I have lived in Albq in the NE heights for 47 years, and I am always amazed that I frequently don't see anyone I know when I go out. I know a lot of people, but I don't have any family here. So your experience of always running into family is something that anyone moving here from somewhere else is not going to have an issue with. As far as the cultural aspect, I moved here when I was 22 years old, and as a bank teller, I was immediately immersed in the culture with my new Hispanic friends. I embraced the culture and I loved it because it was so much richer than the bland white culture I came from back east. And I was totally accepted and welcomed into it. I met a couple a while back where the guy loved the laid-back atmosphere, but his wife was very unhappy. She said it was like the Flintstones. The guy said Albq is a little "rough around the edges." But that is the way I like it. Also, Southern Cal is just too crowded for me. Everywhere you go is just lines and crowds. Like my husband says, "California is beautiful. It's too bad everybody else thinks so too." I have become quite disillusioned with Albq in the past few years because of the crime and homelessness. But being the "Land of Entrapment", I just can't imagine leaving.

Albuquerque is my hometown, my family has been there for generations. I left as soon as I could. After living in LA, New York CIty, Miami, and other places, I found my way to Tokyo, Japan. Honestly, Japan nowadays has a lower cost of living than even Albuquerque, is clean, has better schools than any state in America (New Mexico has the worst schools in America), and Japan has no drugs or crime, and the entire country of Japan has about as many homeless as the city Albuquerque.