"Outsider" in Maine? (Bangor, Caribou: fit in, renting, movies)

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by KAYET67

I Have lived in maine for 10 yrs now 5 of them in aroostook county.
I ahve found the people here to be cold and indifferent. Beware if you do not come from Maine and i you live in Aroostook County and are not of french desent you will have a very hard time. Mainer do not Like outsiders
Instead of the Sign when you enter main saying Maine The Way life sould be!
It sould say
Outsiders Go Home! Or Else!

Wow, that is very negative.

Which groups have you joined?

Have you gotten involved with the volunteer fire department?
Do you participate in the school district?
Do you include yourself at the Legion? Lodge? Grange? or in a church?

How have you included yourself into the community?

Do you know your neighbors?

How many neighbors have you helped to dig a sewer? or to re-roof? or to chase down their lose livestock?

What I am asking is how have you gone out and became a part of your new community?

[warpedg]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

Wow, that is very negative.

Which groups have you joined?

Have you gotten involved with the volunteer fire department?
Do you participate in the school district?
Do you include yourself at the Legion? Lodge? Grange? or in a church?

How have you included yourself into the community?

Do you know your neighbors?

How many neighbors have you helped to dig a sewer? or to re-roof? or to chase down their lose livestock?

What I am asking is how have you gone out and became a part of your new community?

The only real thing you have to do on this list is get to at least know the people that live around you. I lived in the same community for seven years and had several opportunities to get to know some of the people that lived next door. But then there was one family that I didnt know their names till they came over to my moving sale days before I left. Lots of people in Maine keep to themselves and thats the way they like. Chances are they wont change their ways too soon either. You might have moved into a neighborhood just like that. It also depends on the location of your home as to how easy it is to get to know your neighbors...are they right next door? are you separated by woods, etc? If your property abuts their lawn then it is much easier to simply start conversations while you are out doing lawn work, washing the car...things like that. All it really takes sometimes is that first meeting.

But I do know what you mean...some people simply dont want to open up to new people in Maine.

[KAYET67]

We ave tried to be involved. We help at my children's school. I raised my children to be generous and helpful so they volunteer at the local food pantry and we go to church. And I work in the medical field.
My children have been attacked at the school they go to the instructors and staff were extremely unhelpful even when another boy stole and destroyed my sons new bike right on the school grounds. My children are normal children with normal attributes the only reason for the abuse was that they were not from here. My 2 children born here are treated fine as they are not outsiders!
One evening a couple of years ago my car broke down and it was in the middle of winter my cell phone couldn't get a signal and the temperatures were below 0 even though we were on a pretty busy road we couldn't get any one to stop and help us we were stranded for over an hour! Where I come from some one would have stopped with in minutes. I see this all the time people broke down and no one stopping. I stop often and hear that the person had been stranded a long time with no offer of help.
Yesterday I was driving to Portland and a car was on the side of the road with a I Need Help call 911 when I stopped I was able to call 911 for the person that was having a health problem NO One Else Stopped!
Mainers will not help you even if you are dying in front of them!
Well soon We will be free from this God Forsaken place!

[Calandria]

What people need to realize is that many times positives, a strong sense of community, for example, come with the flip side of the coin--suspicion of outsiders. I think Maine people have a "wait and see" attitude about newcomers. No one wants to be insincerely friendly. I remember when there were new kids in school it was such a big deal because our school was so small. Some new kids would become wildly popular and then it would all die down and they were accepted as one of us. Some new kids were ostracized and teased. I think moving to such a community can be an intense experience.

[truckmen]

Wow! I should take a drive up there just to see this for myself! Other than the negative experiences, you "gotta" admit, it's kind of funny. Well, maybe not. :-(

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by KAYET67

... One evening a couple of years ago my car broke down and it was in the middle of winter my cell phone couldn't get a signal and the temperatures were below 0 even though we were on a pretty busy road we couldn't get any one to stop and help us we were stranded for over an hour! Where I come from some one would have stopped with in minutes. I see this all the time people broke down and no one stopping. I stop often and hear that the person had been stranded a long time with no offer of help.
Yesterday I was driving to Portland and a car was on the side of the road with a I Need Help call 911 when I stopped I was able to call 911 for the person that was having a health problem NO One Else Stopped!
Mainers will not help you even if you are dying in front of them!
Well soon We will be free from this God Forsaken place!

I have stopped for broken down vehicles.

I was once stuck in a snow bank, and the first two vehicles to drive by me, both stopped to help.

