4 Years In TX=Ain't So Bad

So exactly 4 years ago I moved from NY to Dallas and thought I couldn't make it.  (I was kicking and screaming and begging to go back to NY) Me: a Queens girl, a New Yorker, a Korean-American in the South where things couldn't be any different. Honestly, there's just too many variables for me to list because if I moved from some place like Indiana or North Dakota, Dallas is probably the shiz. But coming from NY it's a whole other story.

But here's just a few things I've learned over 4 years....

1. You start acting more and more like a twinkie. Maybe it's b/c my husband is white or maybe it's b/c I just have more white friends but seriously you start to adapt their ways or mannerism. You start acting polite, cursing less, not be so nosy like Asians do (eg: What kind of job do you have? How much do you make? How much was this house?), watching sitcoms like Glee or Mad Men, having a pet, speaking your language less, and finally just going with the flow rather than worrying and obsessing about what other people think.

2. It is unbelievably cheap here. I'm talking about everything from rent to Starbucks to Toll Tag (yeah, NY's EZ Pass is $4 bucks on the toll to Manhattan), to everything else in between. Because it's so cheap here people can afford to live alone or with one roommate in a fairly decent, clean, not-too- old apartment and call it home. People can save up money and go on REAL vacations. (I don't mean just staying in TX, I mean really getting out there and hopping on a plane). People can afford to have kids, even 2 or 3 and provide for them. So in other words a lot of people could really have all that cable, tivo, vacation, going out to eat, kids, etc and be happy because they can afford to have it all.

3. You will sooner or later accept suburban life style. That means driving in your car, driving on wide roads, not having to worry about parallel parking, silence at night when you need to sleep, no one acting real crazy in public (the level of "crazy" here on weekends is nothing compare to NY), central heat and air EVERYWHERE, and of course not having to deal with all that pressure to be cool, hip, skinny, well-traveled, having a rich palate, and beating everyone at everything b/c down here in the South people are really relaxed.

Now, I'm not saying I've become a Texan (I'm a New Yorker for LIFE!) but it ain't so bad. I'll always be that short-tempered, potty mouth, fun loving Asian Queens thug, but Dallas is turning out to be quite a good catch.