Friday, October 16, 2009

Take Note, City Folk

There are so many things to figure out about living in this small-town.

1) going to the post office is a big to-do. Get dressed up. Do your hair and makeup. Expect to chat with the clerk for a while about your dead grandmother. Wave and nod at everyone when they enter the room. Grab your mail, then congregate at the 'station' where you sort your mail into piles and throw the junk away. Do NOT wear sweatpants, or a ponytail. Trust me on this one.

2) People wave. At EVERYONE. so, when someone waves at you, it's not because you necessarily know them, and they probably don't know you, but that's just what you do. Note to you newbies: There aren't ANY people around here who flip the bird, so if you see someone make a hand-gesture in your direction, be careful about what you gesture back! They probably wanted you to check out the eagle flying above your truck.

(and everybody and their DOGS have trucks)

3) Living so near the Hudderite colonies is FANTASTIC! We had an extra deep-freeze that came with the house. One of those MASSIVE ones, 100+ years old, heavier than poop, and we were looking at selling it. One of the men came into the store I worked at and asked if we knew where he could find one-- and luckily for us, ours was ready to go. So, last night they came and took it away, and this morning they brought SEVEN boxes of food in exchange. SWEET deal! 6 chickens, huge roasts, pounds and pounds of frozen veggies, *3* boxes of potatoes, bags of onions, loaves of bread, canned pickles and pears and peaches, boxes of beets, and a bag of carrots the size of an 8 year old! Good trade, I say.

4) Random teenagers will shovel the snow on your walkway for you. Not because you asked, threatened, or bribed. But because they just do it, and so when you look out your window and see them doing it, your heart swells a little bit.

5) It may take years before I make friends. Well, that's what people keep saying. And that's NOT because I'm so annoying shy freckled awesome. But, small-town is apparently difficult to 'break into'. People have their families to play with, and they have the same friends they've had since they graduated kindergarten. Also, if you move out of the ward (the area your church congregation comes from) into another one, you will not see the friends from the OLD ward. Even if you only live down the street now.

6) Don't volunteer to be the parent-coordinator for your children's classrooms. It's a lot of work, and I have NO idea what I'm doing! I am sure LL's gonna fail grade three simply because her teacher will be so spiteful that I didn't get him the help he needed throughout the year! YIKES.

10 comments:

Tamara said...

How that brings back memories...that sounds exactly like my home town. Enjoy it, slow down and relax!!

Our Family Adventure said...

Oh my. That sounds like Kansas. Seriously scary at times. :oP

Lynn said...

LOL! Takes me back to growing up in my small town.

SWEET deal on the freezer for sure!!! Now what are you going to do with all that meat and NO freezer? : )

Kat said...

Sounds perfect to me except for the no sweats and ponytails...Why not? Hey please message me with your address, every month we come down there and I wonder where youlive. I need to stop in and see your new digs:)

Dorienne said...

Actually, it sounds all so wonderful.

My Many Coloured Days said...

Mr. Man and I kept commenting on Saturday about how we could NEVER live in YOUR town! (And we thought our NEW town was small!) Seriously, you are a trooper. Were you the yellow house on the reserve there??? :)

Grand Pooba said...

Oh my gosh! It's a good thing I don't live there because I go to the post office in sweats and a ponytail all the time! Why, that's my attire for the whole weekend!

I could get used to the waving thing I guess. It'd be a huge change from my snobby neighborhood! And what the heck are the Hudderite colonies?

EmmaP said...

Wow! Sounds a lot like my home town in Indiana,except our Wards were much more pread out, and the predominant religion in my small town was anything Anabaptist (Mennonites/Amish, which share same doctrinal beliefs as Hudderites). I miss it! It might seem a little hard to break in to.... but you will have friends for life!!!

Heather May said...

Hey, your blog doesn't update on my reading list. What have I done wrong?
H

holymotherofgod said...

ROFL !!!! this whole post has a plethora of personal experiences by YOU that i am SURE would be hilarious to hear about lol