reverse culture shock

For the past few months, I've been thinking about whether I'll experience a reverse culture shock when I return to the Midwest. I wonder which aspects of Southern California were surprising to me at first but then eventually became commonplace and something I don't even think about anymore (like how people bring their dogs everywhere here, even into stores). 

One of the first things that comes to mind is open air shopping malls.   

Open air shopping malls fascinated me when I first came to California. This would never work in Minnesota, I thought. 

Above is the Irvine Spectrum, and below is Fashion Island. That's Drew sitting next to the fountain.

I was also fascinated with restaurants that had only outdoor seating. During the first few years of graduate school, I frequented Taco Mesa for Taco Tuesdays and it took me a while to get used to the fact that my friends and I could eat outside year round. One of my fondest memories is dining at Taco Rosa with a group of about 20 people, during my first year. We couldn't all fit inside, so we sat outside. I think it was the end of October, maybe the beginning of November. We were all transplants, so we thought the weather was beautiful, and in hindsight, we probably looked a little strange (remember that Californians consider temperatures below 60 degrees to be "cold").  

Not all of my observations are weather-related. Last weekend, at Fashion Island, I commented to Drew that we will soon live in a place where Macy's will be the nicest department store in the mall. Here, compared to Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, Macy's is on the "lower" end, at least at the malls closest to where we live. Some of my other observations are also class-related. I drive down the freeway amidst very fancy and expensive cars. I take yoga classes with people who wear nothing but Lululemon. I had a friend who pointed out that there are few places like Orange County, where the contrast between the rich and the poor is so stark, and I'm inclined to agree.  

Another thing I noticed right away when I moved here is that you can buy alcohol in Target. You can also buy alcohol on Sundays (I didn't figure this one out myself; somebody told me). I've never done either one of those things, but I like having the option. That's Drew there in Target, checking out the whiskey.   

    

I've also been thinking about what sorts of adjustments I'll make to fit in again in the Midwest. I'll have to stop saying "the" before the name of a freeway. I will be able to say "pop" again instead of "soda." Some of the less trivial changes I think I'll need to make when I live in Wisconsin are 1) be nice and 2) don't drive like a maniac. Whenever I go home, I always have to remind myself to be nice. I have to remind myself to excuse myself and apologize if I bump into somebody but even if I just almost bump into somebody. I also have to remind myself to drive less aggressively and avoid barreling through four-way stops and cutting people off on the freeway. I have to remind myself to drive Minnesota nice and not California cutthroat.

on traffic

I always knew that my time in California would be temporary. Given the nature of graduate school and academia, I knew better than to get attached to Southern California. And in many respects, this was not difficult. In a previous post, I talked about how much I missed winter and a lack of seasons. By my standards, the past 8 years have been a perpetual summer. 

I won't miss the insanely high cost of living. Last weekend, I met up with a friend, and among other things, told him to guess how much we're going to pay to rent a one bedroom apartment in Green Bay. He guessed $1500. I told him to guess lower. He dropped down to $1200 and just about fell out of his chair when I told him $495. 

Perhaps most of all, I won't miss the traffic. Prior to moving to California, one of my friends (her grandma lived in Gardena so she was familiar with the area), told me that traffic would be one of the most surprising aspects of Southern California. She said that no matter the time of day, I'd be shocked at how many people were out on the road. She was absolutely right.The first time I drove here was when I rented a car for my recruitment visit. I drove from Los Angeles to Irvine at one in the morning and when I wasn't busy being scared to death of getting into a car accident, I thought to myself "Where are all these people going? Why are there all these cars on the road?" I think I saw more traffic at 1 in the morning than I ever had in Minnesota (and did I mention that it was a 12-lane freeway? That's a lot of cars).   

Just as winter is to Minnesotans (and I'm guessing Wisconsinites), traffic is to Californians. It's just a way of life and you have to accept it. There are rush hours of course, but you can also encounter stop-and-go traffic at any hour of any day. Los Angeles is 40 miles from Irvine, but sometimes it is 45 minutes away and sometimes it is 3 hours away.    

A few years ago, my dad complained about traffic in Rochester. I laughed at him and told him to stop complaining. You have no idea, Dad, no idea. Then he and my mom came out to visit, and when coming back from visiting relatives in Oceanside, we got stuck on the 5. Oceanside is about 50 miles away, but I think the trip that night took about 3 hours. Of course, I wasn't at all shocked by this, but my dad turned to me and said "huh, I get what you mean now. The traffic in Rochester is nothing compared to this." I refrained from saying "I told you so, Dad." 

As is our routine, Drew drove us back from Oceanside a couple weekends ago, and I was in the passenger seat (I do most of the driving, but on any trip over 30 miles, I drive there and he drives back). As expected, we hit traffic on the way home and the 5 became a parking lot. I laughed it off and took some pictures, knowing that it wouldn't be long until it would no longer be a way of life.  

pumpkin pie bars

The other day, I made pumpkin pie bars, also known as The Last Thing I Will Ever Bake in California. 

We are slowly cleaning out our cupboards, and I found a can of pumpkin that I intended to use last fall. But then the job market happened, so I put these pumpkin pie bars on hold. But then the dissertation happened. And then packing happened. But in spite of it all, the pumpkin pie bars finally happened. 

The recipe is from Joy the Baker. The crust is excellent and could be eaten on its own (I think that's the only reason Drew tolerated the pumpkin part). Next time, I'm going to use Joy's crust recipe and try out the filling recipe from Food and Wine (which is probably what I had intended to do last fall judging by the can of evaporated milk in the cupboard). And the best thing about the next time is that I will enjoy these bars as pumpkin was intended to be enjoyed: in cool, crisp fall weather.