Southerners talk a lot. They don't talk fast, but they do talk often. My first experience of this was actually before we even moved here. When we came to look for a place to live, Ian had to meet with one of the attendings at his new hospital. Not having anything better to do, I decided to hang out in the department waiting area and try to figure out how we could navigate a city where you can be at the corner of Queens Rd. and Queens Rd. Every person who walked by me said something... I think some of the people were talking to themselves, but I'm not sure. Some of it definitely was directed to me, like the guy who saw my map and said, "Give it up. You're going to get lost." Some people obviously were more friendly than others, but everyone said something. Eventually, I stopped pulling my purse closer to me every time someone walked up to my little area and actually responded to a few of them with more than a puzzled smile. I was taught not to talk to strangers, after all.
As with most moves, Ian and I spent our first few days in Charlotte at Target. One checker commented on our purchases (actually, all of them did in one way or another) and we told her we just moved from Chicago. She was very excited about this and told us she was from Michigan. She then went on to tell us that she's from Michigan (speaking faster and faster, moving out of the Southern pace now that she knew we'd understand her) and has lived in Charlotte for three years. She likes it, but the people take a while to get used to. They talk to you all the time... even people you don't know will just start up conversations with you. I said, "Really? That's amazing." She affirmed that this is true and said they always ask you if you go to church. "Like it's any of their business if you go to church or not. That took me a long time to get used to... people asking that all the time. By the way, do you go to church?"
And that brings up the second bit of Charlotte culture shock... the traffic. Coming from Chicago, Ian and I had high hopes for finally spending less than 80% of our lives stuck in traffic. Happily, we've found the Charlotte traffic to be very manageable (despite what the locals say) with one significant exception... Sunday. This past Sunday, we thought we would try out a church near Ian's hospital, which is just about 5 miles from where we live. (It's seems like everything in Charlotte is 5 miles away. Beautiful.) We thought that leaving 30 minutes early would give us time to get lost a few times and eventually find the place with a little time to spare. Clearly, we did not consider the church traffic. From our place, we passed Providence United Methodist Church, St. Gabriel's Catholic Church (went there the first week), Trinity Presbyterian Church, Christ Episcopal Church, Myers Park Presbyterian Church, Myers Park Methodist Church... before we'd even gotten halfway there. Not only are there a crazy huge number of churches here, but there are a crazy huge number of people who go to them. Each church has at least one, often two, traffic cops waiting at the parking lots to let people in and out. We barely made it to our own church on time and, feeling sure that our road was just a religious fluke, decided to take a different way back. We came across at least as many churches that way... Many tucked away in the trees that we've never noticed before... and still wouldn't have noticed if not for the cars and the traffic cops. If this is the worst of the traffic in the city, I'll gladly take it!
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