doughnuts and gold teeth...

I am currently living in another world, experiencing a different culture... I've been thrown into a whole new dimension. Oddly, I'm only in our brother country, nestled in the deep south. It is an experience like no other, where people are so friendly you really start to question their warmth. Is it normal for a 16 year old to smile at you and say "Hey! How ya doin'?" as you cross paths in Wal-Mart? Is it normal for random strangers, men or women to approach your stroller and play with your baby's feet? Is it normal for these same strangers to go on about how precious your baby girl is? Is it normal for people to say hello to you with such enthusiasm and in a way to say they've known you your whole life? It sure ain't normal where I come from, but for these people, it's their way of life. Their warm hospitality is like no other. Despite this hospitality, Jackson, Mississippi (population 200 000) has more murders than the city of Toronto. Nonetheless, I feel comfortable here, but I'm also in a more favourable part of the city... just north of Jackson in a suburb called Ridgeland. And while I do feel comfortable here, I always feel as though I stick out like a sore thumb. I can't exactly pin point what it is that separates me from these people other than my lack of a southern drawl. The moment I open my mouth to say 'Thank you' or 'hello', I feel like I'm being given the "double take"... they know I'm not from around here. Maybe I also stick out because I'm always in a rush, impatient to get to my next destination or to check out at a store. Around here, time goes on forever... I watch people move in a slow motion fashion. People take their time around here. I've recently read that Mississippi is the fattest state in the USA. I didn't stop for a second to question why, because I see it everyday. You're hard pressed to eat a healthy breakfast around here with oodles and oodles of doughnuts of all sorts surrounding you or french toast and waffles drenched in maple syrup or even grits that people eat with butter. The junk food in stores such as Wal-Mart and Target put our stores to shame. You can buy a package of M&Ms in about 16 different sizes and flavours... not to mention the cheaper... much cheaper prices. Oh, and the beer... I can't forget the beer. You can buy a 6 pack of Miller Lite for a mere $4.87. With that accessibility, it is no wonder people are fat around here. Then you have fast-food restaurants, which are at every street corner advertising their amazing $1.99 combo deals. It's no wonder there are so many people with gold teeth around here... with the amount of sugar consumed, there can't be very many teeth left in their mouths.