I have always loved living in the south. It is my favorite place in the world. Not that I have ever visited any other places to which I can really compare it. I've never been to the north in New York or Maine. I've never been to the west coast and seen California or Washington. I've never been to the west mountains or to Canada, or to Europe. I've mainly spent most of my life, vacations included, in the south.
I love the south for many reasons. I love southern hospitality, and how nice people from the south can be. I love the fact that so many people in the south are Christians. As I am also a Christian, this is a comforting fact. I don’t know how I would handle it if I lived somewhere in which most people didn’t have similar beliefs to mine. And I also love living in the south because guys actually act like gentlemen in the south.
This may sound like I am an old lady, talking about young whippersnappers and how they should behave. That is not the case. I am still a young woman, and I just love it when a guy, especially one my age, acts like a gentleman and treats me like a lady. I can’t help but smile when I young man at church holds a door open for me, or when a guy friend lets me enter a room first or offers to do something for me, or gives up their seat when there are none left for me. My heart flutters just a little bit and I feel like that guy who has just done that gentlemanly act is one of the good ones.
It is for these reasons that it really annoys me when foreigners come to the south for work or school, and don’t know these gentlemanly manners. There are many students where I currently attend school who are from somewhere in Asia. And when I wait for the bus, they are normally not far behind. I have come to expect most men to automatically wait for me to get on or off the bus first before they begin to move. And these boys from Asia do not do this. When the bus is preparing to stop, they hop up and rush to stand in front of me and beat me to exiting. Or, when entering a building, they rush through the door, letting it nearly hit me in their haste to get somewhere quickly or in their neglect to act like a gentleman.
I thought one of the points of going to a foreign place for school or work was to learn about the culture and to try to BECOME part of that culture. And I have yet to see the boys attempt to do this, especially when it comes to gentlemen behavior. Why can’t you do this? Want to pick up an American girl from the south? Then act like a gentleman and hold a door open for her! Do things for her once in a while! She’ll notice and love it!
__________
As an update to my life, it has been almost five months since my last update, but since no one is reading these anymore, I think it’s ok. When I was last on here, it was May, and I provided a heated blog as my previous post. In April, my Borders store closed. It almost broke my heart because I loved most of the people I worked with. I found a replacement job at an independent half-price book store, but that lasted two and a half weeks. For some reason, the manager thought my customer service level wasn’t what they wanted and decided to fire me. How did they do this? I was down in my future (but now current) college town looking at apartments with my mom when I received a phone call. I couldn’t answer because I thought I would lose service and let it go to voicemail. Little did I know it was the manager, calling to tell me I was fired.
Yep, I was fired through voicemail. Needless to say, I was ticked and when I got back in town, I immediately went to the bookstore and cornered the manager and told her off, saying she was unprofessional and no one deserves to be fired over voicemail. It was really cathartic. I was able to find a nannying job over the summer, and that kept me busy.
I came to school in mid august and I am loving it so far. My migraines have increased a little, but I expected that. My classes are difficult but my professors are alright and I love most of my classmates. There is also an amazing group of people at church that I’ve been hanging with. And possibly a guy in my future. So far, my outlook seems really great right now! I think this move to go back to college was a good idea. Let’s hope I’m not wrong!
“Excuse me, but I am genuinely self-absorbed and deeply shallow!”– Fiyero, Wicked!
Princess Booka
I love the south for many reasons. I love southern hospitality, and how nice people from the south can be. I love the fact that so many people in the south are Christians. As I am also a Christian, this is a comforting fact. I don’t know how I would handle it if I lived somewhere in which most people didn’t have similar beliefs to mine. And I also love living in the south because guys actually act like gentlemen in the south.
This may sound like I am an old lady, talking about young whippersnappers and how they should behave. That is not the case. I am still a young woman, and I just love it when a guy, especially one my age, acts like a gentleman and treats me like a lady. I can’t help but smile when I young man at church holds a door open for me, or when a guy friend lets me enter a room first or offers to do something for me, or gives up their seat when there are none left for me. My heart flutters just a little bit and I feel like that guy who has just done that gentlemanly act is one of the good ones.
It is for these reasons that it really annoys me when foreigners come to the south for work or school, and don’t know these gentlemanly manners. There are many students where I currently attend school who are from somewhere in Asia. And when I wait for the bus, they are normally not far behind. I have come to expect most men to automatically wait for me to get on or off the bus first before they begin to move. And these boys from Asia do not do this. When the bus is preparing to stop, they hop up and rush to stand in front of me and beat me to exiting. Or, when entering a building, they rush through the door, letting it nearly hit me in their haste to get somewhere quickly or in their neglect to act like a gentleman.
I thought one of the points of going to a foreign place for school or work was to learn about the culture and to try to BECOME part of that culture. And I have yet to see the boys attempt to do this, especially when it comes to gentlemen behavior. Why can’t you do this? Want to pick up an American girl from the south? Then act like a gentleman and hold a door open for her! Do things for her once in a while! She’ll notice and love it!
__________
As an update to my life, it has been almost five months since my last update, but since no one is reading these anymore, I think it’s ok. When I was last on here, it was May, and I provided a heated blog as my previous post. In April, my Borders store closed. It almost broke my heart because I loved most of the people I worked with. I found a replacement job at an independent half-price book store, but that lasted two and a half weeks. For some reason, the manager thought my customer service level wasn’t what they wanted and decided to fire me. How did they do this? I was down in my future (but now current) college town looking at apartments with my mom when I received a phone call. I couldn’t answer because I thought I would lose service and let it go to voicemail. Little did I know it was the manager, calling to tell me I was fired.
Yep, I was fired through voicemail. Needless to say, I was ticked and when I got back in town, I immediately went to the bookstore and cornered the manager and told her off, saying she was unprofessional and no one deserves to be fired over voicemail. It was really cathartic. I was able to find a nannying job over the summer, and that kept me busy.
I came to school in mid august and I am loving it so far. My migraines have increased a little, but I expected that. My classes are difficult but my professors are alright and I love most of my classmates. There is also an amazing group of people at church that I’ve been hanging with. And possibly a guy in my future. So far, my outlook seems really great right now! I think this move to go back to college was a good idea. Let’s hope I’m not wrong!
“Excuse me, but I am genuinely self-absorbed and deeply shallow!”– Fiyero, Wicked!
Princess Booka