I’m back in Houston, where winter is just a flirtatious tease and never really comes to stay for long. The busy leasing season for apartments is starting to crank back up as folks start looking forward to their tax returns and dig into those New Year’s resolutions. Personally, I’m still working on leftover 2016 goals because I majorly overestimated what I could get done last year.
My previous Houston project was on the northwest side of the city, near the energy corridor. This time, I’m a little further south on 610 (the city’s perimeter/bypass highway). So instead of seeing Memorial Hermann Medical Center’s tower and the oil and gas high-rise buildings, now I can see downtown and the NRG stadium lights. The people are still friendly, the community is still absolutely gorgeous and luxurious (we have a fitness instructor and golf instructor free to residents!) – AND there’s another fascinating complexity to work with in this community.
Houston has a very large middle eastern community. Oil and gas being what it is here, there are many people who are originally from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other countries of the middle east. This community is minutes from the Texas Medical Center, which treats thousands of international patients yearly. There’s a mosque adjacent to my apartment community, separated from us by a wall, but with a passthrough gate in the wall nonetheless. My apartment looks toward the mosque and the sunset. At the peak colors of sunset I can hear the prayers being sung: an exotic experience, right in the heart of Texas.
I love Houston for its diversity, and I’m glad I get to experience a little more of it! I’m looking forward to learning how to talk to yet another group of people different from myself. Maybe I’ll even pick up a little Arabic while I’m at it.
I may not be posting very much in all the work rush and the New Year’s goals – but I’m sure I’ll still have a little time for a few explorations.
Thanks for following and reading! Here’s to a fantastic 2017.
~ The Dauntless Princess ~