Yup, there are a lot of things that you can never know until you move to a new place.  Who would have thought to tell me that I can't buy Shreddies down here or that the Ivory soap would be a different shape or any of the multitude of other things that I have discovered now that we're here.  Since this page has been up for a while, I marked new additions with a  in case you are just checking back on this page to see what other things I have discovered and added.  New doesn't necessarily mean that I just discovered it, only that I have just remembered to add it. Also, there may be a comparable thing in Canada, but I never had need to know of it there.  Here are some of the things that we are adapting to:

Quick Facts

Weather

Money

Driving

Products

Services and Banking

Food and Beverage

Language

Nature

House & Home

Miscellaneous

Holidays

and also some Links

Things I Miss:  Now that we've been living here for five+ years I've found some things that I miss from Vancouver are still not available here and some things I can get here I miss when I am in Vancouver.  Don't get me wrong, I don't want Vancouver to be exactly like Houston, nor do I want Houston to be exactly like Vancouver -- there are just some things I'd have with me in both places if I could.

Note:  Many of the things on this page were added in the first year we moved to Houston (1998) and consequently, over time, have become outdated. I've been going through the comparison (this page) and noting or changing some of the older information.

Vancouver	Houston

WEATHER:
It's WET!  Before we left there were many months of record precipitation.  A very difficult thing to do in such a wet city!	It's HOT!  After we arrived there were many days of record high temperatures and it's still going strong.  A very difficult thing to do!  Aren't we the lucky ones! (Notice in the quick facts that the average minimum temperature in August is higher than the average maximum temperature in August for Vancouver!)
It's usually only humid when it rains.	It's humid almost all the time! So much so that your windshield wiper fluid won't evaporate some mornings!
Rain is wet and cold.  It causes the inside of the busses and Skytrain to be all fogged up so you can't see your stop.  And the inside of Starbucks to get all fogged up too on fall, winter and spring days.  Often rains for days and weeks on end.	Rain is (mostly) quite warm and when it comes down it is drenching and quite violent, often accompanied by thunder and lightning.  But it feels like you are stepping out into a sauna! Check out the Starbucks!
You rarely need heat in the summer and almost never need air-conditioning.  But you'll need heat in the winter! The nice thing is you can keep the windows open almost year round to get fresh air in the house.	You need air-conditioning.  Everywhere and all the time from April to October.  From November to March you may need a/c.  You might need heat from Mid Dec to mid Feb.  But you might not.
Weather Radio consists of the weather report on your favorite station on the way to  work.  Usually you already know it's raining (again!) because you are already wet.	There is a whole system of weather radio stations run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service. The little stinker goes off with a 10 second BEEEEEEEP to get your attention and then proceeds to tell you what kind of weather doom is heading your way.  Tropical Storms, Flash Floods, Hurricanes, Severe Thunderstorms, Tornados are all part of the fun. Mother Nature doesn't kid around with the weather here!
Earthquakes.    Joe's first experience with an earthquake came when a small one hit Washington state while we were living in Vancouver.  He was up and out of his chair instantly!  Not a big fan of earthquakes, my Joe.  I was more used to them having lived on the pacific rim all my life and therefore having experienced them a few times.  That one Joe felt was just a little wee thing.	Tornados and Hurricanes.  Hurricane season runs June 1 to the end of November, although there was still an active hurricane (Nicole) after Nov. 30 in1998.  This year (2003) the first names storm, Ana, formed in April!  That's the earliest ever!  Tornados are less of a threat in Houston that further north -- but they still happen. Tropical Storms too!  Tropical Storm Allison is the only tropical storm to have it's name removed from use (as happens with all hurricanes) due to the tremendous damage done.
In the winter silly people hike into the mountains unprepared for a change in the weather.  They often die of:  HypOthermia.	In the summer it gets (ugly) hot in Houston.  The heat index, which adds in humidity, tells you how hot it feels outside.  Often seen in the triple digits.  This is above body temperature.  People who don't take precautions (quite a few in 1998) die of:  HypERthermia! According to KHOU, 20-25 people per year die due to the heat in Houston. TOP

