Some of the Ups and Downs of East Coast Living

Making the move from the west coast from Washington state to the east coast New York State was not a hard decision for me, my husband's family was there and it's where he wanted to live I wanted to live anywhere my husband wanted to be so it was quite simple, I'm moving and I did.

Well I had heard from many people that I would experience culture shock, the people are different I was told, the food is different etc... I though "hog wash" I have been all over the west coast, growing up in California the people were slightly different than they were when I moved to Oregon and were slightly different from those in Washington. When I say slightly I mean, in California maybe more people were tanned and dressed with the though of having a lot fun in mind. The ones in Oregon and Washington seemed slightly more relaxed, but all in all there was no real change from state to state in the west coast. I had been to Germany spent almost four months there and had never had a moment of culture shock, such friendly people they were and the coffee was to die for. So I figured with some knowledge of small differences existing between places I would fit in with these New Yorkers just fine, boy was I ever so wrong.

I will start off with the food; the pizza is wonderful wow I now understand why people would complain about not being able to get a real slice of pizza, so yummy. There is a huge variety in restaurants rather than a just a choice between a few there is so many it's almost overwhelming. Three things bug me here though food wise, I can not get a real donut been looking but they don't exist here, at least no where I am. Sure there is Dunkin Donuts, but they bring their stuff in off a truck it's never fresh, just appalling. Also there are no Hong Kong Garden restaurants, the one place that I could get the best egg rolls, or spring rolls as some call them; they were so greasy and fat and oh so yummy, their Chinese restaurants don't even compare at least as far as egg rolls go. Also I miss the coffee shops, the stands on the side of like every single road that exists in Washington, the friendly girls behind the counter ready to make the best espresso shakes, oh god, they don't have espresso shakes here, no where can I get one; and no Starbucks frappuccino's do not count there is no ice cream in them, very boring in fact.

The scenery is ok, depends on where you are. I see plain old tiny boring trees that look as if they are going to die at any minute. There are no nice big evergreens no tulip fields either. What the heck is up with that? I hated the sight of tulips they were everywhere I went in Washington, but now they are nowhere except maybe the florists. Lots of nice old buildings and churches in New York they are nice to look at, but nothing more. When it rains here, it stinks there is no fresh after rain smell it's just the smell of wet pavement, very gross.

Having spent over ten years in Washington I got used to the fact that everywhere you went people smiled and said "hi how are you" in fact it was odd if someone did not say hi back, but you just smiled to yourself and thought bad days suck for us all. So I came to New York with not the most friendly attitude, I've never been a flower loving peace monger, but ultimately I was friendly. My motto has always been treat others as they treat me, if they were friendly I was as well, if they were not then I was a super bitch, but it hardly ever came to that. So once here I realized that most of New Yorkers would never say hi back when I would say it, in fact they acknowledged I said it and looked me straight in the face afterwards before walking right on by. The first few times I though to myself "what the hell" that was very rude. But for over a year and a half I kept my belief that common courtesy exists everywhere and people will get friendly back soon enough never has happened. There is no common courtesy given in the grocery stores. The workers act like robots, most never say hi, and when they do they usually do not even look up at you. There is no offered service of help at all. I used to work in a grocery store and was very appalled at such behavior, but now I don't even notice. After over three years I don't even bother saying hi to strangers if they say hi to me I in fact look at them as if they had lost their mind. I have become unfriendly and simply uncaring of any common courtesy's that I once would have displayed with such enthusiasm. I have become the cynical New Yorker, serious and uncaring, oh well.

I guess there are some good points I can give New Yorkers. They dress for success that's for sure. They have something to do they do it. The first time I turned on the news I was surprised at the news casters I saw, most were very pretty very made up and they were dressed well. Not the usual hair up do of the news casters I was used to, gaudy make up and old fashioned looking clothes. No New York definitely knows their fashion well.

So my point is, well it's if you are going to move from either coast to the other understand that people are
different. Things will not be the same anywhere. For some New York is magical and others simply could not give up their simply way of life on the west coast. Know yourself and what you are capable of doing. I suggest a long stay in either side before you decide to fully pick up and move all your things.