I'm not sure if I have ever truly experienced the culture in an area quite like we experienced the culture of the East Bay. I'm not even sure if I have truly experienced the true culture of Puyallup, and I've lived in or around it my whole life. Unless 'Doing the Puyallup,' would be considered seeing the culture. Although I know many people that would beg to differ on that one.
After being in NorCal for a couple of weeks, Aaron, Brian, and I decided to go check out Hangar1. Hangar1 is a very cool vodka distillery that is on the east side of the bay, facilitated in the Alameda Naval Air Station. I have done a champagne tasting in Napa, and a mini wine tasting at Wine Styles, but I never would have thought of doing a liquor tasting. The best part about Hangar1 Vodka is that it is made from real fruit. You can purchase so many artificially flavored drinks, but this stuff is the real deal. It smelled exactly like the fruits it was made from, and one chipotle flavored vodka, tasted just like salsa, minus all the diced goodies. I would say that Hangar1 definitely adds to the fun culture of the East Bay Area.
After some fun, Brian decided to leave for the rest of the weekend, and Aaron and I decided to go church hunting on Sunday. We drive by multiple churches on our way to work every morning, and there was one that I thought would be worth a try. What a great way to experience the culture of an area! I looked at it online, and made sure the beliefs system lined up with ours, and we decided to go to the 9am service. The church we experienced was not at all like the church we go to in Washington. We go to High Pointe Community Church back home. The dress style is casually comfortable, the music is contemporary, and our pastor is an amazing speaker that actively engages the audience with comedy, while sharing the word of God to help us grow as individuals. The dress style at this church was suits and dresses. The music was not any that I had heard before; it was some what contemporary with a little 'Sister Act 2' thrown into the mix. And the bones of the message were good, but when the former PGA Tour contender pastor tried to relate it to current times with, 'Baby, you look fiiinnnee,' in replace of Abram telling Sarai, 'Because you are so beautiful,' I definitely got a little lost in my inner laughter. It was such a great way for Aaron and I to experience the community in which we were working.
As the weeks continued in California, we experienced lots of other cultural things, and I have come to the conclusion that, there are so many different mini-cultures within a community. No matter how much you experience in one community, there is still so much more out there.
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