Don't Cha Know...

I seriously can't get over how these people talk. I actually am starting to feel like I'm drawing out my "o" sounds because I have been spending so much time around here.

But I need to keep writing or I'll forget some of the stuff that has happened on my trip.

When I got on the plane in Denver to head to Bismarck, there was a group of people who were travelling to ND for some type of work conference. Apparently it has been here before, but one of the ladies on the trip had never been. So the guy sitting next to her said, "Prepare to take a step back in time." And these people were from Idaho, so I deduced that it was going to be bad! And nothing has summed up this comment like the following picture.



These signs are everywhere! I actually said to a couple of the people that I'm travelling with, "I haven't seen one of those signs since 1982." And they didn't even blink an eye. North Dakota LOVES the giant fluorescent letters on the black sign.

And speaking of salons - the women love the short hairstyles here. I would think that more hair would keep you warm, but everyone has their hair very short.

And the other day, the exec for the NDSA was wearing Rockies. I almost cried for her!

On one of our trips, we got directions from one of the other staff members and he said, "You'll go through town and then start seeing signs." So as we come up on a grain elevator, the girls say, "this must be it." I looked at them and asked, "what distinguishes this as a town? As opposed to the guy a couple miles back that has a lot of grain bins?" And for that matter - why is there a country club in a "town" with only a grain elevator? And how exclusive could membership to a country club be if only twelve people live there? And how bad would you feel if they denied your membership?

In other news, we went into some small town podunk bar the other night and there was a woman (who was clearly a regular) walking around with no shoes on. I tried to take her picture for a punch in the face, but she wouldn't stand still and I only had my camera phone.

I have discovered that they do have West Nile Virus here, so I am starting to get a little concerned by the large number of bites that I have all over my body. Only time will tell...

On The Plains of North Dakota...

I'll just give you a few highlights of my trip so far:

I have literally been eaten alive by mosquitoes. Can they bite through clothes or are there just really perverted bugs here that are flying up my pant legs? I really hope they don't have West Nile Virus!

As my body is still two hours earlier than local time, I tried to sleep in on Tuesday morning after a 16 hour day. Apparently this was not in the cards. The fire alarm at the hotel went off at 7:30 am. But there was no fire and no one evacuated. I felt like I was in Coronado dorm again.

The people here talk funny. Like hilariously funny. They just add random words to the ends of their sentences. Words like, not, anyway, yet, hey. It is the strangest thing I've ever heard. I actually started to think about it last night - and was wondering how they teach language arts here. Do they learn proper English and then just disregard it? Or do they actually teach them to add random words to sentences?

I think that just about covers it. I have four more days of meetings though so I'm really hoping for some more stories!