Cultural differences

A very good friend told me before I left not too make my "posts" too long or no one will read it. This will probably be long so go ahead and delete it if you find the need.

We have noticed some differences here that are interesting. I have not seen anyone riding a bike in a speedo bike outfit, or wearing a helmet. People here use bikes for transportation and not for sport. You can see all ages on bike paths, from very young children to the really elderly. Also it is not unusual to see someone riding a bike steering with one hand and hanging on to a load of lumber or boxes and bags of groceries on the back . Date night is great, you see a whole bunch of teens riding along with the guy peddling and the girl sitting sideways on the back. Sure saves on gasoline (Which is more than $9.00 a Gallon.) Folks are either walking and taking public transportation or riding their bikes to the stores where groceries are not automatically put in "plastic or paper" you bring your own shopping bags to haul it home. Also the cashiers sit down and are not very friendly. I have found that if I am pleasant and smile they are much nicer. Telling them to have a nice day however makes them take a second look at you as if you're crazy. Never will you see a suburban full of groceries going down the street because who wants to carry 20 bags up to the 4th floor. For that matter, no Suburbans, only very small cars.

Most people live in apartments on top of each other, and very few with elevators. Not many are able to have a garden, so small garden areas are available for rent not far from home so that you can get dirt under your nails and bring home fresh produce and no need to irrigate because the water comes down automatically almost everyday with a rain storm. There is not much need for personal gardens however because the produce is really fresh, and yes we can drink the water, it is great.

Recycling is a big thing. We separate everything into different bags. There is no monthly garbage collection fee, but they require everyone to purchase the bags locally with the name of the town printed on them for about 75 cents a bag. We don't throw away much believe me.

Don't try to ask for help in the stores because they either say "I don't know", or else wave towards the other end of the store and say "It's somewhere over there" We think Americans can be very phony sometimes because they ask you how you are when they don't expect an answer and don't really want to know. They will tell you "let's do lunch" when they have no intention of "doing." We had a friend who came to the U.S. and his boss told him to drop by some time and when he and his family did the boss seemed surprised and asked what he was doing there. Sooooo phony is not good and neither is being rude. I remember my mother-in-law once walking in and telling me "puttin' on some weight aren't you?" Yes I was and thanks for noticing.

Everyone speeds and the traffic is a bit of a challenge. The most daring gets the right of way. However, changing lanes is done every few hundred yards. Unlike Utah, people here signal and let you in when you need to change. Our GPS has been a heaven sent because the are no mountains to tell you whether you are going north of south, and the sun is only out occasionally to let you know which way is east or west. None of the streets are straight because Brigham Young was not here to tell them how to arrange their city. Weaving around has become our favorite pastime with all the "Round abouts" Love Love Love the weather and all of you!!!

Different is great and we are adjusting just fine, maybe because we are European and being rude is something we are used to. By the way, I said Hello to a neighbor while out checking our mailbox. You could have knocked her over with a feather. I'll try again next time.

What is it with people and dogs? You can always find someone walking a dog but almost never see people walking along with children. I guess dogs don't talk back and you can leave them alone all day and they are still happy to see you. (Imagine this one, walking the large hairy dog in the rain and then coming home to a small apartment, it has to be worse than walking into a boys gym locker room) Yes different is good and we are loving it here.