I came to New Jersey last week for work and expected it to be part of the same country that I grew up in, but quickly found out that I was on a different planet. Some reasons why I wasn't in Seattle anymore Toto:


1. Everyone speaks loudly and in a nasally voice. I was totally amazed by my ability to eat my words and not say to the lady at the rental car counter, "You're joking right? You don't actually talk like that".

2. No one wears Goretex. I feel like a total freak everywhere I go, because I am the only one wearing a Goretex jacket. I knew that I should have bought a jacket with a fur lined hood in Romania.

3. I am the only blond, literally. Before I went to Romania I didn't really believe that you could have pale skin and dark hair, but apparently it is all the rage on the east coast.

4. They have townships. It has taken me a week to figure out that a township is the unincorporated area for a town. There is a sign for a new township every ten feet.

5. There was a fur coat commercial on the radio. I wanted to call those people and let them know that PETA is going to eat them alive. Although that wasn't as shocking as the lady that I saw wearing a full length fur coat in New York.


I am sure that there have been other things that have surprised me, but those were my first impressions of New Jersey, the final frontier.