First impressions

When we moved into our apartment in Salt Lake City four years ago, everything we did, the routes we took, the feel of our house, walking down the street, carried with it a strange aura.  That may sound silly, but the way it felt when we moved in was entirely different than the way it felt when we moved out.  You could almost say that the colors were a bit shifted or something on those memories.  Every thing looked different than it does now even though it is the same.  Perhaps it's like seeing yourself on video for the first time, or hearing your voice played back to you.  It is you, but not the you you know from inside.

Salt Lake now is the voice from inside my head, and Salt Lake then is my unnatural recorded voice.  Pittsburgh is the same.  The impressions of this new place are going to be entirely different when we are all done, even in a few months, the colors will shift into something normal and the aura will fade.

Here's a few of my first ignorant and colorful first impressions of this place:

01.  The city feels a bit east coast and a bit midwest.
02.  Things feel a little rough around the edges.  The buildings are really old, the people seem down-to-earth and sturdy, the roads are bricked and bumpy, the food is heavy, meaty and greasy.  They drop the "be" forms in their language, therefore stuff "needs fixed."
03.  What you see on the map is nothing like the reality on the ground.
04.  They like kids here.  People smile and interact with my kids all the time.  There lots of kids here, and families with more than two kids.  Families are supported and there are lots of activities for them.
05.  It isn't as big as it looks.
06.  People are curious and friendly, and open.