we have a number of acquaintances but not really any friends. Even the couple who invited us out here rarely have time for us. How can you be close friends with someone if you seem them only once a month. Just imagine all the things that have happened to you in a month.

The work structure is unfortunately much more freeform than I am used to. I'm left long stretches of time where the marching orders are "fix up that product". The realize that I have no idea how the product is supposed to work, and we don't really have a client so we don't have a bug list or anything. But I'm supposed to tinker with it and make it better. It's very undirected, I don't think I thrive in that situation.

I've started up a video game campaign with some of our friends from back in California and it's mixed with a smattering of people here. We're playing Runes of Magic which really isn't an amazing game, I mean the production quality and quest system are far superior in World of Warcraft (or so I'm told), but it is free and allows us a fun thing to do together.

We've been included in a table top game of Serenity. We've played one actual game (that's what happens when you can only see each other once a month if that). It's interesting I look forward to seeing how well they can roleplay, but for now I'm mostly just having a lot of antics on my own. They don't seem to play off me very well. But perhaps it was just the newness.

In some ways the area is very similar to California and I find myself forgetting that I'm not there anymore. But there are distinct differences.

1) No bike lanes, bikes are expected to stay on the sidewalk, I was yelled at no less than 3 times about how I should get my ass off the road.
2) Crappy road maintenance people. I actually saw road maintenance people wave on cars coming from the left and from the right at the same time nearly causing a crash. Also they tried to pave both sides of the street at the same time rather than just doing one then the other. Also they often don't place cones far enough out, and don't put signs indicating a lane is closed. So you find yourself going fifty and nearly hitting the cones that just appear in front of you.
3) The curbs ramps (that are used to get wheelchairs up on the sidewalk) are exceptionally poorly done, none of them meet the street and I'm not sure how wheelchaired individuals actually get onto the sidewalk.
4) Cicadas are loud. And apparently every 7 years a special brand of them comes out and scares the crap out of everyone (thank goodness it wasn't this year).
5) Most cars have some kind of crash marks. Apparently this has something to do with driving on snow, but also because they are pretty atrocious drivers, I've seen some of the crashes and they look totally avoidable.
6) The school system might be good, but I can't tell (Kailee's not very talkative about it) I do know that they give her a lot of homework that I have to help her with. I thought I was done with homework.

I'm sure I'll think of more things but you get the drift. Definitely different, not enough that I'm getting too much culture shock but enough that I'm having difficulty assimilating. The kids are pretty happy since a lot of our acquaintances here have children.

I'm still generally undecided about the place, and that's not the way I thought I'd be after 4 months. Only 6 left to decide if I want to live here.