A Few Things I've Learned About Texas Thus Far...

I've been in Texas for a little over a two weeks now, and in the course of that two weeks I've experienced quite a few "culture shock" moments. I would have never considered that Texas and California could be so different! I mean, we have semi-similar climates, and similar population demographics -- but ultimately there's just a fundamental difference between the two states.

Instead of delving too deeply into that difference, I've tried to embrace my new state by learning a few things here or there. And this undertaking also served to underline some differences between sunny CA and hot hot Texas. 

Here are a few examples:

• In California, we refer to freeways by their numbers, saying things like, "the 405 is crowded," or "hop off the 5 and onto the 99." Here, if you say "the (insert number here)" in reference to a freeway or highway, they look at you weird. And then correct you. It's not "the 75," it's JUST 75.

• Along the same lines, we call areas of the freeway where multiple freeways merge together and then separate an "interchange." Here they say "mixmaster." Which to me sounds like an old boombox from the 80s/90s, like the kind John Cusack held up in High Fidelity.

• There is, apparently, a difference between saying "y'all," and saying "all y'all." The former refers to two or fewer people; the latter refers to three or more.

• "Texas Country" music is NOT the same thing as "Country" music, and it *should* be immediately obvious whether a song is a Texas country song or not. I say should because it is, in fact, NOT readily obvious to anyone who hasn't spent a significant amount time listening to songs about tractors, dogs, and whiskey.

• The "Six Flags of Texas" doesn't refer to the roller-coaster amusement park, but rather to the fact that Texas has, at one point or another, been under the control of six different governments. (Which ones, you ask? Spain, France, Mexico, US, Confederate States, and the Republic of Texas.) 

So, anyway, those are just a few of the things I've learned over the past 14 days in the Lone Star state. Recently I was pondering aloud just how I was supposed to keep all of this straight, and someone said to me, "Oh, honey, don't worry. It'll come natural soon enough. You might be Californian by birth, but now you're a Texan by the grace of God."

I guess that about sums it up. 

Right?