New in Town

OUR NEW ADDRESS:

David and Elisabeth Clark

2610 22nd Street

Lubbock, TX 79410

Hello friends! We've finally arrive in Lubbock! It is certainly flat and dry here, but greener than we expected! After hours of driving through desolate West Texas, we pulled into town on July 2 and we've slowly been setting up house since then. (Below you'll find some snapshots of our humble abode pre-stuff... more to come) It is a 1200 sq. ft. home built in 1928 so there are many charming features, although we've been too overwhelmed with boxes to enjoy them! 

I started my new job on July 6 as Unit Coordinator for the Health Organization Management Program within the MBA program at Texas Tech University. My office is located on the 10th floor of a tower adjacent to the English building where David will be working. So far the job has been very challenging, but I think it is a role that I'll be able to grow into. I'm responsible for managing 11 grad. students, marketing, PR, web design, event planning and general coordinating for the department. I'm excited about the connections I'll be able to make in this job and I get to take classes at the university for free. Strangely enough, an acquaintance of mine from Union (Megan Malone) works with me in my office! What a blessing it has been to have a familiar face that I get to see every day! We live about a mile from the buildings where we work so we've been walking to/from campus. David will begin his Ph.D. in Creative Writing (Poetry) at TTU sometime mid-August. He expects to finish the program in 4-5 years. 

In other news, we sold my Jeep prior to moving to Lubbock which was very sad. However, our only remaining car, David's Taurus, has decided to give us some trouble. We found out today that it needs a new transmission to the tune of $1600 so needless to say, we're in the market for another car, but luckily we're able to walk to campus. 

On a positive note, David got a poem accepted into The Cimarron Review!!! We've been celebrating his success and we went out to buy a bottle of wine. However, Lubbock is currently a dry city and we had to go to this place called "The Strip" located on the outskirts of town (picture below). What a bizarre place that was! For some reason these businesses in "The Strip" have a monopoly on the booze sold in our area. It was reminiscent of Atlantic City or Branson---very strange and flashy--but an experience none the less. Word has it that Lubbock will be a wet city as of August so hopefully we won't have to venture out there again!

A few random facts about Lubbock:

• Lubbock is located in the south plains region of Texas and receives ~300 days of sunshine a year (it's been sunny every day we've been here)
• There are 268,000 non-student residents in Lubbock
  
• Buddy Holly was from Lubbock
• TTU has the 2nd largest college campus in America with regards to property size
• We're 6 hours from Dallas and 6 hours from Albuquerque 
• We're only a few hours from Area 51 :)

The view out of my passenger window for countless hours. West TX is so windy so there are windmills everywhere!

Home sweet home

Shade is certainly a commodity in Lubbock!

Our living room

Dining room

Backyard... I'm planning a garden for the spring

Garage--we're told that Lubbock receives many hail storms so garages are pretty necessary!

Check back in a few weeks for another update. I'll try to have the house in decent enough shape to be able to show it off! We miss and love all of our friends and family so much. Please keep in touch with us. 

Love,

Elisabeth

Also, my skype name is: elisabethberryclark