Possible move to the south and I'm nervous (houses, living in)
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Just as you will feel completely out of your element in Jacksonville. It works both ways.
And what if Immokalee is majority Hispanic now? Miami is also majority Hispanic, but that doesn't erase either places traditions or history.
The majority of Immokalee is Hispanic because native-born Americans no longer do farm work. The people that own and run the place are as Southern as they have always been, and you and everyone else in Collier County know it.
Keep denying that you live in the South, though. Your desperation to separate yourself from the region has become very entertaining.
I have a question for you, though. Do they slobber all over themselves in Immokalee when trying to speak like they supposedly do in Atlanta? I've heard they do in Bonita Springs, for what it's worth....
I never go to Immokalee for anything. I would think you would hear far more spanish accents than southern ones out there.
Bonita isn't Southern at all. Same type of culture as Ft. Myers and Naples.
I don't know if the move to Jacksonville is going to happen anymore. I have some other plans on my radar.
OP.
I think you will be fine. The summers will be hot, but the winters will be warm. As far as culture shock goes, working on any military base with people from all over the country will insulate you from the full effect of it.
There are one or two "humoristic" post above; they are pretty funny, but there is a grain of truth in what they say. Unless you have a REALLY pushy and abrasive personality, which in my experience isn't too common in New Englanders, I think you'll find most people will be polite. You'll make friends at your own pace, of course, but my guess is that folks "down South" will generally be a little slower paced than you're used to.
One thing about pet care; BEFORE you move, check with your local vet about regional parasitic infections. I think heartworm prevention is pretty universal, for example,but you don't want to find that you SHOULD have vaccinated your pet before they got the "local" malady.
Also, and this is confined only to certain areas, you may need to watch out for alligators. Duck hunting friends in Texas, Louisiana and Florida tell me that they don't take their retrievers during the earliest duck season to avoid gators. I'm pretty sure that is confined to the South although as somebody else said the "South" is a very big place.
If you do come down, be sure to spend some time exploring. There are literally ALL sorts of sights to see; everything from Disneyworld to Graceland to Jackson Square to Cape Canaveral.
The hot summers will be a challenge to you. I was born in the North Carolina mountains where 80 degrees was considered sweltering. We also had the humidity sometimes with the 80's but we had one summer in Charlotte right after we had just bought our first home and had no money even for a fan and it was miserable. I would straighten out the house first thing in the morning and we would head for the malls to stay cool.
In the mountains, no matter how hot the days got it would cool down at night. Not here. The heat comes and wraps around you and almost chokes you. I live in air conditioning when the weather gets hot. We have lots of windows in our house so it almost seems I am outside. But our temperature inside is 76 in summer and 72 in winter because we have a heat pump.
If you drink alcoholic beverages you will not be invited to our home and our children were not allowed to visit homes where either drugs or alcohol are part of the scene. It is a safety issue for us. Both those are mind altering. We don't prefer to be around people who are out of their minds. I would never tell you that to your face, but most people from the North and West who never adjust are usually drinkers or condescending loud mouths. Good conservative Christians are usually welcomed with open arms.
And drop the SO. We have husbands and wives here.
He isn't my husband because if I remarry I will lose my pension from my dearly departed husband and I am not doing that. I would lose thousands of dollars a month and my medical benefits so I will continue to call him my SO.....I'm sure even the south has encountered significant others.
Is it common where you come from to go around telling people you're baptist, catholic or whatever? My understanding religion is a personal thing there, no? Why should it be different in the south?
IF church comes up in casual conversation a nice simple "I'm not interested" or "I'm not into church" will suffice. There are pagans here (had a temple around the corner where I used to live) and nobody will take pitchforks after you, but for most folks it will be something they are not familiar with, much like it is in many regions of the country
. Directory of Religious Centers
Is it common where you come from to go around telling people you're baptist, catholic or whatever? My understanding religion is a personal thing there, no? Why should it be different in the south?
IF church comes up in casual conversation a nice simple "I'm not interested" or "I'm not into church" will suffice. There are pagans here (had a temple around the corner where I used to live) and nobody will take pitchforks after you, but for most folks it will be something they are not familiar with, much like it is in many regions of the country
. Directory of Religious Centers
No, but, PCalmike said that it was common in the south to be asked what Church I went to. This is why I'm asking questions because I don't know. I don't want to live in a place that I can't be accepted because I'm not Christian.
No, but, PCalmike said that it was common in the south to be asked what Church I went to. This is why I'm asking questions because I don't know. I don't want to live in a place that I can't be accepted because I'm not Christian.
Church is social for a lot of southerners, but more along the lines of 'are you looking for (or do you have) a church home' or a straight up invitation to their church, not 'where do you go to church'. The assumption is that most people go to church, because down here many people do, so they are being 'neighborly' in trying to help a newcomer find a church home. It's perfectly fine to nicely, respectfully tell them that you aren't looking for a church home or that you don't attend church or that you aren't christian. In my personal experience if you let the christians do their thing in peace, they'll pretty much leave you alone to do your thing in peace, with an occasional need for tolerance from both sides.
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