First Impressions

Two weeks in and here are our first impressions of the Maryland/DC metro area:

• Culturally diverse: It's fun to look at the congregation at church and see so many different nationalities represented. Also interesting to overhear conversations in the grocery store. I've heard Spanish, French, Chinese, different dialects of English, South African, etc.
• Traffic jams
• Fast-paced: So much so I get stressed out almost every time I go to the grocery store...if I pause to consider an item, I feel like I just inconvenienced 5 other shoppers.
• Slow traffic signals: I mean we're talking at least a 3 minute wait sometimes...to turn right! My friend Whitney who lives down the highway in Alexandria, VA put it this way "I can check my email at a red light and respond to it...and the light is still red."
• Pedestrians everywhere
• Jay-walkers...even with pedestrian crosswalks everywhere
• Touchy drivers: I may have already been honked at several times. I'm sure my Oklahoma tags help the situation.
• Confusing street signs: Streets seem to change name here quite frequently at intersections and streets tend to have 2 or 3 different names. Very confusing.
• Everything is green and there are trees everywhere. 
• Socioeconomic changes:  it seems in Maryland you can round the block and go from a run-down, poor area with strip malls and pedestrians everywhere to a very old, rich area with fine houses and manicured lawns.

All that said, we have really enjoyed our time here so far! We definitely still feel green to the area. I definitely feel like a fish out of water in public, and probably look like one, which begs the question: I wonder what these metropolitan folks think of us native Oklahomies? I think I'm fine with not knowing for the moment.