A misplaced Yankee

I've always been quite proud of the fact that I'm from New York (state, not city!). Overly proud, perhaps. But although I may be partial to life in the east, I feel like I've either traveled to or lived in enough places to make me fairly well rounded. This is, however, my very first time spending more than 1 week at a time in The South. Sure, I've been to Florida and driven through Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia, and even spent several weeks of my life at the beach in North Carolina. But there's just something different about living in the "dirty south." And Memphis, Tennessee is definitely a prime example of dirty south.

For example, I've never seen so much road kill. And it's interesting road kill. Like armadillos and 'possums (pictures of these are soon to come! I'm sure you can't wait). I've seen more than 1 person throw used bottles out of their car windows onto the street. And then there are the McDonald's bags resting on the curbs. Pardon me for being rude, but I've never seen so many fat people in one place in my life. And not just round people, we're talking very, very large people (Mississippi was just named the fattest state in the nation for the 3rd year in a row). And to no one's surprise, they're often hanging around Popeye's Chicken. That's another thing- I didn't realize that southern people really do eat so much fried chicken. You can smell it everywhere. I don't think I've ever seen so many people who smoke. And New York is no stranger to cigarettes. And the people aren't afraid to light up and blow smoke right in your face.

Now this sounds like I hate the south and the people in it. Quite to the contrary- I'm really enjoying living in a new and completely different part of the country, even if I do sometimes feel like I'm in a foreign land. Or at least very obviously a Yankee, because here people still refer to northerners as Yanks. But I love listening to the charming southern drawl (which definitely deserves its own post). They have the tastiest smoked/barbecued meats. The women wear hats! We have a spunky 78 year old woman in our ward who wore a flaming blue hat to church last week. When I complimented it, she gave me tips on how to choose and wear a hat myself. The countryside here is beautiful and there are fantastic thunderstorms. Sometimes the power even goes out. And most importantly, the people are friendly and polite.

So as long as we don't get robbed while driving through the ghetto or get lung cancer from the secondhand smoke, I'm sure life in the south will be lovely.