Be the first person to like this.
1. Learn to live without stuff you don\'t need (traffic, smog etc ...)
2. Be a little more self reliant, plan your shopping ahead.
3. Accept quite.
4. Develop a small close knit group of friends.
5. Deal with nature.
6. Pray for broadband.
7. Go online to www.goholycross.org (the parish in Belmont) and watch/listen to services in real-time.
Our younger son, raised as an urban Orthodox child in Seattle, went off to a nominally-Protestant college in a small town in Oregon. I expected him to learn to live in a new culture.
His assigned roommate turned out to be nice Jewish kid from LA. (You have seen their room: icons on George\'s side and Jewish memorabilia on Joel\'s!). They understood each other, but they spent most of the first semester hiding out in their room because they couldn\'t figure out the small town people and didn\'t expect the WASPs to understand them.
Bit by bit it got better.
I moved from the concrete jungle of NYC to the bushland of Southwest Ethiopia. I guess that\'s a bit drastic for the shock of living in a small town... Anyway, this was such an odd topic that I felt compelled to write something. It probably has little to do with small town Americana.
My list would include:
1) learn the language by using it. My first phrases were \"My name is \'Waanis\' (that was the way they said \"Yohannes\") I don\'t know anything. I want to speak Banna. Tell me something.\"
2) get out as much as possible to find out what the locals are like. Sometimes they\'re very xenophobic and suspicious of newcomers.
3) be prepared to be the last person to hear of what you\'re doing wrong - and try to laugh about it.
4) be shrewd - sometimes the first person on your doorstep is actually \"fringe\" to the community.
5) make certain you visit the elders of the community and not just hang out with the Christianized ghetto folks.
6) make certain the local government knows your work permit is up to date and that you have submitted your quarterly reports to the appropriate offices.
7) graciously and humbly accept all gifts but don\'t feel bad if you need to toss them out when nobody\'s looking.
I grew up in a population of 1500.
I moved to a small town outside of St. Louis...far out, maybe 5000
Home is now a town of 325...and I\'m the Mayor--still an outsider.
Here are my tips--from long experience:
Redefine survival...Pray for broadband...Learn to like Wal-Mart...Buy a car that gets good gas mileage...Be prepared to drive a long way to church...start a collection of reader\'s services...Start a Netflix account...Pray for broadband...learn to stock up on food basics...Get a hobby...Be prepared to depend more on your family and less on friends--it will take a while...Pray for broadband...Invest in allergy medicine...
I really think Chrysanthos hit the nail on the head. Community events, barbecues and get involved.
My line of thinking was more spiritual survival, his was probably more correct for social survival.
But if I had to add more ... knowing people through your job, church, organizations, service, volunteering.
I know when I was in college I volunteered for stuff, of all things I made a lot of adult friends at an after school program for kids in a barrio by Disneyland. Even though I was surrounded by millions I was still new to the area and didn\'t mean I knew a lot of people ya know?
Every community has its own quirks and culture be it a big city or little rural area. Adapt.
You have to define where this small town is located...as in what part of the country? Your experience in rural New York will be different than SE Oklahoma, or west Texas--Montana...there really are cultural differences in varying parts of the US that are most clearly reflected in small towns.
I was orginally from a small town (of ten houses!) in the middle of the countyside, then I came to Boston for school, looking for some adventure.
To be honest with you, I want some survival tips on the big city! Even though I\'ve been here for 5 years! The crime, the smog, the smells, the trash, hardly no trees, no natural landscape, people jam-packed into broken down trains and buses, people getting mad at each others driving habits.... its a madhouse!
Granted sometimes life in the country may seem boring, but to be honest with you, if you appreciate it for what it is and what it can offer then you won\'t need to survive, you\'ll just end up loving it!
Its generally peaceful, the air is clean and sweet smelling, you acutally see native birds, plants and trees, you sometimes don\'t have to worry about locking your doors, you can pray so much easier without as many distractions. You get to experience the way we were meant to live, not in on the swealtering man-made concrete, but on the God\'s soft cool grass. Ahhh!
Living in the greater Seoul area (about 20 million people) the best way to survive the city is to become like the city dwellers... have your routine, get a hobby, don\'t worry about the air - it\'s fine, it won\'t kill you.... if you make yourself busy in the city, then you love the city for all the things it has to offer - schools, concerts, shopping, etc... and I find there is so much solitude you can find among the millions of people - even though my apartment is surrounded by dozens of 15-20 floor apartment towers, my place can feel like the quietest (sometimes the lonliest!) place on earth.
Frankly, we have to learn to be content wherever life takes us. I tried the city, and can\'t abide the constant noise, the claustrophobic feeling I get when I\'m closed in by people on every side.
However, I did enjoy living an easy driving distance away...I could enjoy the advantages without the stresses.
Now I find it a hassle just to drive to town and have to deal with people driving stupidly...I\'m becoming a hermit--I\'m becoming my mother!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (My mother was known not to leave the house/property for months on end. I\'m not quite that bad, but I am soon ready to get back when I do venture out.