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January 1, 2003
What I am learning about "small
town/country living" vs. "city
living" - by Juliana Kelsall
For the past year, I have been staying
with Darrel and Gale Wiltrout in their
home on Obenchain Road. (lama
missionary home on furlough.) I grew
up in a suburb of Portland, but the
Rogue Valley has been my "home base"
since I moved here in 1988. Trail
Christian Fellowship is my "home
church," so that is why I have been
here during my furlough.
While staying with Darrel and Gale, I
have been enjoying learning about "small
town/country living" vs. "city living."
I'd like to share some of those lessons,
and I welcome corrections or further
explanations. (The job of a missionary
includes learning about the local
culture, wherever you may be!)
The "country wave." When you are
driving on Obenchain Road, it is
customary to give a small wave to the
drivers of the cars you pass along the
way, even if you don't know them. This
does not need to be a big gesture -
usually it simply involves lifting a hand
just off the steering wheel. This is
very friendly and somehow reassuring to
a newcomer like me - it is nice to be
acknowledged in a way other than
having a car horn honked at you, which
is more common in the city, especially
if you happen to be in front of someone
who thinks you both could have made it
through that yellow light. In
September, I was housesitting in the
Portland area. One day as I was
driving through the neighborhood, a
little girl out for a walk (with a man
Vol. 9
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who was probably her grandpa) waved
at me. I automatically waved back,
and she was so excited that she broke
out in a big smile, jumping up and down
and pointing. (Grandpa didn't get mad,
even though interactions with strangers
tend to be frowned upon in city areas.)
up feeding the deer anyway), or go to
I wonder if I was the first person to
wave back at her all morning!
long after my arrival, Darrel and Gale
introduced me to him. (Sometimes I
The gas tank. I think I almost gave
Darrel a heart attack one day when he
took my car "down the hill" to his
friend's place so they could work on the
brakes. Having grown up in a family
with several teenagers who took turns
using one of the parental cars, my
general approach to filling the gas tank
has been to hold off as long as
possible. (After all, in the city there
are gas stations every few blocks, and
besides, maybe one of the siblings
would fill the tank first!) Anyway,
when Darrel took my car, the fuel
indicator was on "E," but I had figured
I could make it to the Midway Country
Store the next morning. (It’s mostly
downhill from the house to Midway.)
I'm glad to say that Darrel did make it
(and managed to repair the brakes too,
for which I am thankful). This event
brought about my lesson in gas tank
management in the country: never let it
get below i tank, and preferably not
below | tank. After all, you may need
to drive "into town" at a time when the
friendly folks at Midway are not
available to put gas in your tank.
The animals. In the suburbs, you go
to the petting zoo and buy food to feed
to the deer that are penned up there.
In the country, the deer are roaming
freely, and you do one of two things -
go to the store to buy "deer-proof"
trees and plants (which aren't, and end
the store to buy ammunition and a
hunting license. If all goes well, the
deer will end up feeding'you.
The post office.
Postmaster Dan is the
picture of courtesy and service.
Not
pick up their mail when they are out of
town, and they wanted Dan to know it
was okay for me to collect their
packages too.) Several months later, I
had two large suitcases shipped home to
me from overseas. I had given my
friends the house address on Obenchain
Road, thinking that they would use
UPS. Instead, they used the post
office. The problem here was that
Darrel and Gale have a post box for
their mail, because the postal service
does not deliver that far up Obenchain
Road. Where would the luggage end
up? Would it simply be "returned to
sender"? I called Postmaster Dan to
try to find out what might happen. He
asked for a description of the bags,
and when they arrived, he informed
Darrel and Gale, who picked them up
for me. Something like this might
happen in the city, if you know the
right people, but I suspect that it is
much more common in a small town
setting, where personal connections are
just the way things are done.
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