Dollar stores

They are EVERY where here in Los Angeles. They're about as common as liquor stores and laundry mats. But seriously I started keeping track of the different names.

1. 89¢
2. 98¢
3. 99¢
4. 1 Dollar Mas o Menos

It's madness I tell you, MADNESS!!!!!

Groceries

There aren't many people buying groceries from grocery stores in LA and the stores are few and far between. It's so bad that if you spend $25 at a local Ralph's the store will give you a free ride home. How crazy is that? I really need to go shopping....

Read an article about grocery store shuttles here!

Restaurant Grades

We noticed that all the restaurants have to post their Health rating in their front windows. We also noticed that most of our restaurants rate a B. The food is really pretty good so we don't think too much about it. That is until a cockroach the size of a mouse runs across your feet. Then you scream and tuck your feet in under your legs and put your bags on your lap. One of my co-workers "Con" actually thought it was a small bird on the floor. She didn't know it was a roach until we talked about it again days later. Thank God none of our restaurants are a C. Who knows what runs around in there!

The best way to hide that your restaurant is shady:

Ghetto

I was at a local restaurant a few nights ago and went in to the women's restroom. As I looked at it I thought about how "ghetto" the bathroom was. The seat enamel was worn off, the mirror was Plexiglas and sitting on a chair, and the sink was in bad shape as well.

I had to laugh at myself when I realized that the bathroom WAS ghetto! I was in the middle of LA!

Carts

Ok I'm still stuck on the laundry from the other day. I noticed that most people brought their clothes to the laundry mat in a folding cart. In the past the only people I've seen with these carts are the elderly. I don't really understand where someone buys one of these carts; I've never seen any on sale before.

This is what I'm talking about.

Laundry

I went out with my roommate today to do some laundry at the laundry mat. We unfortunately do not have a washer or dryer here so we have to walk about a mile to get clean clothes. What surprised me was that all the machines were HUGE. There were 3-load, 6-load and 8-load machines! Who has that much laundry? And even more, who has that much separated laundry? 8 LOADS!!!

Stereotype

I went to a "hoedown" yesterday. It was a party for a friend of mine who just turned 20. When I saw her on Thursday she singled me out to ask about square dancing. I know nothing about square dancing except that you have to have a partner and you stand in a square. I was not particularly bothered by this. When I went to the party EVERYONE was "dressed up" in what they though was cowboy/cowgirl/country clothing. That didn't bother me much either; what did bother me was that everyone expected me to be dressed up too. In the last, well as long as I can remember I have only owned one "cowgirl" shirt and never cowboy boots. I thought I got away from all that when I moved to Cali. I was quite mistaken. Another thing that really bothered me was that everyone was trying to speak with a country/hick accent. And while they were way, way off and I tried really hard, I could hear myself slip back into a true hick accent. This bothers me so much because I had to be very careful while I was in college to not have any hint of an accent other wise people would not listen to me. I felt like these people at this party were making fun of where I came from, making fun of me, without even knowing it. I'm glad the party was a lot more like a costume party than a barn dance because I don't think I could have taken watching people pretend to do things that they think I have actually done just because I came from a rural area.