It’s obviously been a while since we’ve last written. We have many excuses that make up the whirlwind December and New Year that we had. I felt relieved when Gabe finished with finals in mid December, almost as if I went through them myself. And no sooner was Gabe done with his first semester of grad school than we took off for a week in Minnesota for Christmas. We were also lucky to be able to go to Kentucky for New Year’s. Spending the holidays with both families was exhausting at times but definitely worth it. I love going back home, especially for the holidays, and I love being at my new home in Kentucky as well. Our time with family was much too short, as always.
But now, we are back in Pittsburgh and Gabe started his second semester today. We have about six months left here, but it will go by quickly as Gabe applies for summer internships and we make plans for the big move to L.A.
For the past couple weeks, we have been dealing with the after holiday blues. That’s when we realize that we have to leave our families, give up sleeping in, and go back to work or to school. But coming back to Pittsburgh isn’t all so bad. We find things that amuse us.
The playoff season has been an entertaining time here. I do not particularly like or dislike Tim Tebow, but I couldn’t help laughing when my friends at work cringed at every mention of the Steelers being “Tebowed.” Steelers fans have been very torn this last week about what team to cheer for in the playoffs. They hate the Packers for beating them in the Super Bowl last year, they hate the Ravens and the Patriots for inexplicably beating them every season, and now they hate the Broncos for cutting their road to the playoffs short. We have learned to stay out of the way of most Steelers fans—and just have fun at their expense from a distance.
I also found out recently that Pittsburgh has its own accent: Yinzer. The only discernable differences that I can tell is how they pronounce long e’s and a’s and how their version of the Southern “y’all” is “yinz.” I don’t encounter the accent too often at my job, but I don’t think that Gabe can make fun of me for my Minnesotan accent anymore.
All joking aside, though, I love discovering new things about new places. The strange, quirky things make this place more memorable, at least for the rest of the time that we’ll be here.
