Southern Hospitality
I started my adventures in nursing and living in the bible belt of the country. People are really friendly down here but I’m realizing they’re a bit different than the people in Vermont or New England in general. Religion is everywhere, everyone goes to Church, everyone prays for you and most social activities and friends involve church based groups/parties. My roomie explained all social activities around here revolve around church. Maybe this explains why everything is closed or has limited hours on Sundays. Nope I'm not living in Spain, it’s the South where Sunday is the day of rest. All of the girls on my unit are super nice and friendly but there seems to be a common thread in many of them. Over ½ of the nurses are in their 20’s and 30’s. Either engaged or newly weds and it seems they all can’t wait to get pregnant and become housewives. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing; I’m not trying to start drama at work I’m just usually around ladies with this desire. Strange that they worked so hard for their degrees and have such a strong desire to stay at home and be Moms. Whatever floats their boats. Another Southern thing is I find everyone refer to complete strangers as “honey, sweetie, sugar”. I’ve even found myself doing it with patients. “Sweetie can I just grab your blood sugar for a minute.” And don’t get me started on the food down here. AMAZING. I didn’t realize I liked biscuits so much. I LOVE THEM. Okra is my new favorite veggie. I’m sure eating them deep-fried kills the nutritional benefit of eating them. BBQ is everywhere and it tastes delightful. Oh yeah, did I mention how much I love biscuits? But I have to limit my intake or I will soon have a biscuit basket hanging out in my mid section. Even though the food is great it can be harder to find local restaurants around here because this place is swamped with fast food chain and other chain restaurants. Golden Coral, Cracker Barrel, Sage Brush, Arbys, Hardees, Taco Bell, Biscuitville (yum) and Bojangles is EVERYWHERE. I don’t know how a large majority of the women down here are well dressed, fashionable and eat this delicious food and still look so svelte. TELL ME YOUR SECRET!
Adventures with Heather
Since I haven’t really made a solid friends yet, Heather and I have been chillaxing and hitting up some fun activities while her husband lives in the lab on the weekends. We went to our first UNC Chapel Hill college basketball game. I don't really get to hyped up for sports, much less college level sports but I guess around here it’s a big deal. People dress up, paint their faces, have special cheers. It’s a big deal. It was so much fun to see everyone so pumped up, watch the marching band and learn some basketball facts from Heather. I didn’t know she had so much ESPN game knowledge. Maybe it’s common sense or she actually listened to what our Gym teachers said during the basketball unit. Either way it was a blast. My favorite part was the half time show. They have a cheer team AND a dance team that supports the teams during games. They also had the special jump-roping group that did all sorts of tricks. AMAZING. I still don’t know how they managed the tricks but I LOVED IT. Teach me to double dutch, PLEASE!!!!
Canning
I have been slacking on my canning since I’m not really set up for preserving but I was able to make a quick batch of pickled asparagus and attempted my first batch of creole pickled okra. Both were delightful and I was able to show Heather a little bit about canning. I also busted out my pressure canner for a second time thus far and make turkey and chicken stock out of all the carcasses Heather has been stashing in her freezer for such an occasion. I think Anthony was getting rattled by the lack of freezer space so we had to make quick work of the bones before he threatened to toss them. It was delightful and I think Heather has used up all her jars so far. I’ve also started freaking out looking at all of the jam and pickles I’ve got in the cupboards of NC and PA. I made all of these treats and have been squirreling them away to enjoy as special treats but now the summer is creeping upon us I need to make room for new pickles and jams. I have started eating jam and Greek yogurt everyday but I don’t know if it’s enough. Luckily it won’t be much work for me to knock off the pickles. I can easily eat a jar in a sitting. I’m currently looking for baked treats that incorporate jams and jellies that I can pass off on my co-workers to help me nosh on the last bits of jam goodness that I possess.