It seems like we just moved here yesterday, but here we are about to leave almost 2.5 years later! San Antonio has been such a great place for us to live, we’ve learned a lot about ourselves in professional settings, as parents, and as a family unit. Our kids have spent most or all of their lives here, all of my mom friends live here, and we’ve really settled down and planted roots here more than any other place we’ve lived. This city will always hold a special place in my heart, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we ended up back here someday!
Over the course of our tenure here, we learned a lot of things about the people and culture of this city that I never would have guessed prior to moving here! I thought it would be fun to share 10 of those things on here for those of you who plan to visit–if you live in San Antonio and can relate let me know!
- It’s all about the tacos – there is a huge hispanic influence and population in San Antonio which means the Mexican food here is plentiful and SO good. But one thing we thought was strange when we moved here is that it’s very difficult to find a place that serves burritos! Everyone’s crazy about tacos, so we learned to give up on burrito life and just accept that tacos are the way to go!
- Breakfast Tacos – along those same lines, breakfast tacos here are a HUGE deal. Pretty much everyone I work with and encounter on a daily basis has tacos for breakfast. I’d never heard of breakfast tacos before (only breakfast burritos!) so everyone knew I wasn’t from here when I didn’t know what a breakfast taco was! But I can see why they’re such a hit, the different combos of egg, bacon, potato, chorizo, and cheese are delicious!
- Ma’am & Sir – I always thought you only used the terms ma’am and sir when you were in trouble and talking to someone older than you. But in south Texas, everyone refers to you by one of those regardless of age or situation! I think it’s part of southern hospitality, but I was definitely caught off guard when people older than me would call me ma’am in normal, everyday conversation. Now that we’ve gotten used to it I think it’s great, and I plan on teaching my kids to speak that way to others.
- Sweet Tea – on my first day of orientation for my new job, the managers took our group out to lunch. I was the first to order, and I asked for water with my meal. Everyone looked at me kind of funny and then proceeded to all order sweet tea. I felt super out of place, but it’s actually really uncommon to just order water with your meals! Sweet tea is the drink of choice in the south, and you can even ask for a cup to go at sit down restaurants so you can take some home with you!
- Not everyone has an accent, BUT… everyone says y’all. If you grew up in the city and no one would know you’re a Texan because you have no accent you still say y’all. If you grew up on a border town speaking nothing but Spanish you still say y’all. And if you say “you guys” you’re going to get some weird looks. I know from experience!
- Sunday Best – at our church we all dress up for the meetings. Men wear suits and ties, women wear dresses and heels and everyone looks their best. In Texas, that means the men dig out their Wranglers and their dress boots and Sunday becomes a whole lot more casual! Some will even wear their fancy guns and knives on their belts to dress things up a little! This is another thing we had to get used to, but some friends explained the difference between normal cowboy boots and dress cowboy boots and now I can see how the dressy ones really are Sunday best!
- Sports Teams – if you live here you’re basically required to be a huge Spurs and Cowboys fan. If you’re neither of those, just sit down, shut up, and hope no one notices!
- Word Pronunciation – you know how they taught you to say “blanco” in high school Spanish class? Forget that, we pronounce it “blayn-co.” Despite the fact that almost everyone here actually speaks Spanish, we pronounce that word incorrectly and I have no idea why! Some other fun ones are: Huebner (heeb-ner), Boerne (bernie), and Bexar (bear).
- Everyone will chat with you – the people here are SO friendly and genuinely care about you even if you’ve never met before. Gone are the days of being on your phone at the store checkout, or wanting to hide and never talk to anyone at public places, everyone is so nice and inclusive that like it or not they are going to talk to you. I remember thinking this was the strangest thing ever, but I love how friendly and talkative the people are here. It’s encouraged me to come out of my shell more and try to be more inclusive to those around me who I may not know.
- Welcome to hail – my husband came up with this one haha. When I pictured Texas I thought flat, desert, nothingness with the occasional ranch or farm here and there. San Antonio is actually full of rolling green hills, tons of beautiful wildflowers, and huge branching trees. We get a lot of rain here (compared to the west coast deserts we’re used to) and with that rain comes the occasional golf ball sized hail storm. We’ve had a couple hail storms since living here that produced hail so large that almost every car in the city had massive dents and broken windshields. It’s all fun and games though if you have covered parking!
- BONUS! The Alamo – if you know the story of the Alamo, you might picture in your mind an army protecting this huge mission that stood for hundred of years and saw tons of gunfire. While the story of the Alamo is very impressive, the Alamo itself really is not! It’s right smack in the middle of downtown, and you don’t even realize it’s there until you turn a corner and look for it because it’s so small. Definitely worth a visit because the history is amazing, just don’t be surprised when it’s MUCH smaller than you thought it would be!
So what do y’all think?! San Antonio natives, did I get these right? Seriously though, we love it here and are sad to be leaving such a beautiful and culturally rich city. We will definitely be back to visit!