MONEY:
Paper money is colourful -- hundreds are brown, fifties are red, twenties are green, tens are purple, fives are blue (for now -- supposedly in 2002 we'll get a $5 coin!), twos were red and ones were green (a different green than the twenties -- but they're coins now).  It's so much easier to tell how much you have in your wallet with colours!	Paper money is mostly one color.  It takes a while to get used to looking for the nubers on the bills and not be able to rely on the different colors.  I actually had an American tourist in Victoria (in 1989) tell me to give all his change to the waitress, he was going back to the states and didn't need "that Monopoly money" anymore!  The new design released in late 2003, added 'subtle color' to the notes beginning with the US $20.  Yeah, baby!  Colour!  You can check out the new bill's look at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.  We've gotten a few of the new $20s but the colour is pretty subtle.  Still not as pretty, colorful or cool as Canadian or European paper curency.
Two Dollar bills/coins:  We use them!  And they're handy too -- much easier than carrying twice as many one dollars!  (Note: $2 are not popular in Alberta, but are used everywhere else in Canada, and this may have changed since the adoption of the "twoonie")	Two Dollar Bills: Nobody uses them.  I hear some casinos use them for the novelty, and we occasionally get some for filling out surveys online, but you almost never see them in circulation.  There is no two dollar coin.
One Dollar Coin: Introduced in 1987, the one dollar is: eleven sided, 7.0 grams, 1.95 mm thick and 26.72 mm in diameter and golden in colour.  The coin quickly became known as the "loonie" because of the loon on the reverse.   The loonie was adopted quickly because the Canadian government stopped producing dollar bills.	One dollar coin: Introduced in Jan. 2000, the one dollar: is: 8.1 grams, 2 mm thick, and 26.5 mm in diameter and golden in color.  Sound familiar?? The "golden dollar" as it was dubbed by the mint ended up being scaled back (thanks to PT for updating me on this) in 2002. I suspected something like this would happen since they didn't discontinue the paper dollar.  It is now considered to be another failure.
In 1992 the Royal Canadian Mint produced a different quarter every month with a scene for each province and territory (this was before the addition of Nunavut in 1999) to celebrate Canada's 125th birthday.  They were very popular and many people collected them.	In 1999 the US Mint started production of State Quarters (sound familiar??) to be issued over the next ten years (five per year, coming out approximately every 10 weeks).  They are very popular and many people are collecting them. TOP

PRODUCTS:
Two major daily local newspapers.  The Vancouver Sun is the broadsheet and The Province is the tabloid (both are owned by the same company).  The Sun published Monday - Saturday, and the Province Sunday - Friday.  No paper on holidays.  The Globe and Mail is found everywhere, touted as "Canada's National Newspaper", but emphasizes Ontario.  The  National Post was giving them a run for the money, though -- don't know if it still is since the whole Conrad Black scandal.	Only one major daily local newspaper.  Surprising in a city of this size, but the Houston Chronicle tries to cover everything.  Publishes papers every day of the week and holidays as well.  Seems to follow the tradition of US papers with a HUGE Sunday section!  USA Today is found everywhere in stores.
Newspapers are sold in stores and boxes.  Almost every bus stop and major intersection will have a coin operated newspaper box for each daily paper.  Often there is one for the national newspapers the Globe and Mail and National Post at major intersections.	Newspapers are sold by vendors who stand in traffic at the intersection of major roads hawking the paper.  Also found outside of major grocery stores on Saturday afternoons  selling the Sunday paper!  Very strange to those of us not from a car culture to see a car drive up and buy a paper out the window!  No newspaper boxes.
Postage to the US went up to 80¢ Cdn. for letters up to 30g (1.05 oz) effective January 12/04.   Canada Post prints smaller denomination stamps which are colourful and printed on glossy paper.  Every time I go home, I get request for postcards with Canadian stamps from people I know who collect stamps.	Postage to Canada is 60¢ for letters up to 1 ounce.   They  used to have a half ounce size for 48¢ but deleted it in Jan 2001.  The US Postal Service prints stamps in smaller denominations with simple one colour portraits on white non-glossy paper (boring...).
You can purchase Aspirin or Tylenol from the pharmacist with caffeine and codeine added. They keep it behind the counter.	The pharmacist thinks you are crazy when you ask for Tylenol or Aspirin with Codeine.  This is only available by prescription.
Reactine, an over the counter allergy medication with the active ingredient of cetirizine hydrochloride.  This is available at London Drugs (the greatest drugstore on earth!).  You can buy a 48 pack for about $25 Cdn. ($17.25 US today).	Zyrtec has the same active ingredient, cetirizine hydrochloride.  It is available only by prescription and 90 cost our health insurance company $131.19 US ($190.23 Cdn today). TOP