I wonder, you said driving to Portland, how far from the city are you?

I think that what you are discussing is urban/rural.

[AlisonL]

Mainers will not help you even if you are dying in front of them!

Its not a matter that they will not help, they are leery of stopping in today's world. How many times do we read about a good Samaratin being taken advantage of (robbed, shot, ect)? I'd rather keep on going and make the call on a phone to the police to help a stranded motorist. (I'm not saying the good samaratin gets robbed in Maine, but nationwide.)
Would you pick up a hitchhiker you did not know?

[Let's tell the truth]

Originally Posted by Tarastomsgirl

Okay I'm gonna give you my husbands experience.. He too lived in New Sweden.. North of Caribou in Aroostook County he moved there when he was 7 years old from Mass. Small town Maine everyone knows everyone population about 250... So he goes to first grade and draws a picture of a whale and tells his teacher that he's seen one before.. He got send home with a note telling him mother its not polite to lie to people. His mom came into school telling her he's not lying he saw one at the aquarium in Mass. The teacher could not believe it. He got a note home a month or two later for saying he'd been on an airplane in front of the class and was lying to his friends about it.. Once again he'd flown out of Logan.. Seeing how narrow minded and ignorant these people are yet.. So he goes off to middle school.. We're talking 1996 they school has no computers and refuses to buy them . They were also using books from the 1960's.. My husbands mother and father propose that the school buy computers and teach the children how to use them.. They board said you want em you buy em for the school. So she did, she had to set them up and then the school did not let the children use them.. The school also did not have a playset for the children, she brought it up to put them in as she had 3 kids go to the school, they said once again no if you want one for the kids, you buy it. She did and they had to put it together and everything.. They had their tires slashed , the police wouldn't do anything about it, My husbands father has teaching degree and there were in desperate need of teaches, he applied they wouldn't hire him even though he was more than qualified.. The principle hired instead her sister.. The whole school was fun by one family. Kindergarten through 8th grade.. Everyone was related. My husbands 5th grade class was the largest they'd seen in 30 years... It was 10 children big..The school enventually closed down from lack of students.. Hubby and family were eventually run out of the town they stuck it out for 11 years I wish I could say they went into town trying to turn it upside down or that there's more to the story but there's not honestly , they still own the house and we went back up to check it out about 3 years ago and the people in the town had ransaked the house , tore out all the kitchen cabinets, took all the furnature the left int he house, the toys my husband had growing up , everything.... I guess what I'm trying to say is becareful where you go.. They're weary of outsiders, they seem nice but seriously a lot of them are demented and imbred. I'm sure you heard about the aresnic poisoning in New Sweden where they guy put it in the church coffe and some people died. Bondeson was his name. my husband picked potatoes for him during harvest break. Yah you know why he poisoned those people? Because they proposed to put new pew in the church instead of the wooden ones that had been there for the last 100 years.. They're nutso's!!!. Its one of those nice places to visit.. not to live kinda deal. Unless your're gonna go to a larger town like Portland or Bangor

Hi just want to respond to you because I don't believe you will be on this forum long. You see this forum is run by a few ostriches that want to keep thier head's in the sand. I really think they work for the tourist trade(Don't know that for sure!) You are telling the truth no matter what they say to you. Notice they all seem to live from Bangor south or are not even from the state of Maine oh they have vacationed but let's see how they feel once they have been here for about 5 year's!!I am sure you husband is very sad to see what has happened to his hometown. I know I am I live in Caribou and it is 30 times bigger then New Sweeden with 30 times more horror stories!!!

[AlisonL]

Hmmm, I have lived in Maine all my 53 yrs and was born and raised in Hancock County. Yes, we live south of Bangor, because that is where my husband's work is. No Caterpillar dealers in the county.
LTTT as has been stated before if you hate Maine so much, then get the heck out! No one is holding a gun to your head forcing you to stay. I fail to see why you would stay in a place that obviously makes you so miserable.
I knew taking you off ignore wouldn't change a thing.

[msina]

Jumpin Jones!! I am from Maine, "north of the Volvo line", and I'm going back to Piscaticus County. A guy here recently beat and bit a 3 year old girl in the face and head, (the mothers boyfriend) leaving her scared for life, last week another LIB (live in Boyfriend) beat a 10 month old baby to death. I'm sorry if things aren't good for you, as the volvo line continues to migrate you may see more people come into your area. Wish it were better for you. As for me, I'm getting the heck outa here.