Little things about Boston

Yes, I know I'm still in the United States but still, there are little things, little reminders, that tell me that I'm in Boston/east coast and not CA anymore.

Limes - They are all over the place! Anywhere you'd expect to see a lemon (wedges for water, lemonade, etc.) you also see a lime! Minute Maid frozen lemonade pops? Nope. Frozen limeade. Paul Newman's lemonade? Yes, you'll find it next to the Paul Newman's limeade. Chipotle had two dishes at the fountain bar, one with lemon wedges, one with lime. Who knew? Which reminds me, can't wait for my first raspberry lime rickey again.

American cheese - In CA, all we could get was the orange kind. It all tastes the same but I always felt like the orange was as unnatural as the thought of the processed American cheese food itself. White American cheese always made me feel a little better since the days back in high school when I first ran across it in MD. But I could never find it in CA.

Buying liquor - Leftover from some archaic law about not selling alcohol on Sundays (blue law?), you can't buy beer or wine in grocery stores, most of them anyway. Most of my friends know I don't drink but I just wanted red and white wine to cook with again. Can't find it anywhere! Thank goodness MA law allows 3 stores of every chain to sell alcohol and I found a Trader Joe's in nearby Brookline who sold wine. I felt a little like a lush, frustrated whenever a store clerk would say they don't sell wine.

Driving - I'm still surprised that the drivers are often nice here. Crazy, yes, but nice. They let you in when traffic is tight. They wave at you if you let them in. It's much more interactive, it makes you feel good.

Although today at Trader Joe's, some guy was beeping a lady who wasn't getting into her car fast enough. She was waiting for me because I was getting my kids out of my car next to hers. She was so ticked at the honker, she said she was going to stand there longer just because. Ah...east coasters.

Roads - The roads here are just nuts. They aren't straight at all. I've never depended on the GPS so much in my life. And we're getting used to the crazy pattern that a street named after a city means that street leads to that city. In Lexington, you'll find Bedford Street, Woburn Street, Winchester Street and Waltham Street. As soon as Waltham Street cross the border into Waltham, it is called Lexington Street. It's confusing but I used it once to my advantage while lost in Newton and trying to get to Lexington. I saw a Lexington Street and blindly followed it and it worked!

Lexington itself is its own tangled web of confusing roads. There's a 4/225 route which in some parts of town is Mass Ave and others it's Marrett Road. And in other parts of town I think Marrett is 2A and in yet others Mass Ave is 2A. Mass Ave and Marrett do end up intersecting in two places in town. There's 2 and there's 2A, 3 and 3A, which are not the same. Sometimes a street will split and the small side road retains the name of the big road and the big road continues on with a different name. There are lots of spider web like intersections, not just 2 roads crossing at right angles, but 3-5 roads converging at random angles. And of course, roundabouts.

Weather - It has rained its fair share here and I'm surprised I'm not more appalled by the regularity of the rain, seeing that I've been out of it for a good 15 years. It's somewhat refreshing. I always used to say that I like rainy days because if I'm in a crappy mood, then at least everyone else is too. When I first arrived in CA, the day in day out sunnyness started to get on my nerves, like everyone's supposed to be happy all the time because it's sunny all the time. Maybe I'm back in my element now, going with the ups and downs of the weather, feeling relieved that it's okay almost relieving to stay inside for the rainy day, and being extra appreciative for the beautiful day that follows.