Things I've noticed!

Things I've noticed since living in PA........

One-ply toilet paper. No one here seems to know that two-ply toilet paper exists. Its as if Charmin is some sort of fancy, 2 ply toilet paper that your bum doesn't deserve..........

Yield signs=Stop signs.....here in this state, if a driver comes to a yield sign and even has a lane to ease into, they come to a DEAD stop and just wait. This happens on ordinary roads and freeways. Imagine will you trying to to get on the 405.....you come up the ramp and merge into traffic. Not here.......people stop! To make matters worse, the people driving on the freeway know this and if you obey the yield sign and truly merge into traffic.....the drivers on the road look at you like you ran a red light!

Politeness.....I think East coasters get a bad rap. When I am going to Wawa for my soda and paper in the morning, people WAIT to hold the door for each other. This doesn't just happen at Wawa, it seems to be everywhere. The cashiers also tell you to "have a good one". Meaning....have a great day. Now, nothing against California, but I can't remember the last time someone there tripped over themselves trying to open the door for you. Also in this category.....Every person we have told that we are new in the area has fallen all over themselves to give us area info. Take for example the lady we bought our car insurance from....she gave me her card and told me to call her for ANY local info, restaurant reviews, etc. Now, I can't say for certain that people seem to be more friendly, but an informal poll reveals that so far.

People here think if you go into the "city" you will get mugged or killed.......now let me say this.....I am currently living about 35 minutes outside of the 6th largest city in the country. When we were in Torrance it was the same distance except it was the 2 nd largest city in the country. I was never scared going up to Hollywood, to downtown LA, etc. So, going into Philly for a day of sightseeing or "culture" does not scare me.....but it scares everyone else. I hear comments like "your going to get killed" or "don't take your purse or someone else will". I don't know what the fuss is all about because I love going into center city Philly. I just hope that I don't grow scared like everyone else.

Grass....I'm talking about the kind you grow, not the kind you smoke. In Cali, your grass is a source of pride. You spend lots of money installing water sprinklers, you have someone cut it every week, you take care of it. Now, people take care of their grass here, but they don't fuss over it like in Cali. AND people cut their own grass. Now, I know some of you out there are in Cali are thinking (we cut our own grass) and good for you. But you know that the majority of people have a lawn cutting service to cut their patch of grass....and a patch of grass it truly is. At our old house, the lawn guys were done cutting,trimming and blowing in less than 30 minutes. Not a day went by in Torrance when I didn't hear the familiar drone of the leaf blower at 7:30 in the morning. Here, its different. People cut their own grass......and their grass is twice or three times as big. You never hear those lawn guys slamming their truck door at 7:30 am. Every night after dinner, or on the weekends you heard lots of lawn mowers but the homeowners are (gasp!) doing it themselves. (or their sons are) At our new house Alex hired someone to cut his grass because he grew up in Cali......he can't do it (actually he is really busy with school)! When I told people we wouldn't be cutting our own grass, they look at us like we are lazy. Its a weird feeling, I almost feel ashamed. One family member said to me "it must be nice to have money to throw around". Now its not expensive.....actually the same price or even cheaper than LA for three times the amount of land. But, I am being shamed into feeling bad about not cutting my own grass!