feeling like home

We are in the thick of winter over here. Maybe that's why I haven't posted in a while. Not because we've been in hibernation (as I predicted in my last post), it has been quite the opposite actually, I think it's because we're really getting settled in now. We have routines, schedules, and everything feels so normal now. Like this is our home. It no longer feels strange to be carless. In fact, it was a weird feeling riding in a friend's car the other weekend. When the temperature gets up to the 20's, we celebrate – I have actually said out loud, it feels great outside today! Never in my life would I have guessed those words would come out of my mouth, when there is snow on the ground and I am covered in three layers of clothing. We cook every meal at home. At first we were forced into this due to the lack of restaurants nearby (or really just period), but now I'm really getting into it. I look forward to making the next meal and am becoming quite territorial in the kitchen (I'm working on it). We have great friends who we get to hang out with every week. That really makes living anywhere enjoyable. We share our different customs and holidays with each other, like a little international family. Last weekend we celebrated Chinese New Year with some delicious, traditional dishes and the other day I learned how to make tortilla española, Mmmm. This weekend we celebrated Super Bowl Sunday (that's a holiday, right?). Since we figured it wasn't worth staying up to watch the game in the middle of the night, we postponed our viewing party. We replayed the game, even though we already knew the outcome (the commercials and halftime show are where it's at). And as expected, there was a continuous stream of questions about this barbaric sport Americans' lives revolve around for half of the year.