Southern Scheduling

Hello from Alabama!

It's August now - I just celebrated my birthday!  Mega shout out to my brother, he sent me some Subway gift cards to make up for the fact that I can no longer earn free subs with my card.  Bless his heart!  Can you believe it?! I couldn't.  but they are super real.  THANKS, BROTHER!!

So in Alabama, the beginning of August means back-to-school for all the kids and preteens and teens.  They all start THIS WEEK.  Seems a biiiiiit early to me.  Does anyone else have school starting this week? Back in my day (god, I sound old), in Ohio, School started at the END of August. Somewhere in the 20's. The first week back meant the beginning Football Friday Night, the beginning of a new year of learning, friends, Marching Band - though that technically started with band camp, back in early august - and all the joys of going back to school.  I checked the local high school website (Bob Jones High School - I'll let you work those initials out on your own...hahaha) and they don't start the football season until August 22nd - 3 weeks after school starts! This is such a foreign concept to me.

I learned that this early start to the school year is mostly because the schools down here have what's called "fall break".  uhh...what?  For the aforementioned high school, Fall Break is scheduled for the first FULL week of October.  They get a FULL WEEK off of school.  I'll repeat: uhh....what?!  We never had that growing up in Ohio!  We got labor day off, and "fair day" off. (This was the first Monday of the Delaware County Fair - the whole district was off that day because so many kids were involved in junior fair board, 4H, showing animals, tractor pulls, all that good stuff.  In the past, if they didn't have a day off, there wouldn't be enough kids at school to have normal classes).  Times have probably changed, but fair day is still in practice - although now they call it a "professional development day".  But you can't fool me, Olentangy.  That's Fair Day.  Anyway, we got off those two days, and maybe a day here and there for conferences, and that was IT until Thanksgiving.

Kids these days.

Another strange thing to get used to:  Central time.  I am no longer in the Eastern (superior) time zone.  When I was younger* I wondered what time 8:00/7:00C was.  I had no concept of time zones and how they worked. My Uncle Jim was in a different time zone sometimes - daylight savings related, and I sort of understood that.  Granted, this doesn't apply to the whole south, Florida, Georgia, half of Tennessee, and the Carolinas are exempt.   Central time is equal parts difficult and awesome.

Difficult: 1. Prime-time television starts at 7:00pm.  SEVEN.  We usually haven't even eaten dinner yet at that point!  Right now, it's not so bad.  Summer programming is mostly terrible (Except for "Running Wild with Bear Grylls".  Check it out!  NBC at 8/7C!)  But once all the good stuff starts back up, it's going to be a struggle!

Difficult 2. Calling/Texting people back home.  That hour difference sometimes seems huge.  in the morning, it affects me - someone calls or texts and I'm still snoring.  In the evening, I'll be like, 'Oh! It's only 9:45, I can still call mom!  Oh...it's 10:45 there...maybe I should text to see if she's still up...*sadface*'

Difficult 3. I haven't experienced this yet, so it could potentially be down in the Awesome section, depending on how it goes:  Noon games on Saturdays will now begin at 11:00am for me!  Whaaaa? Since I don't do much drinking anymore, I'm thinking this will be awesome, because football will start SOONER!  But, time will tell. Get it? Time?! Haha. Countdown to Kick-off!

College football season is coming! Wooooo!

Awesome: Late night television starts at 10:30pm!  I can watch part of the tonight show without passing out or being super tired in the morning!

Awesome 2. I uh...I can't think of another awesome thing about central time.  Sorry, I really tried.

So, it turns out, via super scientific method, that central time is NOT equal parts difficult and awesome.  At least not until football season, where the pendulum could swing back into more equal territory.

These are a few examples of how Southern scheduling and timing are different that what I'm used to.  I'll get used to it eventually, and if we do start our family here and send our kids to these fine southern schools, I'm sure I'll LOVE having a vacation in October :)

*Why does this post sound like a crotchety old lady? "When I was your age..." and "in my day..." I guess I'm entitled to say these things because I'm so old now.  haha.

Some southern observations...looking at you, Subway.

So, in Ohio, Subway has these reward cards.  Every time you buy something, points accumulate.  I've had my subway card for years.  YEARS.  I had racked up, and used, a ton of points over those years.  There have been quite a few free subs in my past!  Last time I checked, I had lot of points sitting there waiting for redemption. Look at this beauty:

My actual subway card, in all its glory!

So, imagine my surprise when I stopped into Subway for lunch a  few weeks ago, handed over my subway card, and heard "there's no money on this".  It went like this:

Subway girl (SG): There's no money on here, ma'am.

Me: Oh, I know.  I wanted to use it for points?

SG: *blank stare*

Me: umm, y'all do points down here, right?

SG: (hollering to another employee) hey, do we do "points" here?

Me: *hopeful gaze*

Other SG: points? no?

SG: (back to me) no.

Me: Is it because my card has the Ohio State logo on it?

SG: *blank stare*

Me: Ok, nevermind then...

Is this real?  Am I destined to pay for all of my subs from here on out?  I did not sign up for that. I'll get over it...eventually.  There are plenty of other sandwich shops down here.   I'll find a new love.

Where am I?

Alert: There are armadillos in Alabama.  ARMADILLOS.  Am I the only one who thought that armadillos were a thing strictly in the wild west? Rolling along the desert roadways, racing tumbleweeds? To be fair, I have yet to see a live armadillo...just sail* 'dillos.  
(*sail - mid-west colloquialism for roadkill.  It's flat, so if you fling it like a Frisbee, it will sail. Get it?)

Armadillo. Habitat: Alabama (apparently)

Hi, I'm Jill.  I recently moved to Northern Alabama from Columbus Ohio.  I was born and raised in the mid-west, scarlet and grey blood flows through my veins. The south is somewhat of an enigma to me.  My goal is to figure it out and assimilate into the culture here.  Hopefully make some friends and become gainfully employed.  

That's me on the left.  "O" #1.

I miss Ohio with all of my heart.  I miss my friends, my family, even my mom's cats.  Those weird little cats.  I've been informed that the little cat no longer barfs as much, now that my dog doesn't live with him.  So that's a positive to moving out. Another positive, I get to live with my husband!  He's the reason I moved down here to Alabama.  We were married on May 24, 2014.  It was a gorgeous day, and we were so blissfully happy to be surrounded by all (most) of our family and friends! That's another post for another day, though. 

This blog will help me wade through the differences the south has to offer, insights I learn, and life as an Ohio girl, gone south. I invite you to join me for this adventure!