We and Cat live in a small, 3-floor apartment in a growing side of town.
Every day we drive about 10 minutes through a cute neighborhood, past a coffee shop, bowling alley and Taco Johns -this is especially important to downtown where we work in the same building.
You may well wonder why it's taken me so long to update the world on the latest goings on, let me fill you in.
We drove 22 hours over the two days following my graduation to move here. Within a week, I had started a new job with Agweek, a regional, weekly, agricultural magazine published by the same company that owns J's newspaper.
Between unpacking and settling our apartment, adjusting to a full-time work schedule and learning a new city, there hasn't been much of me left over to share.
Today, however, I decided it couldn't wait any longer...
When we told our fellow Texans we were moving to North Dakota of all places, most of them reacted as if we were about to banished to Siberia... "Don't y'all know it's going to be cold there?" they would say.
That was about all I knew about ND before we moved here. It's cold.
We haven't experienced real cold yet, but we've been preparing. I'll talk more about that in a later post...
Since I got here, there have been some fun surprises and some quirks I wasn't expecting. Here are a few examples:
1. The accent.
I didn't realize the impact ND's proximity to Canada would have on the accents of the people here. They say 'aboat.' They say 'yoo betcha!' all the time. And they take notice when I say y'all. We'll talk more about how I'm reppin' Texas culture later on too. :) The funny thing is, most people I encounter don't think they have an accent at all. Uh... yoo betcha, yoo doo.
2. Hockey
Hockey is to North Dakota as football is to Texas. This is not very surprising to me in and of itself. What I was shocked to learn is... I love it! It's fast, violent and indoors, what else would you want in a winter sport? Point Midwest!
3. It's SO close to Canada
SO CLOSE! When in an article a reporter used the phrase "south of the border," I had to do a double take. He was talking about North Dakota! The border patrol office near my apartment building, is looking for illegal Canadians... I'd never even considered the possibility of illegal Canadians.
4. Canadians have a reputation for being terrible drivers.
If you see a "friendly Manitoba" license plate headed your way, look out! So they say...the jury's still out with me... Minnesota license plates seem to be just a dangerous. ;)
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| Fries from the world's largest french fry feed. |
...And beer. But the french fry bandwagon is the one I can hop on! We even went to the World's Largest French Fry Feed this year. You should have seen the deep fryer they were using!
6. They grow sugar beets
I wasn't even sure this was a real thing when I moved up here, but it's one of the region's biggest crops. When I drive to work this month, I'm usually behind a huge truck full of them, heading over to Minnesota to the sugar factory. In fact, when the trucks hit a bump you have to dodge the beets that fall out on the road.
7. People only grow things that can be eaten
Speaking of crops, when I say my dad grows cotton, I get a funny look. "But you can't eat cotton..." Here, if it can't be eaten by humans, they feed it to the cows. An inedible crop is unheard of... Random fact: cotton seed and cotton seed oil are both edible products of cotton for cows and humans respectively.
8. People here speak Spanish too!
I thought when we moved north, we'd have our weak knowledge of Spanish as a kind of personal language that very few people would know, we could have conversations without others eavesdropping ...even if they were mostly about our names and random objects. But I was wrong. In line at the grocery store a few weeks ago the family behind us had a whole conversation in it. My boss says it's the only language offered in most high schools. Even one of the families at the tiny church we go to speaks mostly Spanish. I wish I had practiced more in school.
9. People are friendly and helpful
Need directions somewhere? Want to know why some cars have extension cords hanging out the front of their hoods? Want some fresh produce? Want to go to a sporting event without spending any money? North Dakotans to the rescue! Seriously, y'all, people are so helpful here. I ask about 200,000 stupid questions a day about snow, the town, the state. I misspelled Winnipeg at work and no one made fun of me. We had a Bible study in our house and a sister brought us fresh tomatoes from her garden. Not to mention the free things we're constantly being given at work, hockey tickets, fresh produce from the publisher's garden, random ice cream treats, football tickets and so on. People are very accepting and generous here. It's great.
10. Some things are still the same
I'm still Mrs. Dykowski, I still call my mom when I need advice, I'm still a homebody, I still have a lot to learn, I still talk to my closest friends, I still prefer Texas to any state in the union but I would still rather have one day in North Dakota with J than a million in Texas without him.
Stay tuned!
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