SERVICES & BANKING:
You need a driver's license or some ID for almost all transactions.	You need a Social Security card for EVERYTHING!  Opening a bank account to going to the doctor.   And even though privacy advocates suggest you don't use it for anything but work and taxes, everyone wants it.
Five major Banks in Canada and a smattering of Credit Unions.  Because there is little choice the banks make huge profits while nickel and diming you to death on the service fees.	Seems like every guy with two nickels to rub together has his own bank.  Over 130 different banks in the Greater Houston Area.  Not many Credit Unions though.  Lots of choice -- but they still get their service fees. Creates a problem when traveling since you will be away from your home branch and this may cause you trouble with ATMs (see below).   There has been muchconsolidation in the banking industry since we got here -- so you're more likely to be able to find a bank that has branches in most major cities across the country, but still not as easily as in Canada.
Lots of branches (since there are few banks) makes it easy to find a machine from yours and avoid the fee for using another bank's machine.  All major banks have branches right across the country so you can do your banking anywhere with your bank card without paying extra (depending on your plan).  I have seen more machines charging you a fee to use them if you have an alien ATM card, which used to be unusual.	Expect to pay twice for the privilege of using someone else's ATM -- since there are many banks but relatively few branches, you get dinged by your bank for using a "foreign" machine BUT that machine will tack on $1.25 - $3.00 for letting you use it as well.
Interac is everywhere.  You can pay with your bank card almost everywhere -- you don't need to carry a chequebook around!  You can use your bank card everywhere from McDonald's to Bookstores to Boutiques to Departments Stores and restaurants.	You can pay by "debit" at some larger stores and grocery stores but everyone here pays by "check" if they don't want to use credit.  You can use your Visa Check card -- allows your purchase to be deducted directly from your account but is processed like a Visa for those stores who don't have "Debit" systems (Interac).
When Using Interac, you can choose to pay from your savings or chequing account.  Sometimes it's nice to have the option.	When using your Debit card (or Check card) you can only deduct purchases from your checking account, there are no other choices.
If a store doesn't accept Interac, you're out of luck, you have to write a cheque (assuming you have your chequebook with you) or use your credit card.  Or, you could pay cash...	If a store doesn't accept debit cards but takes Visa or MasterCard, you can use your Check card to make your purchase.  Because Visa and MasterCard have filled the debit card (interac) gap in the US, if a store takes their credit card, they must also take a check card.  Makes it very convenient (although there is a lawsuit in the courts about it).  The Check card is processed like a Visa or MasterCard and instead of punching in your PIN on a machine, you sign the slip as with any credit card purchase.    There's been some changes in this feature as merchants had a class action suit against the credit card companies for forcing them to accept both cards.  Haven't seen this affect the consumer yet. TOP

