Some of the "better" things of living in Oregon...

Good afternoon everyone! For everyone who hasn't been counting, Joy, Eden, Emma and I have been in Oregon for 80 days. That's how long it took Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days to travel around the world. I've taken Joy to and from work almost everyday. I only missed a couple days while i was in 'Bama. During this time of transition that we've been here, I've noticed a couple of things that have helped me become more comfortable in living here in Oregon.

At first I was afraid, I was petrified... Actually, not really. I was pretty excited to start a new chapter of my family's life. I've told many of my family and friends this story, but to the rest of you out there, if you haven't heard, let me tell it again. For my family to move up here, it took a huge leap of faith. Everything that we're doing here is by the Grace of God (Elohim, I'll get to that later). It took many months of prayer from Joy and me to figure out if moving up here would actually be feasible and worthwhile. We weighed out our options. We thought about the future of our kids, and the best place to raise them. Ultimately, we wanted to go where God was calling us to go. We felt that He was calling us up to Oregon, and so far we know He's been right. Here are some of the reasons why, in no particular order, just whatever came to me at the time:

1. NO TAX! Automatically, we're saving 8.75% (Sales tax in Alameda County) on all of our purchases. Yes, all of them like eating out at restaurants, buying clothes and even buying cars or electronics. All of it has no sales tax! Just imagine going to a store and seeing a nice sweater or purse that you might like and seeing that it's 35% off. With no tax, it's actually 35% OFF! Which brings me to the next reason...


2. Shopping! Starting about 45 minutes to an hour drive North is Portland. Portland is basically like San Francisco, but more spread out. They have several districts, like the City, but the main one for us is the Pearl District. They have this huge bookstore called Powell's Books (http://www.powells.com/), which is an entire city block, with several levels of books. This thing is huge! So driving from Portland back down South to Salem, about 10 minutes from Portland is Tigard. This is a suburb of Portland, and it has two of the greatest shopping venues that I've ever been to. The first one is Washington Square Mall (http://www.shopwashingtonsquare.com/). Think of it like Valley Fair in San Jose on crack... With places like the Cheesecake Factory, Teavana, Nordstrom, the Apple Store, and Metropark, it almost mirrors Valley Fair in the stores, but it's much more than just that. The other one is Bridgeport Village (http://www.bridgeport-village.com/). This place is Santana Row times a billion! So far, the best Japanese food is there at Bridgeport at a place called Sinju (http://sinjurestaurant.com/). Now for a real treat, here's number 3.


3. Woodburn (http://www.shop-woodburn.com/). Technically this should be in with the other shopping, but this place is special. This is an outlet shopping mall about halfway from Tigard and Salem. With stores like Banana Republic, Gap, the Nike Store, and many more coming (like J. Crew), this place has ALL the deals. It's the number one tourist attraction of Oregon, with people coming, literally, by the bus load from Canada to shop here. With no tax, I don't seen why not! It's also the only place where you can get U-DONG!


4. Cost of living is cheaper than in California. This isn't because of the "no tax" stuff, but it really is though. Gas is cheaper here than in California. As of today, gas at Costco is at $2.84/gallon for regular. At the nearest Chevron, it's $3.05/gallon for regular. AND THEY PUMP THE GAS FOR YOU! You can't even do it if you wanted to, it's a state law!


5. Housing. While we haven't gotten our own house yet, we've been looking. Here's a picture of one that's for sale. It's 4200 square feet, with 4 bedrooms on the main floor, 2 bedrooms on the second floor, and the Master bedroom is the third floor. Not to mention that on the far right of that picture is a water feature that is beautifully landscaped into the lawn. Also, that's a four car garage, with a driveway that probably holds another 12 cars. Note the deck in the front, but there's ALSO a bigger one in the backyard. Guess how much? Go ahead... Leave a comment and I'll answer in my next blog.


6. Church. While we miss Hillcrest and TCCBC, God has definitely lead us to some pretty great churches up here. We've settled into a CMA (Christian Missionary Alliance) church, but we haven't become members yet. The congregation is enormous. We've always been in more intimate smaller sermon worships at Hillcrest and TCCBC, but this was just so eye-opening to see how many people worshipped God. Not only that, but the middle school and high school kids have their own worship services... in a separate building! Eden has adjusted well to it, and she's loving the fact that she can worship God with people her age. Emma is still getting used to the transition though. She likes the nursery, but it's not Grandma Doris! Today the Pastors are starting a new section of sermons that are about the many names of God. Today the Pastor talked about Elohim. Everytime you see the name "God" in the Bible, substitute it with this word, Elohim. El is the root of this word, which means God. Elohim is actually plural for El, meaning Gods, or more than one God, or for Christians, the Trinity. The root of El is also very popular in many names, like Israel, which means "wrestles with God". And people thought I never paid attention to the sermons!


7. HMart (http://www.hmart.com/). I don't even know where to begin. This place destroys all the other international grocery stores I've ever been to. 99Ranch has NOTHING on this place. Let me tell you with some pictures that I took. I took several pictures, but here are some classic moments.

This is the row of Kimchis. You take a toothpick and you can sample all these different types of pickled kimchis. It's ridiculous. At the very end of this row of tables is a lady who is making FRESH kimchi. Probably the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, is watching someone make a batch of kimchi like that. It was so cool!

BALUUUUT!! BALLLLLUUUUUUTTT!! At $.78 each, I don't know if that's cheap...

Yes, that's a Karaoke station inside of the store. They're actually having a contest this month, and first place wins an LG Refrigerator. This fridge is specifically designed to hold Kimchi containers for storage! Pretty cool huh?

The fish section... Normally you would smell that smelly fishy smell that fish would normally give off. But not here! This place is very well ventilated, and everything is FRESH! I was very impressed with it. They have fresh abalone for $6 a piece! Not to mention they have fresh crabs and all the other types of sea critters one would find in a Spongebob episode.

Who would've thought there were this many kinds of Pocky? It's just crazy the type of selection they have here! Not only do they have a fantastic aisle of snacks, but they also have a home furnishings area where they sell Korean blankets, appliances, pots and pans and electronics. This place has everything! There's even this place that I call "Food Row" where they have little restaurants where they make jajamang and kalbi to eat! YUM!

And that's pretty much it. I could have gone into more detail about everything else, but I think you see the point. Granted, there are a lot of things to see and do in Oregon (we haven't even gone to the coast yet), there are still things we miss in California of course. Family and friends foremost, and little things like some of our favorite restaurants and hangouts. But still little by little, we're adjusting. There is one last thing that I've noticed that they don't really have in California. Seasons... Oregon has four seasons, while California really only has two, hot and dry or cold and wet. I've been watching the trees turn from green to a soft red/yellow. It's beautiful. Sometimes we don't notice these things when we're rushing around trying to do stuff. Thankfully God has given me some time to really appreciate the hard work He puts into this Earth. It truly is something special to see trees turn to their fall colors. Thank you all for reading! Joy will write about our girls soon. Until then, take care and God Bless!