Wal-Mart.....its funny how low my standards have dropped since moving to Utah (that sounds so wrong doesn't it? Oh well). I didn't grow up here, I grew up in the evergreen state (Washington to you non-evergreeners). After we'd been married for a few years we moved here to Utah. I had some preconceived notions about what it would be like here. Like: it would be lovely and happy and we'd all hold hands and skip around singing hymns and giving service. Not that its not lovely and happy, but people aren't as friendly as I had thought they would be. The first time I went to Wal-Mart I grinned stupidly at every person I passed, because 'Hey, I'm Mormon. We're in Utah, you MUST be Mormon too! YAaaaaaAAY!' I was dumb that way. After a couple people giving me very confused looks I stopped grinning at everyone, and realized 'Hey, this is a grocery store, they just want to get their food and leave. And so do I.' So I got over it.
Other things about Utah are fantastic though! Like the billboards! Oh yes, the billboards. They're all about "Temple Square" or "Missionary Mall" or "Knee Shorts: Modesty!", its great! I really didn't notice it until we visited my sister in Vegas, where all the billboards are ">< >< ><" (did you get that? It's code...) or "Thunder from Down Under" or "$2.99 Buffet at Caesar's Palace!" And I was like 'Oh dear, we ain't in Kansas (I mean Utah) anymore!!'
There are downsides to Utah though too. Like the lack of....ummm.....different cultures? Let me explain. About six months after we first moved here, we went back to Washington for Christmas. And the very first thing I noticed after we got off the plane was black people*! I'd grown up around lots of different races and never distinguished, but all of a sudden I realized that down in Utah I just hadn't seen very many other colors than white. :) (*I'm really not trying to be offensive, more funny than anything really, but it's what I noticed and I'm just being honest!)
Something else I hadn't anticipated about Utah (not that it isn't obvious, I just never thought of it), they have to make up callings because they have so many active members! In Washington, we struggled to fill callings; here, they have a calling for handing out the hymn books in Relief Society! Its AWESOME!
So, back to Wal-Mart. In Washington, you did NOT shop at Wally World unless you looked like this:
But here in Utah, Wal-Mart is the shiz! So I've conformed to the trend because....well, because its cheap and I'd rather spend money on clothes and Arby's.
Utah is it's own country. I grew up in California and when my sister got married and her hubby went to school there and THEN when she came home for a visit, the thing that totally freaked her out was that not everyone had an Osmond smile with tons of gleaming white teeth. Oh, and all the girls weren't blonde. When I was thirty, I moved from Nor Cal to San Diego (that's in Southern California, also it's own country). I got so used to seeing ads in the paper and everywhere else for lipsuction and other body altering procedures that after one month there, when I went home for a visit, I thought the sign at KFC advertising "legs and thighs" was a lipo ad. Oh, and I also went from brunette to blond whilst in San Diego. They don't do brunette down there. We are back in Nor Cal and as you can see, I am brunette again. :)
ReplyDeleteIt really is funny the quirks of ANY place you live! My sister really noticed the blonde thing here too, but I still have dark hair so I haven't let it get to me! haha I lived in Long Beach when I was younger, so I get what you mean by it being its own country! There was a lady at work from San Francisco who thought I was CRAZY for having my third baby, because NO ONE has more than two kids! haha
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