FOOD AND BEVERAGE:
7-11 and Mac's on almost every corner to cater to your Slurpee (or Slush Cat) needs!  Yum!	Why on earth there are no Slurpees to be found in this Hot Hot town is beyond my understanding!  Sonic Drive in has the only close thing -- I like their fresh Lemon-berry slush -- it's even better than a Slurpee.  7-11 exists in Texas, just not in Houston -- I have to go to Austin for a real slurpee.
Shreddies Cereal.  A Canadian Product!  And much tastier than any of the Chex cereals.	Cocoa Crispies Cereal -- Joe's new favorite!
Special K Cereal is composed of small puffed flakes, not much larger than Rice Crispies.	Special K Cereal is composed of large flakes with small puffs, similar in size to Corn Flakes.
Canadian Just Right Cereal on the left,  American version on the right. Haven't seen Just Right in the stores lately...
Turkey, the bird of choice for Thanksgiving and Christmas, has been the victim of protesters -- who send letters to the media and grocery stores claiming to have poisoned the frozen birds.  (are they still doing this?...)	Turkey, the bird of choice for Thanksgiving and Christmas, is very cheap -- used as a loss leader for the stores wanting to attract your holiday dinner dollar.  Some give them away with a minimum purchase, others sell them very cheaply with a lower minimum purchase.  I bought a ten pound turkey for $1.91 with a ten dollar purchase at HEB Pantry the first year we spent here.     Stores are doing less of this recently, but I wasn't able to tell how much less this year as we were away at Thanksgiving in 2003.
Smarties and Crispy Crunch, Crunchie and Coffee Crisp.  There are lots of chocolate bars that you can only get in Canada.  Incidentally the use of the phrase 'chocolate bar' seems to be Canadian.	M&M's and Butterfinger are similar to Smarties and Crispy Crunch, but not quite the same.  Smarties and Crispy Crunch not available in the US.  US residents call them candy bars. Actually more and more Canadian / English chocolate bars are making their way to the US.  We can quite often find Crunchie and Aero here now, as well as Cadbury bars (mmmmm Dairymilk!)
Cider.... ahhhhh, cool, crisp, delicious thirst quenching alcoholic (usually about 6%) beverage.  A BC pub staple for decades, you can get many flavours -- apple is the standard, but peach, pear, raspberry, granny smith apple, glacier berry and many more flavours available.  Okanagan Premium was always my favorite, although I am leaning more towards Grower's brand these days	Cider... most people look at you like you are nuts when you ask for it. After several attempts to find cider and bad experiences with "Malt" cider (ick!) I  found Woodchuck Draft Cider in Granny Smith flavour (5% alcohol).  It approximates cider from home, but is not quite as crisp and delicious but still pretty good.  Hails from Vermont, so not a local product.  For a while you could get Wyder's Cider here, but it seems all the stock is old now and has gone 'off'.
Vinegar on your fries -- also Salt & Vinegar Chips.	Vinegar not available unless you go to a "British Pub" and then it's offered to you as something "I heard is good -- I'm told that some people like it"!! Salt and Vinegar Pringles and Zapp's now available in many grocery stores but weren't when we first moved here.
Girl Guide Cookies -- available late May (or June?), they come in a Blue Box with two rows of cookies -- Vanilla sandwich and chocolate sandwich.  There's a mint kind that comes out in the late fall, but it's new and not what many of us consider a real Girl Guide Cookie. 2003 finds the baker of Girl Guide cookies is now Dare, changed from Christie.  In June we tried the new ones, and I have to say, they weren't as good.  The vanilla flavour was not as crisp and the chocolate was rather boring.  Sorry Mr. Christie, you don't make good Girl Guide Cookies...	Girl Scout Cookies.  First of all they come out between January and March!    Then there's the types of cookies -- this year (2004) there are EIGHT different kinds of cookies: Animal Treasures, Caramel deLites, Lemon Pastry Cremes, Shortbread, Peanut Butter Sandwitch (the only sandwich kind), Peanut Butter Patties, Thin Mints, and the new cookie this year, Piñatas.  It's all a bit too much for a Girl Guide Cookie lover.  There's a cute quiz to find out your cookie personality.
Bits and Bites (aka Meli Melo in French) -- the pinnacle of tasty garlicky deliciousness.  It's made up of Cheerio circles, Shreddie squares, long pretzels and oblong cheesy bits.  The garlicky goodness is in the Shreddie squares.	Doo Dads.  The packaging looks kinda the same (but without the French) but instead of the yummy cheese pieces, it has peanuts.  Weird.  Also, the flavour is quite different.  I was very disappointed as I was hoping they were an equivalent of Bits and Bites.  They're not.
Frisk are very popular in Vancouver -- you can find them just about everywhere, though Altoids are available too. Altoids are very popular in Houston, and although Frisk are available, Altoids are more prevalent. TOP

