As a Bostonette.


So I have been here almost four months, yup, quite officially, I have a Mass driving license and all. And yes people refer to Massachusetts as Mass, and for the record it is not a state, it is a commonwealth, what does that mean? I am not 100% positive, but it does sound quite noble and in a way almost altruistic, like we will all be taking care of our wealth here and sharing it and all...
I know, I probably should have googled it before mentioning it... but without any further do, here are some things I have noticed about the reality in this new common wealth of our being.





1// to stay on the motor vehicle related topic, what is up with turning left here? like seriously people of Massachusetts what the heck are you thinking, like you don't abruptly go first and honk at someone who actually follows the righteous order of the right of way, people turning left all over the world yield to the incoming traffic, like everywhere, but apparently not here. Where is police on that? Who do they ticket when accidents happen? I need the city data on this..



2// we have two cars now, because in order to get anywhere we need one, meaning we need two ;) Both vehicles are registered with different license plates. One that we had back in Chicago has an Illinois plate, the other Idaho's. We haven't updated the plates, yet, shhhhhss don't tell anyone. Funny enough, I am being honked a lot less when driving the Illinois vehicle than the Idaho's one. Someone should write a PhD thesis on assumptions based on license plates and state stereotypes and peoples' behavior and road rage based on all of that.  



3// there is no Starbucks, yup, all you hipsters out there, I don't know what you do, but Starbucks are as hard to come by, almost as hard as sun during a Chicago winter. pretty damn sparse. Not that I am a huge fan but it is just such a difference in the coffee drinking landscape. Dunkin Donuts rules everything, everywhere, people seem to love it and I see more DD cups everywhere than anything else really. But after all, Boston suburbs are the world headquarters of the joint. They roll out their new products and flavors in one specific location near my house, I need to learn to appreciate the little things like this I guess.
4// people have warned me before coming out East about the rudeness and the distance and the telling as it is. While I really truly don't mind the latter, I have not really noticed the fist two. In fact, just the opposite. People here are pretty nice... Everyone always talks about the Midwest hospitality, and that I will miss it out here. I say that was a bunch of bologney, people are nice and not nice probably everywhere and so are they here too. I have actually met a lot of very nice people, everyone smiles at me and tries to help me seeing me with a bronco of a toddler, carrying an obnoxiously heavy car seat with a sleepy/hungry 20lbs baby. A lot of times in Chicago I felt I was in peoples' way, "move over and don't make a peep, nobody cares", here it is different, people seem like they have more time and actually make eye contact and see you, look at you as a person. I mean.. granted I was not downtown Boston during rush hours trying to pull off all my mommyhoodness on people in a rush to get to work/home, but everywhere else it is really quite pleasant and people are pretty friendly.



5// the talking! i love how people sound here, such a treat, all that different talking! especially for a linguist who pays attention to all these quirks in pronunciation.. Like the absence of the letter -r-, I have read that this is something people held onto since the early 1900s! so for over a century people are saying here a /khad/ instead of a /card/!! pretty much if you want to sound bostonian you just use -ah intead of your -r, more or less...  and for the record wicked means awesome, so you need to use that a lot too. All this aside, Louis CK, a very wise man, look him up, once said that Boston accent is not an accent but a whole city pronouncing things the wrong way. Because really, how is Worcester pronounced Wu-ster and Dorchester is pronounced just Dorchester, that I don't know. I still have to practice the name of the suburb I live in, so people understand me, cause what I thought it should be pronounced as to them sounds pretty wrong, and I mean so wrong that they don't even understand what I am saying nor try to guess it!?  I am however thrilled to report that I hear people say Suppah! (supper! not dinner :) and yes Lickah (for liquor), Beeh (beer), Ba Ba (he cuts your hair), and yes Foddy Dollus would be forty dollars.
also this is pretty accurate: http://www.buzzfeed.com

Ask me what do I miss about Chicago though... not the weather for sure, the weather here has been still waaaay nicer. But I do miss the skyline, Boston's skyline has a lot to learn from it. I miss the vibrancy and the monumentality, the overwhelming presence of the city, its breath on your neck, its grandness, trains. gosh i miss the trains! Boston is pretty but a bit too cozy for my liking. I miss being a part of this huge rush, I miss the El and knowing every line and its quirks, knowing the stop names and what neighborhood they take me to, I miss feeling like I know where I am and what I am doing.



But I am happy that I am here, overall, I see a lot of good that came out of this move. I do miss Chicago but I also know that I idealize it and idealize the past... maybe because I am scared that if I don't think of it fondly, I will loose it, I need to stay faithful to it to remember it, not sure exactly where all these feelings come from, but there is more peace in it all, I made my peace with being here and I am starting to look forward to making memorable past while enjoying the future, if that makes sense.


THE END

  
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3 comments

  1. This is a true definition of a happy family, I am hoping that is also true behind closed doors. That baby is cute, the mom is beautiful and the guy is so surppoting, we missed you a lot.

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