Skin
There is a lot more skin in the south than there is in Alaska. No, I’m not saying the South is fat (but maybe it is? http://calorielab.com/news/2010/06/28/fattest-states-2010/ ). It’s just that in the south there are a lot fewer months of the year where you need to be covered for warmth.
I was thinking about this in Wal-mart the other day (yes I shop at Wal-mart, forgive me) when I was watching a woman juggling 3 children. She had her hands full, but I was still thinking how lucky she was that she didn’t have a whole shopping cart full of jackets and mittens and hats and boots that the children had shed as soon as they entered the store and no room for groceries unless she managed to somehow drive secondary shopping cart as well (Oh, and they are ‘buggies’ here, not ‘carts’).
There isn’t as much room for modesty here. Even I have experienced the difference. Being a large woman, I used to see my flabby arms and despair and NEVER wear a tank top in public or even short sleeves. The first Summer I was here, I got over that. So look at my arms and glory in their pendulousness! *waves arms flap flap flap*
Speaking of Wal-Mart.
I never met an Alaskan that hated Wal-Mart. I’m sure there were some, I just didn’t know them. I have met many many people in South Carolina that hate Wal-Mart… with various different reasons. Some which I can somewhat agree with, some that I cannot. But I’m not going to debate those reasons here.
Wal-Mart is relatively new in Alaska and always seemed to be a happy arrival in a community. With Alaska having such higher prices on retail items, groceries especially, Wal-Mart brought cheapness and competitiveness. But a cheapness without products being completely subpar. It also brought convenience. “One stop shopping” in Alaska is a wonderful thing when you live outside of one of the few “large” cities and have to drive the treacherous Alaskan roads and highways. And Jobs. Wal-Mart brought jobs. No, not the best jobs. But the starter jobs, or the after retirement jobs or the make ends meet jobs that are so crucial for a large part of our society.
I can’t hate Wal-Mart. Sorry.
Daylight
Having grown up in Alaska where it is dark all winter and light all summer (minor exaggeration here), I expected the complete opposite in South Carolina. And while it is not as extreme, the amount of daylight does change between winter and summer. In the winter there isn’t much daylight left when I get off work and not much light when I head in… which is still better than in Alaska where in mid winter it is dark going home and dark going to work and I only saw daylight looking out my office window in the middle of the day or on weekends. I’m in a cubicle here in South Carolina, but it’s not as depressing as it’d be in an Alaskan winter.
Even having lived there most of my life, I never felt that i got used to the major change in seasonal light. In winter with the darkness I’d feel tired all the time and just want to stay at home, in summer and all the daylight I’d be a restless insomniac. Here in SC, I feel that I’m on a much more even keel. Sometimes I do get a tiny yearning for the midnight sun… but the warm summer evenings here would be hard to give up, now that I know and love them.
Gardening
Nine months of gardening in a year in SC. NINE I tell you! My joy knows no bounds! I can grow tomatoes and I can start them from seed right in the ground and they have enough time to not only grow to maturity and bear tasty fruit, but I CAN PLANT A SECOND CROP IN THE SAME YEAR!!!!
Ok, so not all of those nine months can I grow tomatoes. But everything that was a summer crop in Alaska is a spring or fall crop here, plus I can grow tomatoes! From seed!! In the ground!!! And cucumbers and peppers without needing raised beds to keep them warm! If I really wanted to, I could grow corn! How crazy is that??? And asparagus and decent sized onions and sweet potatoes and so many others I am overwhelmed just thinking about it!
So I have to water a lot more as it’s so hot here, who cares? I CAN GROW TOMATOES FROM SEEDS IN THE GROUND CAN YOU UNDERSTAND MY JOY????? I’d grab your shoulders and shake you as I yelled that if I could.
With a simple greenhouse, I will be gardening year round some day, mark my words! Growing tomatoes!
Can you tell I like growing tomatoes?
I haven’t noticed any other major differences other than the soil where I live in SC is quite sandy. Where I was in Alaska it was almost perfect topsoil… but with lots of rocks. So here you amend in lots of organics, and there you were always digging up rocks.
Garden pests here are different, but not any more or less annoying. With the exception of voles. South Carolina might be the vole capital of the world, but that’s just a guess. I hate them so. Just thinking about them now and how last year they murdered my amazing 2 season old curled leaf parsley within a day of me transplanting it I want to kick something! Preferably a vole.
Football
Alaska does not have its own professional football team to root for or any college teams in popular leagues, so people pick another state to cheer on, or try to get interested in local college or even high school teams. But there is not the passion that you see here in SC about the sport, my theory being Alaskans don’t feel invested.
But here… things are different here. When football season starts… the decorations come out. Kind of like at Christmas time, but football themed. Here in Columbia, that means Gamecocks. Or as they are affectionately called, just “the Cocks”. All the expected jokes apply and are encouraged.
Houses will fly Gamecock flags and banners and other such things. Cars will have flags flapping out their windows. People wear Cocks t-shirts. There are other teams whose colors are flown but who cares about them? GO COCKS!!!
Surrounded by all this enthusiasm how could I not get sucked in? I never HATED football, I just didn’t care before. I even kind of understand the game a little bit now! I am really looking forward to football this fall. How odd is that?
Air Conditioning
The last summer I lived in Alaska I worked in a building downtown that used to be an old hospital. It was built in the 60′s and had no AC. Most buildings and houses in Alaska don’t have AC. Heck, until recently, it was hard to get a car with AC. Well, this building had an issue with the furnace/air system (no AC but it still circulated air). I had a corner office on the 5th floor with 2 windows. One window had been glued shut during the winter as the hinges on it were cracked and they were afraid if it were opened it would fall out. I could open my other window, but with no cross draft, it didn’t help much. On a daily basis that last summer, my office would get up to almost 90 degrees. Eventually I got a fan and it helped some.
So I thought that I was going to LOVE AC.
But I don’t. AC is too cold! “What?” you say. An woman from the frozen north thinks the AC which brings her house down to only 76 degrees is ‘too cold’? What the heck???
I’m not used to air blowing all the time! In Alaska a HUGE percentage of heating is radiant baseboard heating, powered by hot water and ‘heat registers’ along the walls. So, I’m not even used to heat blowing at me. In our last home, everywhere I sat, the AC seemed to be blowing on my feet. In front of the kitchen sink, in front of the bathroom sink, in my chair at my computer desk, on the couch… AC right on my feet. Brrrrr!!! So, I started wearing slippers. In the summer. In South Carolina. Seems silly, but if my feet get cold, I’m cold! Doesn’t matter what temperature it is elsewhere, just no cold feet please!
See Part 1 HERE
