Minnesot-ah!

So here are a few things that we've noticed about Minnesota (other than the accent). I thought that I better write them down now before I get desensitized!

-People drive SLOW!!! I mean, really slow!!! I guess that they can't help it because the speed limits are also so low. Get this, we live by a major freeway, the 35E (the sister freeway of the one that had the bridge fall down- that's the 35W) and the speed limit is 45mph!!! That's even slower than our road that we lived on back in Irvine- the speed limit there was 50 and it had traffic lights!!

-Trees grow naturally.

-There are no palm trees here except in the conservatory by the scupture garden (In this case, the greenhouse is a good thing)

-Lots of Root Beer Everywhere! We've asked a few people about the root beer thing, and they deny it, saying that everyone likes Root Beer. But it's in all the fountain drinks, three different places in the grocery store, and we've already been offered root beer or root beer floats at just about every Minnesotan house that we've gone to so far. Come on, I found root beer float flavored yogurt. It was tasty :)

-People are Minnesota nice, which doesn't mean incredibly too nice, like bringing over muffins to the new neighbors (I thought that this would be like on desperate housewives and the neighbors were going to come bring us baked goods. Where are my muffins!) As I've read in my Minnesota lingo book, Minnesota nice means something more specific. I'll tell you when I figure it out.

-People actually like old houses. They think that they have character.

-Lakes are cool and people go and actually swim in them.

-It's very humid.

-When the weather is nice, everyone is outside. Lots of people just like going on walks or sitting on their porches.

-It's actually a lot more cultured than we thought. For instance, just at church on Sunday we had many people from many different nationalities and races give their testimonies: West African, Chinese, Korean, Jamaican, White American, Vietnamese. Our ward is way more culturally diverse than even our ward back in Southern California. The Jamaican guy sang his testimony and invited us over to his house on Saturday for chicken. Go Jamaican Jerk!!! (meaning the spices, not saying that he's a jerk for inviting us to his house.)

Well, that's it for now, I'm sure that I'll have more insights later- that is, if I don't get too caught up in the Okay Dokey, Beg (bag), and "you bet" Minnesotan lingo.


I'm sure that there will be more, but that's it for now.