People talk slower. When I get asked to repeat myself, I'm not quite sure if it's because of my accent or my speed.
I remember a phone call while working at Sylvan in California. A man called from out of state on behalf of his grandson. He commented on my secretary speaking too fast and asked me no less than 4 times to please slow down!
The clouds in Mississippi move fast! The weather changes faster.
Now, the clouds in California might move fast, but typically people don't pay attention. In my experience, they just move lazily across the sky.
In Mississippi, where there are possibly tornadoes, you pay attention to the sky.
This may not be culture shock for some. We have lived in apartments and not had backyard space. We feel extremely blessed now.
My boys can play outside without a fence. I'm not worried about them running into the street. I'm worried about bee stings and mud puddles! Its a nice change.
I am pretty sure I am the only one in Mississippi that doesn't own a single piece of camouflage clothing.
And I don't plan to remedy that anytime soon.
I've been asked over and over if I have been experiencing culture shock. Moving from California to Mississippi has definitely been an adventure. Before we moved people said that it would be different. We asked how. " It will be different," was the answer.
I decided to chronicle my " shocks," as it were, in a blog series. Some people will relate. Some people will think it's silly. Some people will think that I'm the weird one.
I'll start with a simple one. One that took me awhile to figure out, though. For those of you in California, this might come as a surprise:
The outlets are upside down ... in California!
