This may be the 14th day of my blog, but it is my 21st day here in Alabama! What has happened to the time?? Well, this small town girl went to the big ole city of Birmingham today!!! It was thrilling but exhausting. There were 8 lanes of highway!! You hear that!? 8 lanes! The only cows I saw were on Chick-Fil-A posters and this HUGE ceramic one outside of a store (I MEANT to go take a picture with it…BUMMER). It should be noted that even though I was raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that I was not raised in your typical Oklahoma upbringing. My dad was raised in the northeast and his parents both grew up there as well. While he has lived in Oklahoma now over half of his life, he is a yankee through and through. He’d never dream of drinking sweet tea or saying the word “y’all”. While I was raised to not take on any form of an accent that had even a hint of southern twang to it, I did learn to talk at a fast pace to which every true southerner asks me to slow down. Thanks Dad :-) My mom on the other hand was born and raised in Tampa, Florida, but spent her summers in her father’s hometown in Massachuttes. Her father was raised a yankee and she was raised with a similar culture as well. The only piece missing is my mom’s mother, and well…would you believe that she was BORN IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA?!?! YES! Some part of myself comes from right here in Beautiful Bama and might I add that I get my auburn hair from her too? Still though, no roll tide needed here. My blood is that of the Sooners ;) I love my grandmother and spoke with her last night before my trip to Birmingham. I think it is neat to have a little contrast with my heritage. With all of my yankee blood that should help shed some light to my southern culture shock. I bet you didn’t expect that I actually have roots here in Alabama right? Shocking!
SO I ventured out today and honestly there is far too much to write. I was completely and utterly overwhelmed. I wish I was kidding when I say I was in culture shock. I always feel a little of this when I travel home from a foreign country. I get over stimulated by the hussle and bussle and the bombarding signs of materialism at it’s finest. Today I didn’t quite know what to do with myself and I wandered in and out of shops all because they were right next to each other not because I was buying anything. I did get several errands accomplished no thanks to the frequent “GPS signal lost”. I purchased a case for my cell phone (Android to clarify), a new weekly planner, a steal of a deal dress, and all things for Africa! I attended an incredible church service this morning that absolutely encouraged my heart! I had read a book titled, “Radical”, by the Pastor, David Platt. He’s a young 30-something that wrote this book asking some great questions of us as a Body of Christ and our role in the Great Commission. Attending the service this morning challenged me as his book had, and I left taking away so much. It was refreshing and I honor what they are doing there. I’ll try to attend a couple more times while I am living in Alabama.
Some funny moments of the day…
I went into a mall at one point and I had parked in the Macy’s parking lot. On my way out to my car, a print on a shirt caught my eye so I approached the rack that it was on. As I did so, two ladies who are literally the next rack over start talking about me while I am in ear shot. “Oh honey you are in the wrong section!” Laughs and additional comments are made as I realize that I am in the Plus Size Department. I calmly flipped through a few more shirts and walked off. As I did I heard one of the ladies remark, “Her eyes got big and she realized she couldn’t wear none of these clothes!” I felt bad, but I also felt weird they were talking to me, but not exactly engaging in conversation.
I had far too many eventful moments of driving today while crossing 6 lanes of traffic, or U-turning, or cutting people off. I was by no means trying to be that driver, but everything was new to me. Sorry Oklahoma if I gave you a bad rap with my license plate.
Lastly, I almost had tears in my eyes seeing the block long Whole Foods building. It was so beautiful and humongous that I had to take a picture. I wasn’t thinking about the fact that there were people everywhere. I just very obviously stood in the middle of the road pulled out my phone and snapped a shot of the front entrance (picture below). CLICK. Then came the awkward stares…then in great southern fashion as noted earlier, people talked about me and I am clearly able to hear them. This couple found in my picture, walk towards me and the man says, “Wow that was really awkward and bizarre. I wonder why she did that.” I could have hit him because he was that close…not because I would have ;) I then cracked up and felt a little awkward. I loaded up my groceries and headed back to HamaBama.
Ready for week #4 and looking forward SO much to my trip to Africa next week! From the country, to big city, to far away lands! This journey following the Lord is never dull that’s for sure.