it's a new england thing

while massachusetts and texas are only a couple thousand miles apart they might as well be two different worlds.

besides the obvious socio-political differences and the disparity in weather (it was thirty when i went running this morning and i'm sure it is at least twice that in arlington) things are just done differently.

for example, in texas if i want coffee i go to starbucks and they hand me a cup of black coffee. if i wanted milk in it (which i don't) i would ask them to leave room, walk to the bar and add my milk. here, people go to dunkin donuts where a "regular" coffee comes with cream and sugar and you have to special order to have it black. often times people order "extra extra" which means extra cream and extra sugar. and then they place a napkin over the lid, their finger over the opening, and turn it upside down and shake it.

side note: this coffee phenomena kind of surprises me because food in general up here is considered healthier than texas due to the fact that they don't deep fry everything and slather it in butter or gravy.

the other thing i've found slightly difficult to get used to is what they call things. i'm not simply talking about the incredibly annoying accent where they put an "er" instead of an "a" (e.g. mander and idear) and an "a" instead if an "er" (e.g. silva) and words aren't pronounced as they're spelled (e.g. worcester). no, they have completely different words. here is what i've learned: a water fountain is called a bubbler; jeans are dungarees; a liquor store is a packi; milkshake is a frappe; sprinkles are jimmies...

and, the one i learned yesterday: "so do i" is "so don't i" or "so am i" is "so aren't i".

26 days 'til texas where we eat meat, fry our food, wear shorts in the winter, and talk normal!