You're Not in Kansas Anymore

We have heard that statement several times within the past two weeks. As if that wasn't enough, we have also experienced it numerous times. The funniest incident occurred last Saturday morning. We were still on the way to Maryknoll and had spent the night in Hyde Park. That is where the FDR homes and presidential library are. They have several hiking paths and decided to go on one to stretch our legs and get some exercise. While hiking, we met two gentlemen. We assumed they were park employees because they were measuring the path's distance and chatted with us about a 5 K walk/race they were hosting the next day. When we returend to our car there was a note: "You're not in Kansas anymore. Welcome to Hyde Park." I thought New Yorkers were supposed to be so snobbish. Just a few hours later we arrived in Ossining Village where Maryknoll is located. We hadn't had lunch yet and were hungry. The only place we knew was a wonderful pizzeria that we had eaten at during our interview. As we were pulling in another car pulled up right beside us. I wasn't really paying attention, but realized that the driver of the other car was talking to me when I heard, "You aren't in Kansas anymore, Dorothy." I laughed and said, "I'm not Dorothy, but she is my mother-in-law!" The third event happened the next day. Sam Stanton is the executive director of MKLM. Proving that it is indeed a small world, he grew up in Council Grove, KS and is a K-State grad. He commented that it was great to see a Kansas car parked in the parking lot.

We were told to bring clothes for three seasons to New York: summer, fall and winter. I think we could have skipped the summer. The weather here has been beautiful, crisp fall-like temperatures and mostly sunny. It as been too cool to wear shorts. This morning it is 46 degrees, while it looks like Tonganoxie is 61. The trees are beginning to turn with some reds showing up. We've continued to walk early in the mornings and are enjoying the beautiful trees and scenery. There are trees and trees and more trees. Who knew that populace NY was full of woods. And then there are those hills. At home we would always try to get in some hills as we walked. Tonganoxie hills are nothing compared to New York Hills. Whoa! My heart rate really is up after walking around here. Between the hills and climbing three flights of stairs many times a day, I ought to be a little firmer when we leave here.

The restaurants are small and cozy here. Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks are the only chains we have seen. Instead, they seem to have locally owned small family establishments. We found a nice Mexican restaurant last night. Last weekend we found a great Chinese place but were surprised that they only had eight tables in the entire place. You should have seen how many people came in for carry-out while we were there. My guess is that they do mostly take-out business. We have fallen in love with New York style pizza. One of our catered meals this week was pizza (by the same pizzeria we ate at on Saturday). We had eggplant pizza, Sicilian (with chicken and spices), vegetable (green peppers, onion, broccoli, and mushrooms), and tomato and garlic. All were good. There isn't any pizza sauce. The crust is also good and different.

Yesterday we wanted to find a retail store to get some essentials. Thanks to the computer we found a WalMart about 20 minutes (12 miles) away in White Plains. To get there we traveled on four different highways and parkways. The store was in downtown White Plains. Have you ever parked in a parking garage at WalMart? How about taking an elevator down several flights to get into the store? The store was on two levels. To get to the lower level you put your cart on a special ramp to take it down while you rode the escalator down about two feet beside it.

I think we can say that we are already experiencing a different culture. It should be good preparation for the changes ahead of us.