DC/NY Culture Clash (from rain gear to walking speeds)

DC folk love their rain gear. I can see that because I'm not a DC native and non-natives can see things natives miss about themselves. Yesterday was a misty day, not a rainy day, JUST misty. I walk out of my apartment to go to work with my coffee in hard and see all these umbrellas up, I cautiously walk out into the open space (for I DON'T see rain) and what do I feel? Mist! MIST!!! But by looking at the people bustling around in umbrellas you'd think we had some major rain storm, plus some flooding to boot. Each woman I see has these tall, tall galoshes. I always hated these anyway because I have too much calves and being 5'2" they make me look 4'5". All I see on this misty morning are galoshes, galoshes, galoshes. I see flowers, polka dots, lines, argyle, etc. OH! and of course everyone has an umbrella; not a regular umbrella. No, an umbrella that folds up into a 'pill' (like in the Jetsons), so that it fits in their perfectly tetris-ed briefcase when it dries. Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit.....but most of it IS true.

Similarly, being a native New Yorker I would have never known what we, new Yorkers, are like had it not been for the fact that I went to college in Massachusetts and people there told me what New Yorkers are like. I had no idea I was a fast walker until in college a friend protested I kept rushing her. Even today, with years living in DC people still comment about the speed of my gait. From another 'trusty' source in Massachusetts I discovered New Yorkers are brash. I had no idea that applied to me until a coworker years later told me she kept thinking I was mad at her when I answered, "what!" every time she called my name. Apparently I am supposed to say, "YES". DC folk need to hear "YES". So now, I curb my "what" to "YES" so as to not hurt feelings. Every once in a while I still hurt feelings.

From watching the DC Housewives show I learn that DC folk are conservative in their way of dressing and being. I see that daily working as a teacher in a school. At my last job as an art teacher in New York City for 4 years, each art teacher, regardless of age, stood WAY out in the way they dressed; one was funky, another jazzy, another punky, another grungy, another international, another organic, and the list goes on. In DC, things are visibly more subtle; by subtle I mean everyone looks like they walked out of a catalogue. I know half my wardrobe would shock some of my kids' parents and alienate the rest. Every so often I find myself wishing for some more daring views. I see perfectly coordinated trousers with catalogue shirt tops, and perfectly stored trench coats with all their buttons still on, and LOTS, lots of sensible shoes.

I find myself wishing for something over the top, anything over the top....color, a vintage jacket, shoes that yell, jewelry that are not worth anything but say quite a bit, a safety pin showing. A new DO.....

Maybe today is the day I will see it.....In the meantime I wearing my handmade earring today....