NATURE:
Douglas Fir, Spruce and the temperate rainforest.  Monkey Trees are planted on quite a few personal properties -- Joe hates it when I see one because I get to 'pinch' him (never hard), a game left over from childhood.	Palm Trees (rare but they do grow here.  And don't email me about the ones in North Vancouver -- they aren't really native!) and not that many evergreens.  Here we have Live Oaks and Water Oaks and lots of pine trees.  I've never seen a Monkey Tree here.
The birds (now I am beginning bird watcher and know little about them) are robins and sparrows and the like and are generally quieter than in Houston.  We had Chicadees and Blue Jays toothat I remember seeing when home the last time.  Also lots of Bald Eagles on the north shore. We did start a Birds page with our sightings in Houston and on Vacation. Have a look there for more on the birdies.	Learned my first new bird quickly!  Grackles (one below) are noisy boisterous birds and they make a lot of noise. This one is a Large Tailed Grackle (I think) -- or as Joe calls it, a big assed Grackle! Recently we bought a bird feeder and found that we needed to get a Field Guide to birds to identify all our new dependents -- we've had Brown-headed Cowbirds, Blue Jays, House Sparrows, House Finches, Inca Doves, Mourning Doves and most recently a pair of Northern Cardinals and some Mockingbirds.  The guests of Chez Bear Bird feeder have their own page here.
City  wildlife consists of squirrels, raccoons, and birds mostly.  We did have a skunk living in our neighbourhood in Kits and I have heard of foxes downtown near stanley park. Very rarely will a bear or cougar wander down from the north shore mountains.  Garter snakes (harmless but stinky) can be found too.	City wildlife seems more varied -- mostly because there is so much land that is undeveloped in and  around Houston. Birds and squirrels, of course, but also possums and armadillos and lizards (one was be living under our stairs!). Also, I am told, snakes -- and poisonous ones at that!  Yes, they could kill you.
Little wildlife makes it onto the streets of Vancouver. Although I did see a coyote trotting down Canada Way in Burnaby near my old office!	Lots of wildlife makes it onto the streets of Houston -- but unfortunately, not off.  Never have I seen as much "road kill" as I have since we got to the Southwest, and especially Houston.
Occasionally a bird would get into my parent's house.  They'd be fooled by all the windows and just fly right in and there'd be quite the chase trying to get them back out without anyone getting hurt.	Now that we've lived in Houston, we've had a number of occasions when we've had to chase something out of the house.  But not birds.  We've never had one get in -- mayber they're smarter about windows here?  Nope, we've had lizards get in -- and they don't like to be caught -- they can really run!  At one point in the summer of 2003 I went into the bedroom and looked down, and asked Joe, "Is that a lizard on our floor?"  Sure 'nuff, it was.  They got in a lot last summer.
Not many bugs -- ordinary ants.  BC does have big spiders though.  And don't forget wasps -- be careful at the end of the summer when they get stupid and sting a lot.  One got me at the PNE in August 2000.	Bugs, bugs and more bugs!  Same ones as in Vancouver and more!  Big cockroaches to be found here -- and they'll get inside if there's no food to be found outside!  Ugh! Cicadas in the trees make quite the loud hum in the evenings.  Fire ants are a big problem here too, Joe speds a large portion of each summer trying to chase them off our property with a foul smelling powder.  Eventually they come back.  We've both been bitten several times.
Ordinary Mosquitos -- they come around a little in the summer, but far fewer of them than in most places in Canada.  The threat of the West Nile virus is looming here too.	Mosquitos!!!!  Now that West Nile Virus has reached here it joins the St. Louis Encephalitis that was already here as a major health threat.  There's lots of spraying to keep the mosquito popluation down and since there's more than one type, you have to be extra careful since some will bite any time of the day or night.
Soft mountain water from the north shore mountains.  Cool and delicious right out of the faucet.	Well water with lots of minerals to get stuck to the shower walls.  Takes some serious scrubbing to get it off. Not very tasty and very chlorinated. We used to buy our water here, but it's too expensive so now we just filter it and keep it cold.
Mountains (sigh).	Lots and lots of land.  Flat land. But at least there are lots of trees around.
Cool ocean breezes (sigh).  I enjoyed being at home with my parents in August 98 and having the doors and windows open and cool breezes moving through the house.	Hot breezes (which as far as I am concerned don't count as wind -- if they ain't cool, they ain't cooling!) in the summer.  Summer lasts a long time and the windows were closed and the air conditioning on from late April to Mid October of 98.  But once the heat broke, it was fresh and cool. TOP

HOUSE & HOME:
Cold water comes out of your tap in the summer at a chilling 50-some degrees fahrenheit.  After all it's mountain rainwater that feeds into underground resevoirs and so stays very cold.	Cold water comes out of your tap in the summer at over 100ºF (I measured it once at 105).  How does it get so hot?  Well, it's been stored in water towers in the searing heat and then in the pipes in your attic which is over 125º in the middle of the summer.
Basements!  Often quite a lot of storage space, even if you only have the half basement.	Attics.  Very little storage and don't try to store anything that might melt or bugs might find tasty (like the glue that cardboard boxes are held together with)
Lilacs	Crepe Myrtles

