Culture shock: moving from an urban to a rural area

Rural real estate is popular. But, think ahead and don’t open up to; Culture shock; An unnecessary evil, when moving to a rural area. Anyone CAN prevent some of the Cultural Shock that can occur when moving to a rural neighborhood!

Before moving to a rural property, meet the people there and seek to learn the culture of the area, the existing culture, NOT the one you are used to or want to convert to.

Our company recently sold one of the most perfect Homestead properties I have ever seen, at a very low price! Why? Because the new owner became so obnoxious in his new surroundings and so terribly alienated the neighbors that they eventually made him unbearably uncomfortable. Therefore, he no longer wanted to live there.

He is a rude environmentalist and decided to move from the city to a rural community where many of the families go back 400 years on the same land. He was a city boy with a degree in forestry, biology and ecology and he didn’t have the common sense of people. His applied religion was based on watching Walt Disney movies; where trees speak and man is bad and animals and plants are perfect.

He didn’t want his new neighbors hunting deer, cultivating fields early in the morning, using agricultural chemicals or artificial fertilizers on crops. He didn’t like airplanes that sprayed killer bugs early in the morning. Nor did he like the smell of chicken manure and pig manure scattered across the fields. He spoke constantly, loudly and aggressively. He made an enemy of almost all his neighbors. He’s already gone and I hope the new buyer, also from the city, won’t repeat his social mistakes.

Most of the people who live here are great and realize that they are in a new place and seek to be part of and work within our cultural, social and economic structures. Most of our newcomers are wonderful and we have many as the population here in southern Delaware doubles every 6 years!

There are a small number of noisy people, just a few, who come and hate it here. However, they left where they were coming from to have a better life in this area. We see it all the time. The locals call them environmental nuts, tree lovers, bug kissers, and much worse. These are the people who have learned all about nature from Walt Disney, Nature Channel, Discovery Channel, and Sierra magazine. And yes, they often have college degrees. They are not aware that reality is different from their movies, readings, classes, and dreams. Therefore, many of them flee the city and then seek to impose their ignorance and rudeness on the members of the community they have joined. They try to intimidate others and try to get them to agree to the rules, regulations, concepts and philosophy that they left in the city. It is NOT a good plan if you want to have a nice place to live. Many of these people think they know more about nature, trees, plants, animals, the earth, and everything else; than those whose families have lived in harmony with the earth’s ways of life for decades or even centuries here. I hope my previous strong language has impressed you to read and learn here, rather than the eventually tough hands of a rural community if you don’t pay attention to what’s here.

It is advisable to visit the area in which you plan to live several times before moving there. Join the church, support the Volunteer Fire Department, buy gas at the nearest gas station, buy your beer or wine at the local liquor store, become familiar with each public area, and visit community centers and philanthropic groups in the area. Above all, chat with people and tell them that you are considering moving to the area and ask them for advice. Visit the Lions Club, Sertoma, Elks, Rotary, Red Men, etc., and seek to learn rather than teach. Listen instead of talking. Ask, don’t say.

There is little, if anything, that the newcomer can teach the locals about local things. If you must try teaching the locals anything; If you try to teach them about your experience where you come from, why you were paid to do in the past, about the job and the area you fled from (if you can find someone who cares), you are on the wrong track and just shipwrecked. .

Obviously, if you’re one of those people who gave up all that urban stuff, you don’t find it that valuable either. Otherwise it should have stayed there. And you can bet that is exactly what your neighbors will think if you move to a rural area and take a know-it-all and I’m a lot smarter because I come from the city. attitude. They may be quiet or even friendly in your presence for a while, but that kind of attitude will only provoke animosity from those around you. And they will talk briefly about you among themselves and your bad attitude will precede you and it will be almost impossible to correct later.

Find out what the community needs and wants from new or potential members, like you; Really find out, don’t guess or assume, and leave prejudice out of the picture. We have had many people who have moved here to be marketing experts or public relations experts or graphic design experts. None of the several dozen I have known in the last 30 years is still in

businesses and none of them are still here that I know of. The service they expected to charge a lot of money for was not wanted at any price, not even free.

