California Observations
Weather
I’ve been in the Bay Area for 33 days so far, and i don’t think it’s rained once yet. Although I did play bicycle polo in Golden Gate Park as the fog set in, which was almost like rain, except it wasn’t coming from the sky. September was about as sunny and pleasant as any place I’ve ever lived. Somehow, the climate seemed to know that the month was over, and now there’s a thick cloud blanket over the whole state. At least the part that I can see.
BART
It took me about two weeks to figure out a social norm around boarding BART (one of several non-integrated rail transit systems here). People were always lining up in certain places when there was no train. I hadn’t really paid attention and just walked up to the door and entered. I only recently realized that there are black spots painted on the platform every 15 feet or so to indicate where the doors will be when the train stops, and I was essentially cutting in line every day, probably pissing people off. People were too nice to say anything, though, and I finally figured it out. I’ve talked with some other folks who said they had similar experiences when first moving to the area.
Two Buck Chuck
Trader Joe’s Two Buck Chuck is all the rage here. Being able to buy drinkable wine for $2 is a privilege I thought was reserved for the French. Although many myths abound about how Trader Joe’s can sell the wine so cheaply (including the apocryphal story that American Airlines could no longer carry corkscrews on flights so they had to dump their whole collection), apparently it’s just a matter of oversupply. It also appears that California is the one state where the “Two Buck Chuck” really is Two Bucks. It’s practically an institution here; I had never heard of it back east.
So those are some of my naive East Coast first impressions. You are now prepared for your first trip to California.