You're going to have to keep in mind that I've returned to Berwyn after 7 years in one of the ugliest cities in a developing country. Pretty much every place is now beautiful to me. I hadn't been back for a visit for 2 years. My first impression of Berwyn was of wide-open spaces with no people crowding on sidewalks, and clear naked blue skies that weren't wearing several layers of industrial smog. I spent the summer rejoicing in the silence, barely disrupted by the gentle hum of cars from Harlem Ave. I watched bunnies and birds and even some mice in my postage-stamp sized yard. Hell, I even hugged some 100-year old trees in the front yard. After that long away, Berwyn was a veritable paradise.
I've been back for 5 months now and have regained some of my senses. Berwyn is not a paradise. I have survived my first holiday season in 7 years, replete with severed heads hanging from the porch and hideous jumbo-sized inflatable Homer Santa's, which are apparently meant to evoke a warm and gentle Christmas-y feeling. I have also survived the infantile gang scrawlings across 6 blocks of my neighbors' fences and garages. I am currently weathering the ungodly -17 degree temperature we've all been enduring (weathering for me involves a heat bag and several rounds of spiced rum toddy). No, it's not quite Thailand or the Philippines, but it does have an intriguing mix of ethnic diversity, old-timey edifices and institutions, great food, and neighborly friendliness. So, I think I'll stick it out here and see what this place has to offer -at least for another year. I lift my rum toddy to you: "Berwyn, you kind of suck; I like you."
No comments:
Post a Comment