A different kind of culture shock

There are some big cultural differences I've noticed between here and home. Like, there are African-Americans everywhere, but almost no Hispanics. I went on Wikipedia out of curiousity, and it said that the city is 52.9% white, 42.9% black or African-American, and 1.2% Hispanic or Latino. I've heard almost no Spanish, but there's quite a lot of German influence in restaurants and names of streets. Sadly, the Costco looked exactly the same, with only one black family in sight and the rest lily-white. (The pizza tasted the same too).

I've never seen so many churches in the same radius as here, either. Baptist, evangelical, Christian Scientist, you name it, there's a church for it, and the signs are big. Ohio isn't technically in the Bible belt, but Kentucky is, and Kentucky's a fast 10 minute drive away. When we came back from the airport we saw a huge statue of Jesus lifting up his arms, and not five minutes from our house is a gigantic billboard on how abortion is murder.

Everyone seems nice, and very friendly. People go out of their way to help you, whether it's the woman in Rite-Aid who showed me where the dollar aisle was, or the waitress who gave us her favorite recommendations and then told us what *not* to get. It's been a real pleasure talking with any of the locals so far - I hope the trend continues!

As far as our house is going, it's being put together slowly but surely. We've bought the little things that help it feel like home, like a laundry basket and plastic hangers. So clothes are in the closet, our one pot and pan are in the cabinet, and Jonathan's computer is proudly on display on the desk we bought from the previous tenants. The rest of our furniture and boxes get here Friday, and our mattress and box spring arrive Thursday. I think next Saturday will definitely involve unpacking, and poor Harry Potter will have to wait til later in the week.