Days 9-11: Musings from the deep south

Musings from the deep south

As we drive away from Savannah, on our way north to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and then across by rail to New York to start our fourteen day Trafalgar tour, I thought I would jot a few of our observations from the south.

I commented in an earlier blog about my surprise with the amount of written Spanish.  As we moved around amongst the people of Savannah, we heard plenty of Spanish being spoken as well.  

Between people from Mexico and the African American population, white people certainly seem to be a minority in Savannah. I find it sobering every time I am sitting just people-watching to think that every one of those African American people is a descendent of a negro slave.  We have seen quite a few who are very dark and have facial features very like northern Australian aboriginal people.

In terms of the labour force, it seems very much that the white people are in management and the African Americans are in service.  Apparently the Mexicans are below them in the pecking order, being left to do the more menial jobs.  Rob and Damien say that they are seen as quite odd because Damien mows his own lawn.  He was told early on that he can ‘get Mexicans to do that ya know’.

People certainly are friendly and VERY polite.  So polite infact that a driver will often stop mid-street to let someone cross the road.  (Pedestrian crossings seem to indicate an optional stop, just as we found in China.)  One has to be extremely on the ball with drivers politely stopping to let one cross the road, because there is no guarantee the driver coming along in the second lane has seen or even agrees with the other’s good manners, and driver number two is just as likely to plough right through!!

Everyone here is Miss… or Mr….  In just a few days I have become used to being addressed as Miss Miriam and people introducing themselves in the same way.  I have also become used to calling people Sir or Ma’am – it’s just what they do here.

Currently it is spring and the days are gorgeously warm and sunny.  Robyn and Damien tell us that in a few short weeks, they will give way to hot, steamy, unbearable tropical summer days, so we are glad we will be gone by then.

As with everywhere we go, we find signs that amuse us.  It is common to see signs on doors of shops and cafes saying that firearms are not permitted.  I wonder how often that sign is respected?  See what you can make of these that we saw on a local bus.  They have got us beaten!

Robyn and Damien are both studying hard, preparing for exams.  Damien’s is in order to be accepted into one of his chosen universities to undergo further training.  For Robyn, the study is in order to allow her to teach in Savannah.  To do this she must prove her worth by sitting an examination on the Georgia curriculum – not how it is run but on what she will need to teach.  She is very frustrated when she comes across facts that are just plain wrong and she knows that in order to pass the exam, she will have to put answers that she knows to be incorrect as her response.

With that being the standard, neither Robyn nor Damien are looking forward to having the children at school in Savannah.  However Thomas is three days a week at a very good day-care centre with very creative and caring staff. 

Churches are plenty – this is the southern Bible belt.  Most are Baptist and we even passed two Baptist churches within about one hundred metres of each other!