Chapped in Chapel Hill

Deb in the City here, with a chapped ass in Chapel Hill.

Pardon my cursing internet but I am about at the end of my nanny rope here. The child has tested my patience and I am hung out to dry here by her deadbeat dad so I gotta try something to get her back to her Pretty Princess state again. She’s just a little kid.

So I went over to Carrboro in search of something to make her happy. And my search was rewarded at this adorable place.

Tres Amigos, over on Main street. I can’t take the child to her dad in mexico but I can bring a little bit of Mexico to her. They had these insanely colored bright bottles of soda.



I found what I was really looking for, fresh cactus but ouchy.



Lucky for gringa, safety cactus comes in a jar. I also had a killer plate of tacos while I was at the tienda. Mucho gusto.

Then I wandered on down Main and came upon this woman,

setting up her corner store, literally on the corner. This is Luci and she is from Mexico.

She sells those flowers, which she makes and bracelets she weaves with names on them. I ordered one with "SAM" on it and will go to pick it up tomorrow.

Luci did not speak hardly any English at all and my Spanish is even worse but we were able to talk a little bit. She gave me a piece of paper, a copy of a letter in English from a family she worked for here. It said she works efficiently and is thorough in her attention to detail. Luci is responsive to suggestions and uses good common sense to tackle novel situations. She works very hard and makes the house gleam! If anyone out there in Chapel Hill needs a fantastic helper around the house, give Paula Craige a call (919-7893) and she knows how to get in touch with Luci.

In the spirit of the stimulus package,
(this is Obama's Stimulus Face) I’d like to propose to Luci that she and I tend the child and I split my salary with her. It’s the Nanny Bailout Bill, microfinance style.

This is Deb in the City, saying adios from Carrboro, the sister city of Santa Cruz de Juventino Rosas in Mexico. Si se puerde!

Southern Charmed

OK, Chapel Hill is loaded super-intelligent people. I’m hoping a little of that is gong to rub off on me. Ever since I was told it was something I wasn’t by my mean brother, I have aspired secretly to become the sharpest tool in the shed.

This part of the country has produced some really smart people and some really smart inventions came out of those people.

Astroturf, for instance, has made my life better and that was invented nearby at the Research Triangle Park.



I went and visited the other day and I was hoping for a crisp isosceles or even a nice right triangle in a pinch. I admit I was a little disappointed that the park is not really in the shape of a triangle. This error I could forgive because the park is loaded with companies like Kryosphere



Syngenta

and Glyconix

that are busy inventing all the things we are going to need once the future gets here.



This handsome old-school logo is for the Association of American Textile Chemists and Colorists and this organization tests all textiles and fabrics to make sure the dye stays put and all sorts of other qualities. Thanks to this non-profit organization, your clothes do not burst into flames. Unless you paid for that feature.

Meanwhile, back in Chapel Hill I stumbled upon this structure off a road at the edge of the campus.

Yes, that is a castle. It is the home of its own secret society, the Order of Gimghoul which was started by a group of enterprising U of N students way back in the day. From what I can get out of the locals, the society is for invited upperclassmen and faculty only and is exclusively male. But not all-male like Legends in Raleigh and I heard that rules also make for an all-female guest list at their parties.

I’ve got my hoop skirts ready, so if there’s any Gimghoulers out there listening, I’m ready for an invite and I’m not going to hog the keg.

This is Deb in the City, your southern belle in training, saying that’s what I like about the south from Chapel Hill.

Nothing Finer

Hello internet, it's me again. My name is Deb, but my friends call me Deb. And you have clicked on my blog, Deb in the City which is my little project to help me adjust to my recently-readjusted life. OK, I did not see this one coming but I now live in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Yes, the Carolina that nothing could be finer than from the old song. But I’m getting ahead of myself. For starters in the finer department, I get to live in this fantastic house.

It has a two-car adult garage plus a child garage on the right for the Barbie Jeep and the pink peddle car Estate Wagon. Which is actually pretty cool.



OK, this house is not in Chapel Hill proper. It’s in another little town and the neighborhood has a name all of it’s own.

Governor’s Row is a row, but so far I have not seen the governor of which the sign speaks. Maybe "governor" is more informal, like in olde England. I am still getting used to southern habits.

Chapel Hill on the other hand, does have a legitimate hill and the University of North Carolina sits right up on top of it. There was once upon a time a chapel too but now there is a big beautiful antebellum hotel, The Carolina Inn.

Well, it’s in the antebellum style since it was built in the 1920’s. Technically speaking it’s après-bellum or post-bellum, I guess you’d say.

The University dominates the city, and as the oldest state funded school in the country, I think it’s earned that right. And Tar Heel pride dominates every corner of this city.

I didn’t understand about Tar Heels before I got here. I thought Tar Heels were the people that lived in the Tar Nation. But the locals set me straight about it. Tar itself is still a little confusing for me though. Last week I had a flat on my bike and a nice Southern gentleman with a genuine drawl asked me if I needed help to "change that tar". Slowly, I’m learning how to speak southern.

And to fully get my southern groove on, I am cultivating two habits: sweet tea and chewing tobacco. I made the mistake of trying them both at the same time and I would not recommend this.

This is Deb in the City, basking in southern charm from my front porch rocker, saying so long, y’all.