How’s Washington?
My typical answer is
“it’s beautiful” which it is. But that’s a boring answer.
The real question is: Is
it totally weird and different from where you lived before? What have you
been doing???
I have visited Washington several times before I moved,
since I have relatives here. So I had an idea of what the climate and culture was like, although I’d never been to the town
we moved to before. One of the first things I
saw when I got here was an ash tray disguised as a knee-height lighthouse. So you know it’s pretty cool town when their
ashtrays are puns. Cigarettes= lights you put cigarettes in the lighthouse…. well it made sense to me at the time.
There are more
deciduous trees than I thought there would be, so that’s nice. But seriously guys, the trees here are ridiculously tall. The other thing is the horizon line is
so high. So you'll be driving down the road and you don't see sky, just trees. Don't try to find the sky you'll just hurt yourself.
Yeah, that thing you see in the bottom left corner? That's the top of a two story house.
There’s also these trees called…uh Mandrakes? Madrigals. Marzipan? Marsupials.
I can’t remember, anyway they’re
pretty and they only grow near salt-water.
It’s much colder outside during the summer which is a plus for me. And it’s kind of
nice to live near stores instead of in the middle of nowhere. And there’s a library within walking
distance! We don’t have a Wal-mart though, which is parallel universe weird.
I’ve lived all of my life except college in the
bible-belt, where being sociable/polite is very important. This comes out in little things like:
1. Waving at people while you're driving.
2. Making small talk
with the cashier is normal. Or tolerated.
3. Not having to wonder for a week why policemen were all over the street one night. Because ALL the neighbors will have told you before then.
I’m not saying people in Washington aren’t friendly. But it's a person to person thing. There's little to no social obligation to be friendly.
At least comparatively speaking. I have mixed feelings about this.
It’s nice to get a smile from a complete stranger as you’re walking down
the street. And I can feel RIDICULOUSLY FRIENDLY and out of
place by smiling at people I don’t know or making small talk with people in
stores.
But when someone is friendly, it’s probably because they
WANT to be. Or they were also raised in
the Bible Belt. That said, it’s not like
another country or anything, there’s more that’s alike than
different.
Which can only mean I haven’t found
out the REALLY weird stuff yet.
Things I’ve done since being here:
1.
I’ve been
on a ferry. TWICE.
2.
Been to library. MORE THAN TWICE.
3.
Had Thanksgiving with extended family for second
time in my life
4.
Been to the beach. There was lots of driftwood and someone had
drawn on some of the driftwood with charcoal there was also a tiny hideout made out of branches hidden inside some of the
huge trunks of driftwood. And there was this long super
steep walk through the woods to get there!
5.
NOT been to Canada though. It’s right there,
man! Taunting me!
Well that’s all for now!
Next week: Is there really a tree called marsupial??? No, no there is
not.
