Things I wasn't expecting when I moved here.

I may get flamed for this post, but whatevs. Basically this is my list of stuff I never knew existed here in Arizona (phoenix area) or just things I still don't quite understand.

1. Misters, you know the kind you see around restaurants? I have never seen such things in my life and I was very confused and intrigued when I first saw them. Now I know that if for any reason I ever must own a house here, I will have my entire backyard decked out with misters. It makes the air so cool!

2. Homeless youth and the drug culture. I no longer go to certain parts of where I live if I can help it, because I'm constantly besieged by young panhandlers who look like teenage runaways. Also I knew that certain drugs are very popular here, but raves people? REALLY? What is this, europe in 1992?

So yeah, it makes me really sad to see these poor kids who have drug problems. There is one store in the area in particular that caters to the drug crowd and that doesn't make things better.

3. Citrus. Okay so I thought you guys had oranges and lemons and all that. But I STILL have yet to discover exactly what citrus is and why nobody picks it off of their trees. Is citrus used to collectively refer to all fruit trees? Or is Citrus it's own unique fruit? Is it edible? What do people use it for? And why in the world don't you harvest it?

4. Red light/Freeway cameras. I was NOT expecting this. Talk about big brother watching!

5. Boring monsoons. People keep telling me how crazy monsoons are, but I have yet to see anything incredibly frightening. So far it is just a little rain and lots of wind. Granted I don't live in a flood area....but when you come from hurricane country then it's hard to frighten you with what Arizonans think to be copious amounts of wind, rain and lightning.

6. People here don't care about sunsets. FOLKS YOU HAVE THE PRETTIEST SUNSETS EVAAAAR! I could shout this and still nobody cares. If people see you taking a picture of one of the sunsets here then they think you are strange. They totally take them for granted!

7. RUDE drivers. 'nuf said.

8. Static Electricity. For the love of all that is good in the world, if ANYONE knows how to stop myself from getting shocked by everything, let me know. And I don't mean just a little shock, I mean a "I can still feel it an hour later" shock. And brushing my hair sometimes is no easy feet when it wants to stand on end.

9. Dust. The dust here is CRAZY. I've given up on dusting my room because it all comes back a few minutes later. I've also given up on keeping our back patio clean from dust and dirt. It's impossible, it all comes back the next day.

10. Umbrellas. People here either 1) Don't own umbrellas or 2)Refuse to use them. Even if it's raining before they go out of the house, they just go for it, no rain boots or umbrella. I've even gotten strange looks from people when using an umbrella on a wet day.

11. People are scared of water. In the south they are afraid of snow, here they are afraid of water. Granted I know that the roads can get an oil slick on them, but people really freak out when it's raining and they will start driving about 5-10 miles under the speed limit. Kind of funny.

12. People don't know how to properly act in a bus. What I mean is, people here aren't used to public transportation. They will get on, and then they either will stand in the middle of the bus while others have to go around them, or they have to keep at least a 2 foot gap between them when they stand and another person. They are really afraid to get close to each other. When the bus driver tells people to move to the back of the bus so they can fit more on, people start acting confused and say things like "there's no more room!" Obviously they have never experienced NYC mass transit, where they pack 'em in like sardines and you are lucky if you have anything to hang on to, even if you have to keep a hand on the ceiling- or even another person- to stop yourself from falling over.

13. Grand displays of water. For being out in the desert, people here actually really like to 'show off' their water. There are fountains everywhere here as well as man made dams, ponds, lakes, etc. Sometimes when people water their yards, then they will fill it to the point of it being completely flooded, like a swamp. I never expected to see people watering their lawns this way here, but a friend of mine told me it's supposedly better for the environment somehow. I don't know. And of course many people here have their own private pool, which kind of leads me to #14.

14. The majority of people here don't like to swim. Okay, this one might confuse most people. But at quite a few religious functions I have been to that offered swimming, nobody got in the pool. People stood around the edges and talked in their bathing suits, while about 10% swam. I think it might be because most of the people who live here are from here, and so they've had access to swimming pools all their life and no longer care about them. Anyway, I'm doing more research on this one, so it is to be continued.

15. Tons of coffee shops. Apparently people here LOVE coffee.

16. "No right on red" traffic signs. I have no idea why they have these here but I will be honest and say half the time I never even look for them because I'm not used to seeing them and forget to look...so I'm sure I've broken the law quite a few times.