Seriously, Texas: you are so awesome in so many ways. We’ve had an excellent first week getting settled into our little apartment and prepping KS for his first week of women’s work–I mean–ER nursing. So far so good: he’s made it to work on time both days and only had 2 unsuccessful IV attempts. Apparently veins are made of jello in Tejas. He’ll have a detailed update for our nursing friends come later this week.
While KS has been off stamping out pestilence and warding off disease (shout out to Dr. V), The Pants and I have been on the poop spot and new job hunts, respectively. And update on this scene will come when we have definitive news, as I don’t think the general public has much interest for my opinion of how much the email auto-responders like my credentials.
So instead, here are a few observations we’ve made about Texas and San Antonio thus far. Keep in mind that San Antonio has 1.3 million people. Think about that for a second–one period point period three period MILLION people. That’s a lot of peeps to feed, entertain, transport, and keep from generally rioting, which means there are plenty of things to do and see.
- FOOD: The obvious first highlight for us has been the food (or comida as we’ve grown to call it). Highlights so far have included (links are to the Yelp pages where I have invariably provided a review. What? I have no job yet!):
Henry’s Puffy Tacos: They fry the MFing shells till their crispy and, yes, puffy.
And beans "charro" style, which means they have too much eyeliner on and like to shimmy a lot.
Taco Cabana: The cheapest, fastest, 24-hour enchilada platters and queso around. We thought it was good, but apparently we’re gringos. SURPRISE.
Salsa bars. They are everywhere.
Chacho’s: There are various tiers of Mexican food around these parts (I’m using my own numbering system–patent pending). Tier 3 is the TC (see above) at which a true Mexicano would eat only when drunk out of his mind and with a gun to his head. Tier 1 contains the taquerias that look like crack dens but contain rotund grandmas in the back making tortillas by hand and make ingredients like lengua (tongue) and tripe (cow stomach lining) delicious and edible. Chacho’s is decidedly in Tier 2 for me: a step up from the TC, but not as authentic as it gets.
We ended up getting queso too, let's be honest.
The Malt House: $3 double hamburger basket that came back to bite me in the intestines later. But with burgers, mexican food, and fried chicken under one cafeteria-style roof, it’s hard to complain about a little indigestion.
- ENTERTAINMENT: It’s Fiesta week! This is literally a week-long party where fun stuff is going on every night.
Check out the always wonderful KK’s summary of the festivities for the deets. WARNING: here be genuine line dancing. And KS kicking my ass at the Cha Cha Slide.
- THE ROADS: Drivers here are many, as there is literally no way of getting anywhere without taking a car. You could try to bike, but you’d get struck by a vehicle (most likely a truck). You could take the bus, but you’d probably kill yourself while waiting the agonizingly long time for your ride. The freeways are also many, as are the lanes. You know that Mulholland Drive ride at Disney’s California Adventure where your car takes turns at exactly 90 degrees and leaves your stomach in the chevron while continuing on to the next dip in the track? That’s what the lane changes are like here. Whipping across 3-4 lanes just to get on to the freeway. Drivers are overall tolerable, I think. They actually want to get places, which is refreshing. However, they can be flat out wusses in the strangest situations, like during a stop at a yield sign to merge onto an access road. That’s how you get a bent bumper in Texas.
And there's that too.
- LIQUOR: They have it at Costco. That’s all.
Overall assessment: going to a new place is one of the greatest decisions we’ve made. We’re totally outside our comfort zones in careers, social life, and driving elements, but we’re totally up for the challenge and learning. And the booze…did we mention the booze?
The view from our apartment patio looks pretty rosy. Shoutout to Kim's mom for the coffee mugs!
PDX to SA 