My apartment is on the outside of my building, looking far off to the south. Occasionally I walk through the courtyard, but I've never spent time there - with all the balconies around, it sort of feels like you're in an arena. Well, yesterday I got to experience a whole new side of my building. She Gre moved into an interior aparment about a week ago, so yesterday evening I dropped by.
And, man, it is a whole different experience on the courtyard side. We sat on her balcony and it was like being part of...a community! Kids were playing in the courtyard. A guy gave his dog a very thorough bath. A couple of women were chatting on one of the ground-floor patios. We could see people on the other side sitting down to dinner.
I only see people in the halls and on the elevator. Living on the courtyard must be a totally different experience. So, I'm not about to give up my awesome apartment with the cool angles, the trains, and the long view to the south, but I'm pretty exciting about borrowing She Gre's balcony sometimes.
Note on She Gre: I met her about four years ago at a party thrown by someone at my former employer. Somehow we realized I had just answered her craigslist ad about selling her TV. (I went to look at it a few days later but it wouldn't work with my DVD player.) Then a few months ago I was having lunch with another friend from my former employer - one who doesn't even know the first guy - and she was like, hey, do you know She Gre? turns out they're friends. AND THEN she moved into my building and saw my name on a message on the yahoo group. So, we're pretty much required to be friends now.
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I can't wait to meet our new neighbors, which is odd, because we've lived in three different apartments over a span of seven years and I've never once spoken to a neighbor. Maybe it's because apartments seem so transitional and I subconsciously convince myself that it's not worth the investment of time to get to know anyone. But that's ridiculous, right? It's not like I have to become fast friends with them, so it's not more than an hour of time per year. On the other hand, maybe it's not me - maybe we've just lived near boring people.
I'm with Bro! I've talked to my apartment neighbors about 3 times (one of which was Saturday, when we were blocking her parking spot with our UHaul). We just officially moved to our house and already we've talked to 3 neighbors...all welcoming us to the 'hood.
It's good to hear you've got a nice little community going on in your apartment! That's what I always wanted!
(BTW - I'm finally back to reading blogs! Life has settled down enough!)
Yeah, the community spirit in this building was one of the many things that attracted me to it, but then I didn't really meet anyone until I'd been there about seven months. Which is ok, I don't need community to be immediate and forced. But it's interesting to realize I would have had a different experience if I'd ended up in a different apartment in the same building.
And yay Po! Welcome back!!
She Gre is stalking you. Don't say I didn't warn you.
She swears she's not, but I suppose that's just what a stalker would do.
Ooh, you could have a stalker. Or a new friend. Cool.
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