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North Dakota
Aug. 16th, 2013 12:21 amMostly we are spending all day every day registering for school and work, buying a zillion appliances/shelves to make the place livable, and trying to find a place to put everything. (The Upack report said we weighed in at 6272 lbs.--the weight of all we own. That's a lot of books... Luckily a whole van load of them went up to the university today.) So we haven't gotten out and about (ote and abote, in local North Dakotese) much yet. But here are a few things I've noticed:
1. North Dakotans are quieter than other Americans. They are not super talky if you are doing some kind of transaction with them--they just do their job and leave you alone. But if you show them the slightest spark of interest, they are suddenly very warm and friendly and are talking with you like they're your neighbors. (Well, not OUR neighbors. We haven't actually seen them alive yet...)
2. Ethnic heritage is not a thing of the distant past here. More than once I've heard people speaking Norwegian in the store as if it was the most normal thing in the world. People look like they could burst out singing in Icelandic or Norwegian at any time--except when they look very Lakota Indian. (I think I heard someone speaking Lakota or Ojibwe or something like that in Walmart the other day, actually.) Supposedly there are a lot of ethnic Germans by way of Russia here, too. Also Hutterites (er, sort of like Amish, I think, and they also speak a dialect of German). Also a fair amount of Muslim Africans. All of which are completely normal anywhere else, but none of those people show up with any frequency in SE Idaho. I haven't seen as many hispanics, and it occurs to me that I've run into very, very few Asians. But there is something about this place that draws the Scandinavians in huge numbers. I wonder what it is.
3. Er...Canada? Canada is a real place here. As in, Walmart flies the Canadian flag in the store (along with the US and ND, of course). The license plates around town are evenly split between ND, MN (just over the river; it's really one town), and Manitoba. The library stocks Canadian authors pretty heavily. We definitely need to get our passports taken care of soon so we can go experience Canada for ourselves.
4. Hockey. Hockey is not even on the radar in any place I've lived. However, it's the first thing anyone asks you about when you show up. And they get all starry-eyed just thinking about the many places to watch/play hockey here... I haven't seen too many basketball hoops in driveways, but there is an actual hockey rink in someone's yard not far from here. !!
And that's all I have now. But now that we have a fierce dehumidifier battling the elements downstairs, and curtains on the windows upstairs, and a bunk bed arriving tomorrow to help organize the boys' room, we might get a chance to see more.
1. North Dakotans are quieter than other Americans. They are not super talky if you are doing some kind of transaction with them--they just do their job and leave you alone. But if you show them the slightest spark of interest, they are suddenly very warm and friendly and are talking with you like they're your neighbors. (Well, not OUR neighbors. We haven't actually seen them alive yet...)
2. Ethnic heritage is not a thing of the distant past here. More than once I've heard people speaking Norwegian in the store as if it was the most normal thing in the world. People look like they could burst out singing in Icelandic or Norwegian at any time--except when they look very Lakota Indian. (I think I heard someone speaking Lakota or Ojibwe or something like that in Walmart the other day, actually.) Supposedly there are a lot of ethnic Germans by way of Russia here, too. Also Hutterites (er, sort of like Amish, I think, and they also speak a dialect of German). Also a fair amount of Muslim Africans. All of which are completely normal anywhere else, but none of those people show up with any frequency in SE Idaho. I haven't seen as many hispanics, and it occurs to me that I've run into very, very few Asians. But there is something about this place that draws the Scandinavians in huge numbers. I wonder what it is.
3. Er...Canada? Canada is a real place here. As in, Walmart flies the Canadian flag in the store (along with the US and ND, of course). The license plates around town are evenly split between ND, MN (just over the river; it's really one town), and Manitoba. The library stocks Canadian authors pretty heavily. We definitely need to get our passports taken care of soon so we can go experience Canada for ourselves.
4. Hockey. Hockey is not even on the radar in any place I've lived. However, it's the first thing anyone asks you about when you show up. And they get all starry-eyed just thinking about the many places to watch/play hockey here... I haven't seen too many basketball hoops in driveways, but there is an actual hockey rink in someone's yard not far from here. !!
And that's all I have now. But now that we have a fierce dehumidifier battling the elements downstairs, and curtains on the windows upstairs, and a bunk bed arriving tomorrow to help organize the boys' room, we might get a chance to see more.
