Saturday, October 25, 2014

Minnesota Nice

It is natural to become accustomed to whatever your environment offers.  For example, when people around you are harried and unfriendly, you expect people to be harried and unfriendly.  That is the case in New York.  As much as I love my hometown, people in general are anxious, rushed and usually indifferent to strangers.  When pressed, they'll even snarl at you.

That attitude is expressed in a local joke. How do you ask for the time in New York?  You go up to someone and say, "Excuse me, Sir  Could you please tell me the time or should I just go fuck myself?"

So it is a culture shock for me to visit Minnesota.  The people here are so different.  They smile as if they know you.  They're friendly for no good reason.  The first few times it happened yesterday, I was unnerved and reflexively grabbed my wallet.  I wondered, "What's the scam?"  In New York, if someone focuses on you with friendliness, they're probably planning to steal your money.

But here they were just being nice!  How odd.  How pleasant.

I mentioned this to Beth and she used a phrase I haven't heard before - "Minnesota nice."  I looked it up and discovered the phrase even has its own meaning on Wikipedia.  That section explains: "Minnesota nice is the stereotypical behavior of people born and raised in Minnesota to be courteous, reserved, and mild-mannered. The cultural characteristics of Minnesota nice include a polite friendliness, an aversion to confrontation, a tendency toward understatement, a disinclination to make a fuss or stand out, emotional restraint, and self-deprecation. It can also refer to traffic behavior, such as slowing down to allow another driver to enter a lane in front of the other person."
 
Toto, we're not in New York any more...  Each of these behaviors is the opposite of what you expect from people in the Big Apple.
 
I had a wonderful time visiting Beth.  I met her charming husband Nate and adorable little Ollie.  They're a lovely family.  I visited their home which reminds me strongly of the house I grew up in (e.g., it has a finished basement, used for socializing).  Nate's hobby is brewing beer and he's as passionate about that as I am for motorcycling. 
 
Nate taught himself the craft of brewing beer and has become very skilled at it.  He brews a variety of different flavors.  He even had a blog about his hobby which, though now dormant, has good information on it.  Nate and Beth are deservedly proud of a full-sized bar Nate built from scratch in their basement; it has seven  taps for beer to flow out of kegs hidden beneath.  The bar is beautifully decorated with real tile and even has polished labels above each tap describing the specific flavor of the beer.  I tried both Raspberrry Porter and Ginger Snap-flavored beers; both were delicious.
 
Last week, Nate and Beth had an Oktoberfest party in their basement with 30 of their friends.  Beth said they have one every year but skipped last year due to her pregnancy.

Here are pictures of their basement-bar pulled from Nate's blog:


 You quickly get a sense of people when meeting them in person.  Beth showed me her neighborhood, including where her extended family grew up and lives.  She told me about her choir-singing, her job and co-workers, and her friends.  Open and friendly, Beth showed genial hospitality to an out-of-towner and displayed an easy-going nature.  We capped the visit with a terrific meal at a nice restaurant, during which I was introduced to a tasty local beer from Surly Brewing Co.  (I was disappointed to learn that you can't buy Surly beer outside of the region.)
 
Meeting Beth, Nate and Ollie was a great way to begin my trip to this foreign land.  Now I just need to find a Currency Exchange booth to convert my New York bucks into local Minnesota money.  I hear their bills are designed to be snow-resistant.  :-)

22 comments:

  1. Sounds like your having a merry old time and their basement sounds pretty amazing!

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    1. The joy of travelling is greatly enhanced when there are nice people to meet!

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  2. Fun! : )

    Although I cannot comment on Minnesota nice I can comment that the last time I was in NYC people went out of there way to be friendly...which truly was a treat.

    While trying to buy subway tickets a young man came and helped us...I, like you thought he was going to scam us, but nope...he just helped us buy tickets.

    Then while standing waiting for a train trying to figure out which platform we should be on another gentleman, an older Jewish man with a hat came over and offered his assistance, without us asking.

    We also had someone on the street stop and help us when we had the GPS out telling us where to walk.

    I was truly shocked how nice everyone was. Not at all what we were accustomed to in NY or in Toronto. It left a good impression on me for sure.

    bisous
    Suzanne

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  3. I am so happy for the pleasure you are getting from your travels and visits!
    xoxo

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  4. Aw, that sounds like a wonderful visit! I knew Beth would be awesome in person. Ha, Minnesota nice...sounds like what people stereotype Canadians as being like.

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    1. That's what I thought -- the stereotype is very similar.

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    2. Ditto with what sheila said.

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    3. Haha, exactly! I totally thought Minnesotans = Canadians when I read that.

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  5. Awww, so nice to hear you meeting the darling Bethie!x

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  6. It was truly a joy to have you visit and I can't thank you enough for your kindness as well! We really enjoyed our dinner together and conversation and I only hope that now I can somehow find my way to New York so you can show me the best of what is to be seen there! I hope the rest of the visit here is fabulous for you and I can't wait to hear about your other meet-ups! I am so glad we finally met in person, you are a wonderful and fantastic person and I happy to call you a friend!

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  7. This sounds amazing and it's great to hear you had a good time. I just love the sound of people from Minnesota as those qualities can be so hard to find these days... So sweet about slowing down while driving to let others in.

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  8. Awww, sounds like a nice, friendly start to your trip. Can't wait to hear about the next meet ups.

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  9. I want to go and live in Minnesota ... although in Johannesburg most people are generally nice we are also harried and can be a nightmare in traffic.

    I so want to go and live where people are generally nice.

    I am delighted that your trip is going so well.

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  10. Minnesota sounds great. I was horrified when I first moved to Warsaw, PL. People are so strangely angry here!
    xo
    styleontheside.com

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  11. My friend from Lithuania said when she first moved to the US she couldn't figure out what the hell everybody was grinning about... Apparently, people do not smile as much, or at people they do not know, in Eastern Europe. Minnesota Nice sounds like a lovely thing to experience. All that beer sounds tasty, too.

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  12. If you're a fan of "friendly for no reason", I hugely encourage you to hop over the border and visit Canada. Sure, that rings true more so in some areas than others, but in general it's an apt description for many a canuck from coast-to-coast, eh! :)

    ♥ Jessica

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  13. Ahhh! My favorite blogging buds all hanging out together and having a blast! Love this so much!

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  14. Wow, this sounds awesome! I didn't know about Beth and Nate's basement & bar. I want to see it now! :D

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  15. That's surely a nice breath of fresh air. It seems that really populated cities carry stress and anger in the air. You can feel it where I live too - specially in the driving! People are so aggressive and I have to sadly admit it catches on, I have seen myself become an angry taxi driver when someone cuts me off. How neat that you got to meet more extended family members ;) it must be a great detoxing feeling to have just all nice people around you :)

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