Interesting difference...

Linda and I have lived in many different places in our lifetimes but no place was as "foreign" to us as living in Urbanna, VA. I'm talking about acclimating to the area and "fitting in". For a long time, I kept thinking that it was just me and something I was or wasn't picking up on but then I got to talking to a co-worker, from Ohio, and she said that she noticed it too when she first moved to the area. First a little geography lesson.Urbanna is located in Middlesex County and is in a part of Virginia known as the Middle Peninsula. Being close to the Chesapeake Bay must contribute to the boating culture that is so prevalent for this area. When you travel out of the area (for example when you go to an RV show) and try to explain where Urbanna is located, I would usually give directions relevant to cities such as Richmond. People will ask if you're on the "Eastern Shore", on the "Northern Neck" or some other water based positioning. If you look at a map of Virginia it would seem to be pretty straight forward but not so when you get near the coastal areas. I guess growing up in PA, where you have Philadelphia in the bottom right corner of the state, Pittsburgh in the bottom left corner, Erie in the top left corner and the Poconos in the top right corner of the state....all directions are based on these landmarks....then there was Williamsport in "Central Pa" which should be self explanatory but always came with the "And what's that close to ?" question. But even that explanation paled to the cultural/directional differences we found in Urbanna. Everyone knows everybody else in Urbanna....they know what church you go to...where all the family members work, what school the kids go to, etc. When wondering about a potential candidate who's applied for a position, they go home and ask their kids or spouse what they know about so and so. It's a "Who you know" town where the talk revolves around boats, fish or water in some shape or manner....Back home in PA, it wouldn't be that important to say I'm from Tioga County but down here, being from Middlesex County is everything. There are more private schools than public ones. These differences were interesting but very difficult to adjust to when the expectation from "the locals" is that you know all of this. Accents also vary a lot between people in the area. Some folks had such a "twang" to their speech that it was very hard to understand what they were saying...others you'd hardly know that they were from the area other than the "Ya'all" that would give them away. We're only an hour away from Urbanna, here in Williamsburg, and we haven't noticed anything like that here. There doesn't seem to be a cultural microcosm here as there was in Middlesex County, Middle Peninsula....Urbanna. Amen !