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週末限定ボストンライフ
オールバニーに引っ越してはや5ヵ月が経とうとしているのに、雅子さんはいまだに長年住み慣れたボストンのことが忘れられません。友人に会うため、コンタクトレンズを買うためなどと理由を付けてはボストンに帰っています。しかし、最近、オールバニーの友人たちに触発され、少し考え方を変えました。
Weekend Bostonian
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隔週末ごとにボストンに出かける筆者
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After almost 10 years of living in the Boston area, it was hard for me to move to the relative calm of Greater Albany. It is called the New York Capital District for an important reason - it's where the governor and state politicians conduct their high-powered business - but the region simply doesn't have the concentrated energy of a large city.
On weekdays, I hardly notice this. I enjoy hanging out with my friends after work, perhaps over a homemade dinner at my home, or in a class at the company gym, or at a movie theater in the local shopping center. I like reading the paper while lying on my sofa and then drifting off to sleep without being distracted by rumbling subways or screaming sirens. I used to live in an apartment with train tracks running in front of the building and a direct ambulance route to the hospital right under my window. I now live in a town where buses run only once an hour and no traffic goes past my apartment at all.
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ボストンで開催中のスタンレー教授夫人、アイダリアさんの個展
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However, I must admit that I've been fleeing the region almost every other weekend. I usually go to Boston because I have a lot of friends there, but I've also gone to Montreal and New York. When I was interviewed for my current position, my boss told me that one of the great things about Albany is that it's "centrally isolated." "It's equally close to (or far away from) Boston, Montreal and New York. It seems a bit strange to treat a 200-mile (320-km) drive as a short trip, but I've become accustomed to driving 45 minutes just to go to a restaurant for dinner.
In many ways, it's almost as if I've never left Boston. I go there so often that I can attend concerts, try new restaurants and visit old friends in a manner almost indistinguishable from when I actually lived there. I still get my contact lenses from my optometrist in Boston, and I haven't changed my hair stylist.
Is this a kind of denial? Perhaps. I have several single friends who have moved to the Capital District recently, but who have already bought houses. I told them that I couldn't imagine making that kind of commitment to the region right now. They told me that they completely understood, but talking with them made me realize that I should - and that I want to - make the effort to integrate myself here. It's quite pathetic to pretend to be a city slicker in the countryside. I also do not want to find myself lonely and lost once I finally start letting go of Boston. Keeping this in mind, I've been trying to make more of an effort to explore Albany on weekends.
I think it's common to have conflicting feelings toward one's new home, especially if one considers that home somehow temporary. I've met countless people at my company who have lived here for years while still treating Albany as a part-time home. I've met an incredible number of people, both men and women, whose spouses (or even children) live in other states. Yes, it's hard to convince anybody to move to Albany - even one's own family! I don't know what will eventually happen to these long-distance families, but I do know that they do a lot of back-and-forth traveling now. It's a situation that is by definition temporary, since it surely cannot last forever.
I don't think I can ever completely wean myself off Boston. It's really a lovely city, and I always look forward to visiting. But as I grow to accept Albany as my new home, I suspect I'll be visiting Boston less and less. This is partly because I'm making more friends in Albany and discovering new things to do here. It's partly because I'm growing older and I don't have as much energy to pursue an exciting social life. And it's partly because Boston - my Boston - is changing. My old friends in Boston are moving away; they are pursuing new lives elsewhere, too.
Shukan ST: Feb. 21, 2003
(C) All rights reserved
- Bostonian
- ボストン住民
- relative calm
- 比較的静かなこと
- Greater Albany
- 州都オールバニーとその周辺地域
- Capital District
- 州都地域
- governor
- 州知事
- state
- 州の
- high-powered
- 精力的な
- region
- 地域
- concentrated
- 集中した
- hardly 〜
- ほとんど〜しない
- hanging out with 〜
- 〜と一緒に過ごす
- gym
- スポーツジム
- paper
- 新聞
- drifting off to sleep
- いつの間にか眠ってしまう
- without being distracted by 〜
- 〜に邪魔されずに
- rumbling 〜
- ゴーッと音を立てる〜
- screaming sirens
- けたたましいサイレンの音
- used to 〜
- 〜していた
- train tracks
- 線路
- direct ambulance route
- 救急車の通り道
- no traffic goes past 〜 at all
- 〜を車などが全く通らない
- (have)been fleeing 〜
- 〜から逃れる
- every other weekend
- 隔週末ごとに
- was interviewed
- 面接を受けた
- current position
- 今の仕事
- (is)"centrally isolated"
- どこへ行くにも遠い
- treat 〜 as 〜
- 〜を〜とみなす
- (have)become accustomed to 〜
- 〜に慣れてしまった
- (is)almost as if 〜
- ほとんどまるで〜だ
- in a manner almost indistinguishable from 〜
- 〜とほとんど変わらない形で
- optometrist
- 検眼医
- denial
- 否認
- single
- 独身の
- making that kind of commitment to 〜
- 〜にそのような強いかかわりを持つこと
- completely
- 十分に
- make the effort
- 努力する
- integrate myself
- 解け込む
- pathetic
- 情けない
- pretend to be 〜
- 〜のふりをする
- city slicker
- 都会人
- countryside
- 田舎
- once 〜
- いったん〜したら
- letting go of 〜
- 〜を思い切る
- explore 〜
- 〜を探索する
- conflicting
- 相反する
- somehow
- ともかく
- temporary
- 一時的な
- part-time
- 一時的な
- an incredible number of 〜
- 非常にたくさんの〜
- spouses
- 配偶者
- convince 〜 to 〜
- 〜を説き伏せて〜させる
- eventually
- 最終的に
- long-distance families
- 遠く離れて暮らしている家族
- back-and-forth
- 行ったり来たりの
- by definition
- 明らかに
- last
- 続く
- wean myself off 〜
- 〜への思いを断ち切る
- look forward to 〜
- 〜するのを楽しみにする
- grow to
- 〜ますます〜する
- less and less
- 徐々に少なく
- pursue 〜
- 〜を追い求める