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Some days I don’t know whether to love this place or hate it! It is so awesome to be in the heart of a valley where a lot of the latest and greatest products in the tech industry evolve from. Then there are the days you live here and you think, what are we doing to this area? We are cramming 100’s of peoples into a small area and polluting the surrounding area.
When I first came to the valley as you drove down 101 you could see the hills clearly. Now this valley reminds me of Hong Kong, Beijing or Sydney – a screen of smog lies on the top of the hills and you can see it clearly as you drive down 101 or 280. It saddens me that now through the haze you know that we have created this.
I love the weather here is at times to die for – it’s consistently nice. Sure in winter we had some rains but the last few years not like 1998 when my second was born. In 1998 we had a month of rain. I don’t mind rain, I’m an Australian by birth, heck rain is so important to farms and in turn us – why scoff rain! The valley weather is like the Italian Riviera – perfect. It’s the pollution, the traffic and the multitude of people that concerns and bothers me. I am ready for a change, but I fear my children need to finish their education.
I left Hong Kong because I couldn’t take the rat race and I’m thinking SV is heading down the same rat tunnel.
It ceases to amaze me that here in the heart of Silicon Valley that we find such discrepancies in education! In our school district where we live (Santa Clara) we have one of the best elementary schools in the US. Milliken on Kiely. Wow you say! but wait a minute it’s a charter school so you have to apply – it’s not guaranteed you will get into this school but it’s API score is amazing. At the same time in the same direct area the local elementary school Pomeroy has a sad API – so sad I won’t even publish it.
What also amazes me that here in the heart of the valley there are many schools that don’t have computer access or up to date on this technology at all. Too weird.
What’s weirder is that children with special needs like dyslexia or learning delays are all pushed towards being sent to a public school so that the private schools don’t have to deal with issues. There are of course a few private bay area schools that support these children.
The first time I came to Silicon Valley was 1991. I came here to do a course in Santa Rosa. I had organized for my now husband who was living here to pick me up at SFO. I thought he lived closer to San Francisco than I thought. He warned me that he lived quite a bit south of San Fransisco – I did not realize how south!
I remember him driving me down 101 and thinking – what are all those tall panels on the side of the freeway were. At that stage I didn’t realize they were sound barriers. I wasn’t used to that coming from Australia. Our free way systems at that stage were all open it seemed. No barriers – of course that has changed over the years but in 1991 seeing these tall barriers was odd – you could not see the surrounds.
I also recall that we drove and drove and drove and drove to my now husband’s house. It seemed there were houses after houses, businesses after businesses. It just kept going and going. Like Kylie Mole would say “it goes it goes it just goes”. I was starting to wonder where I was going?
That same trip we went out to the Great Mall to do some shopping. There was nothing out that way but space – aahhh at last space. Oh and the prison. One needs space around a prison don’t you think? Well if you know anything about Milpitas now that has all changed. That open sapce has all gone. Imagine that was only 17 years ago. How that has changed. Now you can buy a condo that has a balcony that looks over the yard of the prison. Nice…..
So this was my first experience of Silicon Valley how little did I realize that 7 or 8 years later I too would be living in Silicon Valley. Fortunately for me my husband had sold that original home he owned in EAST San Jose and now owned a place in Santa Clara! Phew because if you know anything about East San Jose you would know that it is an interesting part of the Valley. Imagine he had to declare a drive by shooting on his property disclosures when he sold the place. again Nice…..
