Ghettohoma
Click this to see where advertised studio apartments are located: http://maps.google.com/?q=loc%3A+North+MacAurthur+Blvd+at+16+Street+Oklahoma+City++ok+US
The reason I must write regularly is to inform you of the glory that is Oklahoma. I have a dream to give an Oklahoma fun fact daily, beginning with, "You might be in Oklahoma if...." This is also interchangeable with "You might live in a redneck haven if..."
As life usually goes for me, I have three weeks to find a new place to live. This is the danger of living with other females in their mid-twenties, marriage proposals are as common as mail coupons for products you'd never dream of using.
You might live in Oklahoma if, while apartment searching, you never found the end of the ghetto...
Let me describe the five locations I innocently located and inquired about on the internet.
1. After four phone calls, landlord finally concedes, "Ok, fine, the building's open. Just go in. The apartment's on your left. It's open too."
"So... I'll be walking in unannounced into someone's apartment?" I asked incredulously.
"No, it's vacant. The other tenants know that."
The squat brick building was beside a corner store. I comforted myself by remembering that alcohol can only be purchased from liquor stores in Oklahoma. I walked in and was engulfed in a stale cloud of cigarette smoke. I looked up the rickety stairs, and turned the doorknob to my left...
Today is all about smells. I smelled urine in this place. Cat? Human? There's no telling. It was dim inside, the wood floors gleamed wonderfully in the sparse light, but, the smell... I got out of there as quick as I could, practically leaping into my car under the audience of a stopped truck full of construction workers idling in the corner store parking lot.
2. I drove by a bright pink house in an all-too-common Oklahoman neighborhood theme. Rickety wire fences gasping to stand up around a scorched yard, trash stuck in the holes, plastic pieces of children's outdoor toys strewn about the porch. In many American cities you would call this the "ghetto". I am sorry to emphasize this again but MOST OF THE NEIGHBORHOODS I have seen in this state are in this condition. Almost as if everyone gave up on nature. As if there was nothing to really nurture anyways....
3. I met my remaining roommate at another location. A landlord was present to escort us. The house reeked of dog, there was no stove, and I quote, "It's $25 more if you want the alarm system installed. I'd get it. In this economy, break-ins are common. I had a tenant, somebody lifted his SUV and stole the wheels out from under it." I retched quietly. I don't think the economy is the reason for the rampant break-ins in this neighborhood.
4. We drove by a set of apartment buildings that were so fenced in we couldn't even find a gate that wasn't padlocked.
5. Finally, we drove through what seemed to be a nice part of town. A little cafe! In a strip mall, albeit, be it was there! A tree covered in Christmas lights! As soon as we hit the outskirts- there it was. Another apartment ghetto.
Thanks to my glorious job, today was another one of those days where I wake up and can't wait to go to back to bed all day. It's 8:22 and I'm headed that direction. I haven't properly planned, as I have my schedule changed regularly. Imagine, being a student and having 5 different teachers in a span of five months for the same class. None actually keeping your grades. None realizing what you know. Now imagine being the teacher, who is given a new list of students bi-monthly. I'm pretty disgusted with the whole thing and counting down the months until it's over.
On a bright note, I just returned from a three week vacation which reminded me I am a generally happy human, I do have friends and family who love me, Jesus will take care of me, and life is not dismal. This first year of teaching has done a lot to break my spirit. Delightfully enough, my spirit returns as soon as I have a vacation and more than six hours of sleep.
Adios!
The reason I must write regularly is to inform you of the glory that is Oklahoma. I have a dream to give an Oklahoma fun fact daily, beginning with, "You might be in Oklahoma if...." This is also interchangeable with "You might live in a redneck haven if..."
As life usually goes for me, I have three weeks to find a new place to live. This is the danger of living with other females in their mid-twenties, marriage proposals are as common as mail coupons for products you'd never dream of using.
You might live in Oklahoma if, while apartment searching, you never found the end of the ghetto...
Let me describe the five locations I innocently located and inquired about on the internet.
1. After four phone calls, landlord finally concedes, "Ok, fine, the building's open. Just go in. The apartment's on your left. It's open too."
"So... I'll be walking in unannounced into someone's apartment?" I asked incredulously.
"No, it's vacant. The other tenants know that."
The squat brick building was beside a corner store. I comforted myself by remembering that alcohol can only be purchased from liquor stores in Oklahoma. I walked in and was engulfed in a stale cloud of cigarette smoke. I looked up the rickety stairs, and turned the doorknob to my left...
Today is all about smells. I smelled urine in this place. Cat? Human? There's no telling. It was dim inside, the wood floors gleamed wonderfully in the sparse light, but, the smell... I got out of there as quick as I could, practically leaping into my car under the audience of a stopped truck full of construction workers idling in the corner store parking lot.
2. I drove by a bright pink house in an all-too-common Oklahoman neighborhood theme. Rickety wire fences gasping to stand up around a scorched yard, trash stuck in the holes, plastic pieces of children's outdoor toys strewn about the porch. In many American cities you would call this the "ghetto". I am sorry to emphasize this again but MOST OF THE NEIGHBORHOODS I have seen in this state are in this condition. Almost as if everyone gave up on nature. As if there was nothing to really nurture anyways....
3. I met my remaining roommate at another location. A landlord was present to escort us. The house reeked of dog, there was no stove, and I quote, "It's $25 more if you want the alarm system installed. I'd get it. In this economy, break-ins are common. I had a tenant, somebody lifted his SUV and stole the wheels out from under it." I retched quietly. I don't think the economy is the reason for the rampant break-ins in this neighborhood.
4. We drove by a set of apartment buildings that were so fenced in we couldn't even find a gate that wasn't padlocked.
5. Finally, we drove through what seemed to be a nice part of town. A little cafe! In a strip mall, albeit, be it was there! A tree covered in Christmas lights! As soon as we hit the outskirts- there it was. Another apartment ghetto.
Thanks to my glorious job, today was another one of those days where I wake up and can't wait to go to back to bed all day. It's 8:22 and I'm headed that direction. I haven't properly planned, as I have my schedule changed regularly. Imagine, being a student and having 5 different teachers in a span of five months for the same class. None actually keeping your grades. None realizing what you know. Now imagine being the teacher, who is given a new list of students bi-monthly. I'm pretty disgusted with the whole thing and counting down the months until it's over.
On a bright note, I just returned from a three week vacation which reminded me I am a generally happy human, I do have friends and family who love me, Jesus will take care of me, and life is not dismal. This first year of teaching has done a lot to break my spirit. Delightfully enough, my spirit returns as soon as I have a vacation and more than six hours of sleep.
Adios!
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