Texas is Not the Midwest

I've been here a whole three weeks now, and one thing is for sure - Texas is nothing like Chicago, or Iowa, where I grew up.  Besides the very obvious "at least twenty five degrees warmer" aspect, I have noticed other things that throw me off every day.

In the spirit of documenting this journey, and because I like lists, I present the nuances of Texas (from a non-Texan point of view):

|| When you are able to turn left, yielding to oncoming traffic, people here don't put themselves into the intersection, waiting for a clear turn.  Nope - they wait behind the pedestrian line and wait.  It leaves you less room to turn and revs up my road rage!

|| In Chicago, there is a McDonald's on just about every corner.  #notkidding.  Here?  Donut shops.

|| There are no on ramps to the tollways.  Instead, there are highways that run perpendicular to said tollways.  You have to turn on those, go a few feet/miles, then merge on to the tollway.

|| There is also always a turn around section on above mentioned highways.  It's basically like a U-turn, but you have your own lane and don't need to yield to any oncoming traffic.

|| There is two year old preschool.  In Chicago, it starts at three, and even then is optional.  Some kids don't go to school until Kindergarten (which is also optional in the state of Illinois), but here it seems like everyone goes to two year old preschool.  And I'm not going to lie, I love having Tuesdays and Thursdays to myself.

|| Every mother wears Kendra Scott earrings and carries a Louis Vuitton bag.  Slight exaggeration, but still.

|| There are more CVS than Walgreens.  Quite the opposite in Chicago, but probably because Wags is headquartered there.

|| I have seen multiple restaurant dedicated solely to wings.  #notcomplaining

|| No basements.  So weird.

Even with all of these new things to get used to, I am still so grateful to have this opportunity.  Even if my driving and eating skills have had to develop a bit, we are settling well in to our new Texan lives.

Have you moved to a new-to-you region?  What sort of things threw you off?  Please share - this is fascinating to me!

~Linking up with Emily for Grateful Heart Monday.