Today we are in Beaumont, 92 miles east of Houston and still along the Gulf Coast. John dressed up very nicely this morning (I always love seeing him looking so good) and headed out for his interviews. I can't say much about what actually happened, but the one thing John texted me was that the doctor's lounge at the hospital has full buffet breakfasts and lunches for FREE everyday of the week for the doctors. If that isn't a win for John, I don't know what is.
We headed out with a realtor for a tour of Beaumont at 1:00 (after attending my YW presidency meeting via conference call). It literally feels like a different world here. Our realtor, Lauren, could tell us what places had been flooded and what hadn't during...let's see...Hurricane Rita in 2005, Hurricane Ike in 2008, and Hurricane Harvey in 2017. SERIOUSLY?? And the state of Texas makes it mandatory for its residents to buy "wind protection" insurance from the state of Texas, and flood insurance, while not mandatory, is highly recommended. Depending on the storm, either your roof will get taken out by wind and falling trees, or your main floor will be ruined with water.
Okay!
She was driving us through some of the nicer neighborhoods, but I noticed that no houses have any yards. I asked her about lots with 3-5 acres, and she told me there aren't any, but "some houses have almost an acre" and that seemed to be a winning point ;-). In fact, she took us to some of those houses, and I kid you not, they were palatial mansions. They sell for $2 million dollars and have over 10,000 square feet. So in retrospect, I guess the ratio of house to yard is maintained across all ranges.
I will give her credit though. When we viewed the houses from the street, we couldn't imagine that they would be more than 2,000 square feet, but she kept insisting that they were 4,000+. Finally, at the end of our tour, John was asking the details of yet another random home, and she offered to just take us inside because it's vacant. Holy smokes! It was huge! And gorgeous! And the yard in back was about the size of our kitchen back in Michigan. But it had a covered brick patio with a fireplace and a built-in "kitchen" or grill. It's so interesting to see the difference in priorities. I mean, don't they EVER go outside and just want to throw a frisbee?
Well, John set out to see some of the open spaces around here. Actually, I spent some time last night looking through the booklets and pamphlets about the area left for us to peruse, and I found a running path through a preserve. I told John that he should check it out when he left for his afternoon run. I did jokingly warn him though that the booklet said "do not feed or interact with the alligators". And then he sends the family this along with this caption: "One of my running friends today" ;-)
I am thankful that I channeled my grandmother when I thought what to wear to dinner tonight. When the two women showed up today to meet me (Michelle, the woman in charge of recruiting, and Lauren, our realtor), they were wearing exactly what I expected any self-respecting Southern woman to wear. Bold colors, something straight out of Talbot's or a boutique. I am good to go for tonight!
We headed out with a realtor for a tour of Beaumont at 1:00 (after attending my YW presidency meeting via conference call). It literally feels like a different world here. Our realtor, Lauren, could tell us what places had been flooded and what hadn't during...let's see...Hurricane Rita in 2005, Hurricane Ike in 2008, and Hurricane Harvey in 2017. SERIOUSLY?? And the state of Texas makes it mandatory for its residents to buy "wind protection" insurance from the state of Texas, and flood insurance, while not mandatory, is highly recommended. Depending on the storm, either your roof will get taken out by wind and falling trees, or your main floor will be ruined with water.
Okay!
She was driving us through some of the nicer neighborhoods, but I noticed that no houses have any yards. I asked her about lots with 3-5 acres, and she told me there aren't any, but "some houses have almost an acre" and that seemed to be a winning point ;-). In fact, she took us to some of those houses, and I kid you not, they were palatial mansions. They sell for $2 million dollars and have over 10,000 square feet. So in retrospect, I guess the ratio of house to yard is maintained across all ranges.
I will give her credit though. When we viewed the houses from the street, we couldn't imagine that they would be more than 2,000 square feet, but she kept insisting that they were 4,000+. Finally, at the end of our tour, John was asking the details of yet another random home, and she offered to just take us inside because it's vacant. Holy smokes! It was huge! And gorgeous! And the yard in back was about the size of our kitchen back in Michigan. But it had a covered brick patio with a fireplace and a built-in "kitchen" or grill. It's so interesting to see the difference in priorities. I mean, don't they EVER go outside and just want to throw a frisbee?
Well, John set out to see some of the open spaces around here. Actually, I spent some time last night looking through the booklets and pamphlets about the area left for us to peruse, and I found a running path through a preserve. I told John that he should check it out when he left for his afternoon run. I did jokingly warn him though that the booklet said "do not feed or interact with the alligators". And then he sends the family this along with this caption: "One of my running friends today" ;-)
I am thankful that I channeled my grandmother when I thought what to wear to dinner tonight. When the two women showed up today to meet me (Michelle, the woman in charge of recruiting, and Lauren, our realtor), they were wearing exactly what I expected any self-respecting Southern woman to wear. Bold colors, something straight out of Talbot's or a boutique. I am good to go for tonight!
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