Big Impressions

A lot of folks have asked me over the last month how I'm finding Texas. Well, keeping with the ever-present theme of "Everything's bigger in Texas!" I'll list my top 10 notations.

10. People here eat A LOT. Okay, I've lived everywhere from Ohio to Virginia to New York to Michigan to Oregon, so I've been around a lot of people with varying appetites. I'm married to someone whose appetite is legendary amongst his friends. But by and large, Texans can eat! Food really seems to be a huge part of the culture out here and you hear about restaurants and other food-related events a lot of the time. I was in the grocery store looking for hamburger buns the other day. There were hamburger buns, and then, one shelf up, were larger buns labeled "Texas-sized hamburger buns."

9. Texas-sized appetites make for Texas-sized people, if you know what I mean.

8. Texans are also BIG smokers. It feels like just about everywhere I walk I encounter someone standing around puffing on a cigarette. I hate it, especially since I usually have Bryony with me.

7. Texas has big insects. While on a visit to Austin a few months ago, I found a huge palmetto bug (think really really really large cockroach with wings) crawling around in the backyard. Our apartment complex has a pretty nice swimming pool, and the last time I went in, I spent the better part of a half hour scooping huge grasshoppers, junebugs and various other arthropods out with the poolnet. Lots for this biologist to ponder.

6. Texas, itself, is BIG. No duh, right? I think it's the second largest state in the nation. But the sheer enormity of its size doesn't really hit you until you're trying to drive from point A to point B and it takes...forever. I guess I've gotten spoiled by living in all those small states back east.

5. Texas has big pride. I visited here during the NCAA Championships when Baylor was playing. You could hardly believe the amount of hometeam spirit radiating throughout the state. We felt it from here all the way to San Antonio. It seemed even the UT fans up in Austin let down some of their natural rivalry to cheer Baylor on. I don't think you'd ever see that type of love between Michigan State and U. Mich.

4. Texas has big HEAT. It is sweltering here. I'm in air conditioning today and I'm still sweating. The heat is so strong that getting into the outdoor pool is like going into bath water. Most people, it seems, pretty much live inside during the summer. I have a lot of respect for the laborers who do the landscaping and construction out here. They work in jeans and t-shirts in this boiling heat.

3. Texans have big trucks. Look around while you're stopped at a red light and more than 50% of the vehicles surrounding you are very large pickup trucks or SUVs. I think, to be fair, this is becoming more of the "American way" rather than just the "Texas way" but still, it's astounding to see the number of large vehicles here. I guess it's the easy access to all the big oil that keeps people comfortable enough to have such gas guzzlers.

2. Texans have big cajones on the road. I've blogged about this before, but people out here drive like crazy! Adam warned me about it when I first moved here, but I really wasn't prepared. On any given day, you'll witness several near-accidents because people ignore the rules of the road, and seem to have the attitude that their vehicle is the only one that matters. I find myself--particularly when I'm carrying my precious cargo--driving super-extra-special-carefully.

1. And lest I should be accused of ending this on a negative note, Texans have BIG HEARTS. For the most part, people here seem to be naturally good-natured and genuinely friendly. I don't know how many "honeys," "sugars," and "darlings" Bryony and I have gotten since we've been here. And, although I still really miss our home back in Michigan, the sweet-nature of the people here really does help to make the transition a wee bit easier.