South Dakota!

I have officially been in South Dakota for one month and about 7 days. The people are friendly, everyone who finds out I'm from Massachusetts wants my life story (or more often to tell me their remotely-related to Massachusetts stories - these range from "I grew up in Massachusetts" to "oh I went to New England for a day once") and now that school has started I can officially say I am working in a great school system and have awesome students! Dotted amongst my fun times and friendly faces, are some moments that I can simply think of as "only in South Dakota" or at least "you know you're outside New England when...." * You see so many grasshoppers/locusts that you actually begin to wonder if we're reliving the Plagues of Egypt. * The busiest WalMart in the country is a few minutes from your house and you wouldn't dare shop there on the weekend. (I learned this one the hard way). * You see an adorable little kid in full cowboy garb in said WalMart and instead of thinking "oh cute, he's dressed up," you just think "they probably own a ranch." * Seeing people in cowboy gear in general is just not surprising. * Motorcycles are as plentiful as cars. * You order a "medium iced" in a coffee shop and they assume you mean tea. * Bars serve tequila with lemons instead of limes, and ask if you want an olive in your beer. * Students miss school for family hunting trips (I haven't gotten any pre-plans for this yet, but I know they're coming). I'm sure there are more! I'll update this post when I think of them!