As a newcomer to the great state of Texas, I've noted a few items that are a little bit different from home. The things I'm going to tell you about aren't necessarily bad, they just struck me as...different.
The very first oddity I encountered was....get this...the gas pumps! This actually is irritating...let me explain. First, the spouts (the part you stick in your gas tank) are almost all the way covered with this accordion-like tubing, and you have to push really hard to make the tubing 'collapse' so the spout can actually go into your tank. If you don't do this, the gas will not come out of the spout! I had to ask the person pumping gas next to me how to work the stupid thing...he thought I was kidding. Also, the little mechanism that holds the 'trigger' in place (so you can pump hands-free) is located on the back of the handle, so you have to use one hand to hold the trigger and the other hand to set the mechanism! I realize this isn't a huge deal, but who wants to get both hands dirty touching nasty gas pumps?!
*On a good note, I have since found TWO gas pumps that aren't all funky and complicated:)
The next thing? Tanks! Yeah...a friend told me that she and her family spent the day grilling and hanging out down by their tank. After about five minutes of this:
Her: OMG, you don't know what a tank is??
Me: Um...like an army tank...?
Her: NO! a fish tank!
Me: Why were you grilling out by a fish tank?
Her: Because it's pretty and the weather was nice!
Me: ??......
She finally explains-very exasperated- that a tank is like a small lake where you go fishing and many people outside city limits have them in their backyards... Apparently, 'tank' is their word for POND. They really should offer pamphlets on local terminology for anyone crossing the state line.
One last thing. I have noticed a marked absence of lovebugs. Every now and then I will see a driver with those familiar black dots spattered across the front of his or her car, but they are not a common sight. I didn't know what to make of that, so I took an office poll. I found out that the bugs congregate in more rural and suburban areas, but not so much in the city. That explains why I haven't actually seen a live lovebug this year. I wonder why they're so geographically sensitive over here?
That's all I've come across so far, but I'll add more weird things as I find them.
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3 comments:
Hey Girl well remeber back in the day when I just moved to Ms from Tx I tried to tell you about the tanks and the bar ditches? Theres no place like TX and I miss it tons
Interestingly enough, in Birmingham Alabama, there are NO lovebugs either. But if I drive just 2 hours south, I can't see the light of day due to the river of lovebugs in the atmosphere. But, it's nice not seeing them.
Hey Alyssa, did you move there just to get away from the lovebugs? That would be tempting...
A tank!? Are you kidding me? And she expected you to know what that was referring to? Sometimes when we have lived in other states I feel like I should wear a shirt at least one day of the week that says, "I am not from here. Do not assume anything." (By the way, this is Sarah's sister Amy.) (:
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