Demystifying ABQ

a lot of my friends have asked me questions about abq life, such as "does abq have internet?" (the answer is yes. we also have running water, indoor plumbing, and other delightful modern conveniences you probably enjoy in your own home, wherever that may be in the US. to my friends in europe, central asia, etc.- i won't pretend to know what life is like for you guys.) the following is a list of answers to questions that many of you have asked me. 

STUFF ABQ HAS:

• US Postal Service (i'm not kidding, someone really asked me this)- our friendly mailman (whose family lives in Bakersfield, CA) delivers mail to our doorstep 6 days a week, which is more service than what we were getting in San Francisco.
• internet- i don't understand why, but i can find wi-fi in more places here than i ever could in the Bay Area. so far my fave wi-fi place is a Vietnamese restaurant on central + louisiana, which brings me to my next item...
• decent asian food- so far we've found ok Indian + Vietnamese food, though nothing on the level of what you can find in Sunnyvale, CA.
• green chile everything! green chile is a big deal here + you'll find it flavoring everything from sauces to honey to beer (it's not bad).
• frito pie- another southwestern specialty, you can find frito pies on menus everywhere here. as far as i can tell, it's a casserole of corn chips, cheese, + cheese w/additional toppings of beans, rice, peppers, etc. i haven't tried one yet b/c i'm afraid it'll taste so good i'll never want to eat anything else ever again.
• a zoo that's half a mile from our place. we can hear the seals barking.
• Costco + other big box stores (Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Target, Guitar Center, Staples, Home Depot, etc.)
• lots of CA transplants- the woman across the street grew up in San Jose. our next door neighbor is from Oakland. our property manager used to live in San Diego. my Bed Bath + Beyond cashier was from Santa Ana. i suspect i'm meeting so many transplants because ppl from out of state are the only ones willing to live in ABQ itself, while ppl who've grown up here move to the suburbs as soon as they can. Rio Rancho, a fast-growing northwest suburb of ABQ, was the most consistently suggested location for us to move to when we were polling ABQ natives on where we should look for housing. they thought we were crazy for wanting to live in the city.
• swamp coolers- when i first got here, i kept seeing hand-lettered cardboard signs posted on signs around town advertising for "SWAMP COOLER KING", followed by a phone #. i couldn't tell if it was an indie punk band or a boastful sewer monster laying claim to the monarchy. turns out it's neither: a swamp cooler (we have one at our place) is a cheaper + eco-friendly (less energy, no CFCs) alternative to air conditioning. it's a form of evaporative cooling that pulls water from the air, turns it into vapor, then blows it back into our home, which brings down the temperature maybe 10 degrees or so. in other words, it's better than nothing, but you still can't beat sitting inside a refrigerator when it's 98 degrees outside.
• a great Saturday farmers market in a tree-shaded park within walking distance that has so many ppl pushing strollers + wearing baby carriers that for a split second we wondered if we were back in Noe Valley (a SF neighborhood nicknamed 'Stroller Valley')
• sun + heat (the two don't always go together- see San Fran)- yes, it's hot. my PR's laptop keeps overheating, so he keeps it sitting on a pack of frozen peas, like an injured athlete.
• altitude- 5000 ft above sea level
• non-white ppl- some ppl (who'd never been to ABQ in their lives) warned me that i'd be surrounded by white ppl all the time. there are definitely fewer asians around, but plenty of latino + native american ppl to make up for it. as long as no one asks me, "no, i mean where are you *really* from?", i think i'll be ok.

STUFF ABQ DOES NOT HAVE:

• good Taiwanese/Chinese food- we've been too scared to actually try any of the Chinese restaurants, but the signs outside of them advertise "Chinese + American food", which to me is a bad omen, though maybe i need to be more open-minded.
• beaches- there is a man-made lake/reservoir with a thin strip of sand that is called "The Beach", but, at the risk of sounding like a beach snob- well, it just doesn't have waves.
• recycling/compost everywhere- we get plastic/paper/tin recycling pick-up at our complex thru special arrangement, but i have to take our glass to the farmers market, where they set up special recycling stations.
• bumper-to-bumper traffic
• hordes of AWWGs (Asian Women-White Guy couples)- for this i am grateful. someday i will write a post on why i loathe living in an area where i see AWWGs everywhere i turn.