North Carolina vs. California

Okay, so I've been noting some "differences" between North Carolina and California and have found some things quite interesting. I won't bore you with the way they talk here or things of that nature. However some of the things that have made my list are pretty benign. They're just different, and I think it's interesting, so I'm blogging the differences.
1. There is NO dust here. None. I haven't dusted in forever, and I never see dust on anything. I must have dusted once a week in California, and it was still so dusty. All the time.
2. Here in NC, the grocery store has sticks of butter vs. cubes. I had maybe seen sticks (much longer and skinnier than cubes) in California, but not often. And I haven't seen cubes yet here. Life-changing, I know.
3. They don't sell refried beans at Sam's Club here. I guess we're just a bit too far from Mexico. I had a very hard time finding them at the grocery store too, but finally found them in the "foreign foods" section. Needless to say, there is no "Tresierras" Mercado here.
4. Street lights all "hang" on electric lines here. There are no posts, just yellow hanging street lights.
5. AAAAAHHHHHHHHH, there is no traffic. I didn't realize how much this would mean for me. It takes 7 minutes for Kurt to get home from work! Never more than 7 minutes. Some days in California, it would take him an hour or more. I don't miss that!
6. Granulated sugar is less granulated here. Seems the crystals are bigger. Strange observation, I know. Maybe I'm baking too many cookies. (see #2)
7. "You might could try this..." ??? We hear this phrase all the time. A mind bender. I actually said it once.
8. Restaurants have smoking sections. When you walk in, you are asked, "smoking, or non-smoking?" I haven't heard that in SO long.
9. Ever heard of a "rising 4th grader"? That's a phrase used here all the time. I heard it mostly in the summer of kids that were entering 4th grade (or whatever grade was next). Interesting.
10. EVERYTHING in Hickory is "5 minutes from there". Everyone lives 5 minutes from everyone else. If you ask how far it is, if it's in Hickory, it's 5 minutes. At least that's what they say.
11. People shop second-hand here. There's lots of second-hand stores- I mean lots. I've always loved second-hand stores, and now I'm in good company. And they're ALL just 5 minutes away from my house! :)
12. "Pocket-book" = purse. Got it.
13. Hickory has the strangest city street plan in the entire world. I'm convinced. It's so bad, that people don't even use street names (or numbers). It would only confuse people. No joke, when driving to McKinley's friends house, we drove past FOUR 10th Street Blvds, Drives, Places, etc before arriving at the correct 10th Street Avenue that we were to turn on. Here's how we give and receive directions. "Turn right at the Walgreens on 127, drive past where the old gas station was, and turn right. When you see the row of trees, turn left. Drive past the road construction and turn left again. It'll be on your right." HA! We live on 18th Street, but all of the other addresses here are "St Dr", or "St Ct" or "Ave Dr", and even some with THREE. "Avenue Boulevard Place". Even our fellow Hickorians don't approve. The nice thing is, once you live in Hickory for 6 months (because it's pretty small), you are pretty familiar with all of the important landmarks (except for the ones that don't exist anymore and people STILL use them to give directions!!) and navigating isn't too difficult (as long as you can see the sun or have a compass with you). HA! Our friends did give us directions using street numbers, but we got lost. It was tough when we had to turn off of 4th St Dr onto 4th St Pl.
Well, that wraps it up for now. We miss our friends in California, but love it here. Come visit us. Just take 24th Blvd until it turns into 10th St Dr. When it turns to 14th Blvd Ave and crosses 29th St Pl, stay on it until you see the neatly groomed row of trees. Turn right just before those. Turn right again at the entrance to the housing development, and when you hit the L in the road, turn left. Our house is second on the right.