Not that I put my life on blast, and kind of don't like to give out info, but I relocated. A haste decision, with no choice and not having much alternative. I once lived in Louisiana in my 20s and it was easy to adjust. Weather and all that didn't phase me. Food was great and I was a peppy grasshopper easily finding things to do and places to visit. I had a sense of direction. I did not live in good conditions either. But I adjusted.
Left CA this Feb for Mansfield, Ohio. Ahhh the Midwest. When people ask how is the Midwest, I answer with, it's the Midwest. Some little tidbits about Mansfield. It's where Shawshank prison is and where the movie was filmed. Historic town, that was once thriving due to manufacturing. Westinghouse was here, we still have the steel mill and lots of fabrication. Hospitals are all around and it's right in the middle between Cleveland and Columbus. Columbus is south of here and has all the amenities including whole foods, Ikea and big shopping centers.
And of course north of here on the edge of lake Erie is Cleveland. Cleveland has job opportunities and so does Columbus. Mansfield does also but you just have to look harder. I have been trying to acclimate to this environment for a while now and I am noticing that because I've been in the Bay area for so long I'm having a hard time. Mansfield was great but when GM left the town went to the toilet. It employed a lot of the people in this town. Due to GM closing down, people simply abandoned their homes and properties and left the town.
There is now money allocated to these abandoned properties that if they are left abandoned long enough and starting to dilapidate severely, the city comes in and clears out the property and it goes up for auction. You can buy a dilapidated sort of house in downtown Mansfield for 16,000. The mortgage where I live is 500 bucks. People have mortgages that are $250. I am trying to embrace it and trying to manage the situation.
It is at the snow belt so we get snow. And I have become a weather wind due to living in California for over 30 years. In my stay here on the East Coast I have also gotten to travel to Pennsylvania, which is very historic. And I also went to Virginia and other states and have stayed in South Carolina. I visited Charleston which I really like. The food is really good if you like southern cooking. Like cornholio said, you get used to the humidity. Me working at a desk, I actually felt cold because of the AC.
Companies here need people and people that are in manufacturing have forced work days because they are so short on people. With that being said if they paid people better and gave them better benefits they would not have this problem. Up 10 mi north of Mansfield is a town called Ashland that has a Christian college called Ashland University. Mansfield has a satellite of Ohio State and a few other little unknown private colleges you could call them I guess or trade schools. There is music here and there are wineries and I have been running into people from California New York Los Angeles you name it.
At Shawshank which they actually call the Ohio State reformatory osr they have inkcarceration. 75,000 people showed up this year to see 20 of some of the biggest heavy metal bands in the United States. They also have music here on Fridays Saturdays but the town shuts down early. Had I moved here in my twenties I would have adjusted or acclimated to this environment just fine and found my way. But now being in my 40s and trying to acclimate to a new environment and different weather has been extremely difficult on me.
There are churches on every corner of the street and not Starbucks. I have only been invited to one church so far while talking to a man at home Depot. And as some of you have said yes you quickly realize that you just cannot touch some subjects talking to the people here because they are very opinionated and set in their ways. Having said that I did run across some people who were genuinely concerned that the country was so divided between the left and the right and why can't people that are Republican talk just normally and have a conversation with people that are Democrat.
I miss California and would love to move back to the Bay area. I miss the ocean and of course I miss the redwood trees and sequoias. And I do miss parks that are readily easy to get to and I could walk a dog if I had one or I could just take a walk at a park. I did find a park relatively close that is 176 acres but it is out in the woods and it is full of bugs. Life, destiny, fate, or the planets aligning, you can call it what you want, has me here right now. But that doesn't mean that things don't change. Change is the only constant.
My mom has retired and she partially lives overseas and she partially lives here in the US. It all matters with who you are with and basically like where you are happy. If I was truly happy here I could make it work just fine. I can find a drafting position at a local construction company, and I would have decent medical insurance and I would be able to afford a house and pay it off in the course of 4 years no problem. For me what I do with my time is I basically started to get into crafting. When you live in a small town you start to become a little bit of a hermit. Not that it's a bad thing. I can finally focus on being creative, and reading.
All in all, I have become spoiled living in the Bay area that's for sure. But I know so many people that have left for Tennessee or for Texas or for Arizona and Idaho. And I also know people that left for Oregon. None of them have returned to California. In fact some folks that moved South to Texas are thriving there and said they are having a great time finding new hobbies hobbies. I do see the downside of living in the midwest that's for sure. But it is what it is and I can't do the bay area right now, I will always consider it my home.