MISCELLANEOUS:	Joe with a plateful of "Mudbugs" at the Texas Crawfish Festival in Spring Tx
No comparisons for Marvin! Although, if you venture farther afield -- Don Cherry might give Marvin a  run for his money -- just as interesting in the clothing department -- only Don's forte is Hockey and you can catch him on Hockey Night in Canada.  Definitely a man of opinions -- and as outrageous as they get!	MAR-VIN Zindler, EYE-WIT-ness News!  There is nothing on the planet like this guy.  With his Blue glasses and white suits he crusades Houston to right consumer wrongs for the down-trodden and those taken advantage of.  Must be seen to be believed!  Be sure not to miss the Restaurant report on Fridays!
Police officers on horse-back, wearing red shirts and stetson-like hats are the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.	Police-type officers on horseback wearing red shirts or jackets and stetson-like hats are the mall police at the Woodlands (and other) malls!
Mall security guards have radios.	Mall security guards have GUNS!  It really freaked me out the first time I saw that!
No comparison for Homecoming.  We Canadians (and other non-americans) will just never "get" this.	Homecoming.  It's a big weekend event that usually occurs in the fall -- when depends on when the "big game" is.  The graduates of a school or college come back to watch a football game (usually between old rivals), play in the band (if they were in it before) and participate in other assorted festivities.  I guess it's a nostalgia thing...? These are some of the ribbons that you can purchase for the (poor!) women to wear to  homecoming events.  They are in the school's colours and often reach to the knee!
Nothing like Quniceañera exists in Vancouver.	Quinceañera: A celebration in the Hispanic community of a girl's 15th birthday.  This is a BIG deal!  It's almost like a wedding with a religious ceremony and the girl decked out in a ball gown and a big party afterward.  I couldn't believe it when I first heard of it, but thinking on it, it sure would take the pressure off to get married if you'd already had your own 'special' day!
Hockey Night in Canada!  As my shirt says: "Canada is Hockey.  Hockey is Canada. Period."  Hockey scores on the front of the Sports Section.  Did you know that the theme to Hockey Night in Canada is the most recognized theme music in Canada?	Monday Night Football.  We got a four section supplement to the paper on football at the start of the season!  In Houston, no-one seems to care about Hockey.  Hockey scores (during the playoffs) found after amateur golf!
"To Serve and Protect" a "Cops"-like show done by KVOS TV in Bellingham which follows the RCMP around while they perform their duty.  An hour long show which is controversial because Surrey Council feels it places an inordinate emphasis on policing problems in Surrey.  This is because Surrey has the largest RCMP detachment in the area.	"MOUNTIES: True Stories Of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police" which is "To Serve and Protect" repackaged for the US audience with Mounties in Red Serge introducing the segments!  Pretty funny actually -- especially the emphasis on the drug related stories. A half-hour show. TOP

Vancouver Links:	Houston Links:
Lynda's Vancouver Pages	Lynda's Houston Page
Paul Beddows' Vancouver BC Web page is a very informative site  with lots of links to Vancouver sites,  transportation and general information.	Space Center Houston is  a great place to learn about  NASA and actually see  capsules and Rockets and tour Mission Control!
The Discover Vancouver page is a fun and interesting one.	This is a link to a listing of  all of KHOU's web cams
This is a live cam view of Vancouver -- the Kat Kam	Another Live camera feed of  Houston shows some of the freeways that allow traffic to get around. This one Courtesy of KPRC.
Send a BC Postcard	Send a Texas Postcard

Regardless of the strangeness of a new place, it seems we are here for a while and for the most part we are enjoying it.  Now if only someone would tell mother nature to turn down the heat a little... records are fun and all but this is getting a bit ridiculous!   We have now discovered the joys of the weather radio and it's BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP to warn of the impending weather doom!  Also we are trying to get used to the humidity here, check this out:

Now here's an example of some serious fogging of windows -- since it's Houston in the photo ALL that condensation is on the  OUTSIDE of the windows -- caused by the air-conditioning inside and the humidity outside!