One of my clients, about twenty-five years ago, moved from San Francisco to a “small town (800 inhabitants) unspoiled, rural, quaint and picturesque, populated with down-to-earth people and the salt of the earth.” as she spoke of them at the beginning. The couple I speak of had their son neutered, in fact, they had a surgeon do it, so that his voice wouldn’t change with age, all so that he could sing in a world-famous choir.

They wanted to start training the locals to build a “boys choir.” They were enraged that the local school district would not support a choir of boys who they were sure could be the envy of the world, if they could show everyone how to do everything. A year later they spoke of “the disgusting little town full of ignorant, stupid, and irritable homeless people, shacks, shacks, old trucks, fat, toothless men, red collars, gossiping women, uneducated rubies, and inbred gang members whose idea of ​​culture was a beer and hamburger in a van. ” The San Franciscans have also left. His name rarely comes up, and when he does, he is not in a good mood or good spirit.

I am dedicated to the sale of rural land, forests and houses. I love the people who already live in the different areas where I work. I love the clients I do business with. Most of the time, newcomers fit in well with the pre-existing community. Some, very few, of my clients move out and spoil the area for themselves and for a time, for those who are already here. The only reason is that they have not learned the REALITY of rural life in the particular community before buying there.

In fact, it is often not possible to rent before buying in a particular area; so it’s very, very wise to take a good look before jumping into a rural community if you didn’t grow up there. Even if you grew up in a rural area and then didn’t keep in touch with family and friends there since then, you may not fit in anymore. But you can relearn those customs that you left behind, if you really want to “go back to your roots.” And if you’ve never lived in the area, you can learn the ethnicity, the customs, and learn to be a good neighbor.

IF you are looking to integrate and contribute to the community, according to what IS really necessary and desired in that particular community, it is very possible that you will enjoy a kind of paradise on earth in your new home.

A companion comes to mind who came, loved and was well loved. He was a military radio expert who had traveled the world, made tons of money, lived in DC and Northern Virginia for decades. I attended the finest, fastest and most expensive shows in the area, and after I retired, I decided to move to our rural tourist area. Moved here at the height of the CB craze, when almost everyone in rural areas had a CB and wanted it to work better or needed one installed properly in their home or car. He made it all free for anyone who asked. After all, he was retired. Every time I visited, I would load my Wagoneer with eggs, fruits and vegetables from the farms, orchards and gardens of those I had helped. I helped him make the contacts he wanted to make and get permits for private “fishing holes” away from it all. He was a catch and release fisherman and always cleaned up all the trash around the fishing hole, even before he started fishing there.

A neighbor cut the lawn to this gentleman and told him that he would get a good swear if he bought a lawn mower splurging. Another neighbor wouldn’t take a penny to change the brakes on his car. Another neighbor fixed his roof for free. Several of the ladies in the neighborhood prepared an extra dinner for him, two or three times a week, and brought it to him. He was invited to dinner somewhere in the surrounding community almost every night. And they asked him for stories of his travels around the world and the fancy parties he attended. He was fit and actually quite wealthy, living simply, paid well, and invested well during his years of work.

He could have afforded an expensive home, but instead chose to live simply and within his means. His car broke down, he was about 8 years old, one time and he stopped, got out and planned to walk a couple of miles to get help. He told me that three cars stopped to take him away in the space of a few minutes and one of them, in a van, hitched his car and towed it to another friend’s house where it was fixed for free.

Later he sold the car at a very reasonable price to a lady in the neighborhood who really needed help. He sold it to him for a thousand dollars, roughly what the dealer would have given him and a couple thousand less than what one would have cost him. Paid cash for another three-year-old car. He could have afforded a new Mercedes, had he wanted one. He constantly told me how good his neighbors were. Why? Because he was a good neighbor to everyone else!

He passed away, we don’t know why, and there were hundreds at his funeral, more than most natives would have and none were family … He left a good inheritance to the local volunteer fire department, for new equipment and asked that instead of flowers, people plant a tree. We used him as an example of a GREAT newcomer and he set a high standard for all of us as neighbors.

Copyright © 2004 Jody Hudson www.JodyHudson.com www.RuralSpecialist.com [http://www.RuralSpecialist.com] and www.Kate-Jody.com
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