We recently moved from the West (the Denver, CO area) to the East (Buffalo, New York area) and while life is mostly the same, we’ve noticed a few things are different. Here are some of the differences we’ve noticed moving from the west to the east.
Water
Lots of water everywhere. Very different here — at least compared to the part of the west where we lived before.
At Lumberjack’s Patio Grill Lunch on the water. Boaters can boat up to the restaurant and tie up for lunch.
Older Stuff
More above ground power lines.
Older, cracked sidewalks.
Lots more dead people.
Incredible old buildings
Driving
The streets are more narrow. There is parking on many streets, and there are some crazy-weird intersections.
The driving etiquette is slightly different. The first time I saw people parked waiting to merge, I did not know what the heck they were doing by the side of the road! I had never seen that before. In the west when we merge, we are goin’, there is no stopping.
Foodies
Even being this far away from New York City (we live about 6 hours away), these people are foodies. There are lots of local food establishments and specialties.
Old Man River, Tonawanda
Food Truck Tuesday at Larkin Square in Buffalo, NY.
The Silo restaurant as seen on Man vs Food.
Language
So far we’ve noticed “elementary” is pronounced “elemen-tary” and kids are called “youngers”.
There is lots of Canadian influence since it’s easy to cross the border here for a day’s visit.
Have you moved to a different part of the United States? What differences did you notice?
When we moved from California to Georgia in 1974, there were many differences, some totally unexpected. There was the language – “y’all,” etc. No one planned sports or anything else on Wednesday nights because of church. My youngest son was ready to enter kindergarten, but I had to enroll him in a private kindergarten because there was NO public kindergarten! Now GA has full day kindergarten and even public “Pre-K” for those who can’t afford private preschool! “Confederate Memorial Day” was observed the first May we lived here, but U.S. Memorial Day was not! That has all changed now, of course. The biggest difference between the western and eastern half of the U.S. is the summer humidity! We love having 4 definite seasons, but will never get used to the summer weather. And most important of all, God met us in Georgia and I was saved in 1975! We moved 2 more times, but have now been in the same house in suburban Atlanta for 35 years! And our children and grandchildren are within an hour of us. The 1996 Olympics gave our whole region a tremendous jump in being an international city.
Oh wow, I loved reading these. Talk about culture shock! So interesting the differences. Thanks for sharing.
We moved to Oklahoma City when we were first married. The restaurants all served grits with every meal, even breakfast. I didn’t even know what grits WERE. Nobody knew what a “cheese toastie” is. The words “y’all” and “fixin’ to” were even used by the news folk on TV. We were called Yankees and it wasn’t a compliment. Cowboy boots were worn with suits in downtown offices. And this was in the 80s, but women were not treated like they were terribly smart or capable. In some ways, this was good. When I got a flat — and young, broke and on my own away from my Daddy Triple A, this happened regularly — some nice guy would invariably stop and fix it for me. In other ways, it annoyed me excessively. Guys yelled and whistled at girls from cars and construction sites and genuinely seemed to think I should be flattered. Playing in bands, I heard, all the time, “I didn’t know girls could play drums.” Sigh. Would you like to explain why drums are impossible for a female to play? I use my maiden name. Landlords refused to rent to us because we weren’t married. Except, we WERE (are) married. But they never heard of a woman keeping her name after marriage. That list goes on and on. It was utter culture shock.
Wow, Val, that is some serious culture shock! I wonder what it would be like if you moved back now. Just visiting this south this last week (New Orleans) I could certainly see and feel some big differences.