mattbelcher.com

At the beginning of August we moved to St. Cloud, Minnesota so that Kim could take an assistant professorship in the School of Theology at St. John's University. My employer back in Chicago was incredibly generous and allowed me to keep my job and telecommute. Since then, I've been re-adjusting to life in a small town after living 3 years in the Second City. I loved living in Chicago so there are a lot of things I miss. However, I'm a perpetual, sometimes foolhardy optimist so I'm naturally looking at the upside.

While there is a lack of variety for ethnic food in St. Cloud, there are ample Chinese buffets, something that was not always easy to find in Chicago. There is also a surprisingly diverse set of Mexican restaurants and pizza places. St. Cloud has a sizable population of immigrants/refugees from Somalia and there is at least one Somali cafe which I have yet to try. As I've never eaten Somalian cuisine this will be a treat once I get around to it.

My living situation has drastically improved. We're renting a house which is at least twice the size of our Chicago apartment and the same rental price. I'm furniture only sparsely populates it which makes it much easier to clean, even though it has more total surface area. It is also nice to have a garage and never worry about where to park. I no longer have to traipse around the block loaded down with groceries.

I miss walking and taking public transit, but I have to admit having ample parking and low traffic everywhere does make getting around town incredibly convenient. Downtown St. Cloud doesn't even have parking meters. Of course, about half the retail space on main street is for rent so this might have something to do with that.

As for the kids, Thomas loves his new pre-school, we already have a reliable babysitter, and childcare is much less expensive here than in Chicago. Plus, the yard is much larger so Thomas has a lot of room to run around. Playground availability is about the same. Juliana's daycare is almost within walking distance of our house.

Regionally, we can be in downtown Minneapolis in about 75 minutes, which has all the ethnic food which St. Cloud lacks, some interesting walking areas, the University of Minnesota hospital, and a statue of Mary Tyler Moore throwing her hat. If we instead drive south for about the same distance, we can be in Darwin, Minnesota which is world famous and celebrated in song as the home of "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota."