Why is it so hard to introduce yourself to the neighbors?

[frausensei]

We have now been living in Powderhorn Park neighborhood, Minneapolis, for one year and one week. When we moved here I had good intentions of introducing myself to the neighbors - after all, it was exciting after living in an apartment building of 30+ apartments in San Diego, to be in a duplex here, on a block with ... for want of a better word

Comments

keep trying

[mom3mkb]

Do keep trying - maybe it means more walks in the neighborhood, which can only be good for you and Cecily. Any parks nearby? Library?

Keep us posted, as you say.

[joyeuse13]

You said it yourself--the best conversation starter is Cecily. Why? Because all you probably have in common with your neighbors is proximity and children. It's an internet world now, where it's easier to connect with people of like minds and interests, so we don't *need* to grasp at those coincidental connections. It's a bad thing in that we tend to end up isolated from people right next to us, but a good thing in that we are less isolated from people we'd most like to share with. We know a few of our neighbors to say hi to, but actual interaction (despite proximity and children) is rare, and I've kind of given up on changing that.

[valleyviolet]

If it's any consolation, your job is probably not too weird for some of them to empathize. When we met our next door neighbors (because the old owners of the house asked us to leave mail with them), we told them we're computer programmers and they awkwardly said they'd never had a computer. '-_-