New Englander's

Five years ago this month we moved to New Hampshire. Since then, we have learned a lot about this part of the country. To celebrate our 5 years here, we thought we would share 5 things that we have learned since we have been in New England.

1. We learned what a frost heave is. Before we moved here, Colin's company flew us out to look for housing one weekend. We were on our way to see the townhouse we eventually ended up renting for a couple years, and it was winter. There was a sign on the road to the townhouse that said "Frost Heaves". The road was covered with snow so we didn't see the big dip in the road up ahead. I looked at Colin and said "I wonder what a frost heave is?" I barely got the words out before we hit one. We looked at each other and said "that must be it."



2. People around here cheer for the Red Sox and whoever beats the Yankees! If you are at a game at Fenway, for your own safety, don't wear a Jeter shirt or mention the names Bill Buckner, Bucky Dent, or Aaron Boone. It also wouldn't hurt to learn the words to Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond.



3. New Englander's have a distinct accent. If there is an R at the end of a word, it becomes an "AH" sound at the end. For example, a drawer is pronounced "drah", car is "cah", chowder is "chowdah", and you "pahk your cah at havahd yahd" Don't worry, they don't just toss the R aside and leave it. They bring it back on words that it isn't suppose to be on. For example, idea is actually "idear". Just about anything that ends in an A, gets an R added to it. Who knew? :)

4. Wicked is a word that is used to describe something good. For example- "wicked awesome". A local restaurant has a sign outside that says it best,"wicked good food".

5. And finally, if you don't like the weather in New England, wait 5 minutes, it will change!

I'm not sure if we will ever truly be "New Englander's", but our time here has definitely been an adventure!