Street BBQ

This past weekend we hosted a BBQ for all of the neighbours on our street. It was great!

We've been meaning to host some sort of neighbourhood event ever since we moved in here, and now that we're leaving in a month, it seemed like the right time. (you know, in case we ruin everything)

And, despite any worries we may have had, it went really well! About 20 people showed throughout the evening. I chatted with 2 girls who live across the street, lived in the same residence as me in first year and are in similar programs in school. I also met an incredibly lively and smart philosophy student who lives a few houses away from us. She was super out going and got into a nice discussion with some people about the importance of the internet and blogging (she happens to be a blogger herself as well as a big advocate for twitter. How else you gonna know what Justin Bieber is up to every day?). She was so grateful that we put the BBQ on because she doesn't have the best room mates and she likes knowing that she has nice neighbours nearby. She even hugged us good bye when she left.

I had to leave early for work, but from what I heard, the rest of the night went even better than the first half. Two guys who have lived next to each other for years got the chance to connect over their love and knowledge of cars. One of them happened to be a teacher from my high school who taught wood shop and all that other hands on electrical and mechanical type stuff. He fixed our lawn mower too!

The next day, we were sitting outside doing our weekly dinner/devotions when two of the girls from the BBQ came up with a tray of cupcakes and a thank you card. They said we can come by whenever we want and join them on their stoop for some beer. I'm down for that :).

Its too bad that we're leaving here after having made some good connections. I think we're all a bit disappointed by that. But it does make me look forward to the coming year because I think we'll do something similar as soon as we can once we've moved into Sunnydale. One of the great things about events like this is that even if you don't necessarily connect perfectly, theres people nearby that you can call on in the future. Last year, Katie and Gloria and I gifted all of our townhouse neighbours with wrapped up rolls of toilet paper and invited people for dinner. We didn't have a lot of response but we did start getting lots of knocks on our door when people needed ice for their party, or some sugar for their baking. We also had people we could borrow cork screws or chairs from. There was a while there where we felt like we were living in a nice little community of sorts. I think a lot of people are eager to meet their neighbours and be part of their communities but they're just waiting for an invitation. And if we can help facilitate neighbours meeting eachother before we move on to a new place, that seems like a success to me.