Texas is so large (it's 1.5 Californias or 5.6 Pennsylvanias) and has so many cultural regions. There's the good old Southwest of El Paso, for instance. Fortunately (or not), I'm in the "Southern" area of Texas. Technically, I'm in the Northeast corner, outside of Dallas. But the culture is most related to the Southern culture.
The outside of Dallas is easy enough to enjoy. It's beautiful here. Slightly rolling hills (not as much so as Pennsylvania, but more so than Illinois), green everywhere, and water towers. I know. That's a funny thing to think beautiful, but it's a sign of growing up in Pennsylvania, and I love it. That's why I can pretend I'm in Pennsylvania.
There's the Southern aspect which I think will probably take some getting used to. Hence the blog. I figure we can all get a good laugh out of what I learn during my first year here. After that, I'm afraid I'll be so used to everything that you'll probably start laughing at me!
Anyway, like I said, for the most part I pretended I was in Pennsylvania. There were a few differences, however.
- Like the pizza guy that delivered our pizza. I think I could have cut his Southern twang with a knife.
- Like the to-be-eaten-for-dinner cows that roam the fields here (instead of the milk-for-my-cereal kind of cows of home).
- Like the road numbers instead of names the closer you get to the rural areas (which is pretty much all surrounding the towns) FM 24681. The FM is not a radio station--it stands for "farm to market road." Quaint, huh?
- Like the "access roads" which allow you to get on the highways here. You drive along an access road until there's an opening to the highway, then you merge onto the road. Sounds easy. It's actually kind of nice. No more remembering which road is the entrance to the highway. Except if you want to turn around. Since the access roads are one-ways, you have to either turn around and backtrack through the town streets OR you have to wait until you get to a road that crosses the access road (I'm sure there's some technical name for them) and then go under the highway and drive along that access road. It really does get quite confusing at times--and this is from a person who has a great sense of direction. After a week though, I think I'm getting the hang of it.
- And my favorite. . . . Like the people buried in the historic cemetery here in town who fought in The War for Southern Independence. Don't they know they lost??
My goal is to write at least once a week about some kind of experience of living here in Texas. You can all share it with me vicariously through the internet! Lucky you! I hope to do or visit at least one "Texan" thing a week so that I can get to know where I'm living. Hope you tune in each week to see what I'm up to!
