Story # 284: Provo and us

We've moved up to Provo for about a week now and it has been pretty interesting thus far. I used to love Provo so so much but I am not sure if I feel the same anymore. Even though we no longer live in the country and I no longer have to complain about the 30 minute drive to the mall, I feel like escaping Provo! I don't know what the reasons are but I suspect my fear of change, my being shy to make new friends, and my failure to be independent have a lot to do with my dislike of Provo.

I found that living by ourselves (no parents, no siblings) to be great, but unusual. We've, for the past 2 years lived with either my mom in Malaysia or with Mr.L's family in Toquerville. I am so used to not being the owner of the house and have everything I need in the house. When we moved into our apartment here in Provo, we had to shop for A LOT of things! Common things that we never had to buy, such as trash bags, paper towels, cooking utensils, and etc, had cost us more than 700 bucks! How can toilet paper, hand soap, and mop cost so much?? I was appalled! Being independent, meaning living by yourselves, was hard for me because everything has been provided for me ever since I was born! Even during my 4 years in Hawaii, I was provided for by the school. I didn't have to pay a single cent for things like toilet paper. This whole living without the adults--parents is surely a new learning experience for me. I am starting to dread the future when we have to shop for a house with little babies and children!!! AAAAAAAAA!!!! Baby steps, Sharon, baby steps.

On a lighter note, we don't own any furniture. All the furniture here are rented from the school housing. Oh, I forgot to mention that we're living in one of BYU's married couple housing on campus. I love how our apartment is new and clean. Also, it is so close to the campus, library, temple, and our chapel. We can save on gas here and reduce our carbon footprints. We are in the process of decorating and making our little home a home sweet home. It was pretty empty when we moved in but it is slowly becoming more and more cozy. I might get attached to this place and never want to move! After all, this is the first love nest that Mr.L and I get to have after being married for a year. I will post more pictures soon. Oh, our house is a one bed, one bath apartment. It is pretty small but for the rent we pay, this is pretty good.

Here's a picture of Mr.L on our dining table (rented from the school, and covered with a new table cloth we bought from Ross) and the first meal when we moved in. I am not so sure about the patterns on the table cloth. I don't think people use table cloth nowadays.