Here's a question for you all...where was the friendliest or unfriendliest or darn right strange place you have ever lived in or at?

PamfromTx said:
I get the same rude stares; a Mexican American woman with a white man is still frowned on in parts of our nation, unfortunately. Do I care? Of course not.
@Pinky
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I was hard pressed to add to this thread until I read your post- I recall when I was with my former wife who was Mexican-American- we would get some looks from people sometimes, when in public.
 
I can't think of anyplace that was particularly friendly, unfriendly or unusual. The closest was one that was somewhat unusual for us. We moved to an apartment complex in Sunnyvale, California that was closer to the school we wanted our boys to go to. Unbeknownst to us it was the first choice apartment complex for engineers from Israel and their families when they came to work in the Silicon Valley.

Since there was a high percentage of people from Israel they lived as they would at home. What we noticed that was different compared with other places we lived is the families seemed to yell at each other more often and were generally louder than families in other areas where we lived. Evidently it isn't uncommon for people to keep their doors unlocked and for kids to just walk into their friend's homes so a couple of our kids friends did that a few times before we let them know we lived a bit differently and knocked and waited for people to answer.

Although they were generally friendly they did tend to stick together. However our kids had several friends in their families and got well along with them.

I wouldn't have changed our decision to live there knowing what we would have experienced. We eventually moved across the street from the complex and enjoyed a somewhat quieter environment.
 
You gals and guys have got me thinking back . . . to Newfoundland and Alberta days, two very friendly Provinces and I wonder if, perhaps, the smell of "yeast" in the air coming from one's basement was part and parcel of it. Lots of friends were at my door in these two places. When one's husband is always away, a hobby is very nice to have!
 
Ruby Rose said:
I am sorry to hear that but am not surprised as I presently live in Rural Manitoba and have done so for ten years and I am still the 'newbie'. I have actually approached a few people in town and was informed that they had no need for 'a new friend' as they had all lived there for many, many years. To say I was rather stunned with this response would be putting it mildly. Perhaps it is because I am part French? Anyways, I get along great with all the animals (and there are many) on the ranch and I sleep good with the silence about me.
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Hi Ruby Rose: Your story reminds me of the time we went to a senior luncheon in the city of Steinbach. It was at the senior center. My wife & I tried to sit with these 2 ladies because they had 2 empty chairs at their table. We were told that we could not sit there as the chairs were reserved for their friends who are still coming. Talk about "stuck in the mud" women.

Everytime we went any place in Steinbach we were always asked the same 2 questions:
1. What is your name? They wanted to know if we had Mennonite names. We did not!
2. What church do we belong to? Steinbach had 31 churches when we lived there.

Talk about a city where the seniors all had some sort of small "village" mentality. LOL
 
I've never come across general unfriendliness in my travels but a strange (to me) thing happened in Thailand every day. The wind would come up and I saw people gathering up their stuff and running to take shelter because a monsoon was imminent. Every afternoon of every day. They lasted anywhere from 15-20 minutes to 90 or so.
 
Packerjohn said:
Hi Ruby Rose: Your story reminds me of the time we went to a senior luncheon in the city of Steinbach. It was at the senior center. My wife & I tried to sit with these 2 ladies because they had 2 empty chairs at their table. We were told that we could not sit there as the chairs were reserved for their friends who are still coming. Talk about "stuck in the mud" women.

Everytime we went any place in Steinbach we were always asked the same 2 questions:
1. What is your name? They wanted to know if we had Mennonite names. We did not!
2. What church do we belong to? Steinbach had 31 churches when we lived there.

Talk about a city where the seniors all had some sort of small "village" mentality. LOL
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Your experience at the senior center is something I've heard about a lot from my niece-in-law; she was an activities director for years at seniors/independent living/assisted living centers and she said that was common at all the places she worked, that for new people at the centers, it was like being the new kid at first day of junior high (middle) school; even though there was never official assigned seating, the "cool kids" (the seniors who'd been there the longest) would not allow newcomers to sit at their tables and were unfriendly for a long time toward newcomers. (She thought it was caused by the fact that at the living places, you had people who really didn;t want to be there, they'd rather be still in their 40s and in their nice big homes, so when people are unhappy they act like snotty adolescents and teenagers.)
 
Packerjohn said:
Hi Ruby Rose: Your story reminds me of the time we went to a senior luncheon in the city of Steinbach. It was at the senior center. My wife & I tried to sit with these 2 ladies because they had 2 empty chairs at their table. We were told that we could not sit there as the chairs were reserved for their friends who are still coming. Talk about "stuck in the mud" women.

Everytime we went any place in Steinbach we were always asked the same 2 questions:
1. What is your name? They wanted to know if we had Mennonite names. We did not!
2. What church do we belong to? Steinbach had 31 churches when we lived there.

Talk about a city where the seniors all had some sort of small "village" mentality. LOL
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Memories...lots of memories..I have been to Steinbach. One of my problems was trying to get a seat on the bus!!! It was always being saved!!!
 
What was the friendliest place, the unfriendliest place, and the strangest place I lived in. That's easy, New York City. "Strange" does not begin to describe NYC. Where else do the homeless march in parades? Where else does the "Five Families" do not refer to the socially elite? NYC has the tallest buildings, and the biggest rats. It can be unfriendly, you can be alone in a crowd of thousands. And it's the friendliest, everybody gets thrown together, so we're all in the same boat.
 
I have never met friendlier or more helpful people than I have in NYC and I've been around. Maybe you don't inspire those qualities in strangers? I do. That's part of it.
 
When my oldest was a baby we traveled to Key West. Saw a couple sites on arrival, settled into motel room, got ready to go out and get something for supper. We heard there was lots going on at night. Put the baby in the stroller, started toward center of town. Carnival atmosphere with lots of people. The farther we walked, the slower we went. Finally we stopped. Nothing physical we could point to, but we both felt the presence of *something*not right... it was almost like a literal wall. We turned around and ordered pizza delivered to our motel room.

Went out the next day, did the tours (right in the places we'd been the night before)... everything was hunky dory. Still don't know what that was but it was weird.
 
Absolutely the friendliest place was Littleton, NH in the White Mountains. My husband and I spent a lot of summers there. We would be gone all winter, and our first day back when we went out to breakfast, the waitress would automatically bring me tea instead of coffee and ask my husband if he wanted his usual order. All the other patrons would drop by our booth to catch us up on local happenings. Strangers always spoke to us on the street, and when we went into Wal-Mart at 7am, everyone would say good morning.
 
Ruby Rose said:
The time that jumps to memory was when we were posted (once more) from Calgary, Alberta to Toronto, Ontario. With every posting, I have list in hand to register kids in school, dentist and doctor, etc. As I entered the busy waiting room of a clinic and waited my turn, I gabbed away but no responses. Maybe they didn't approve of my cowboys boots or jeans! Then a voice from across the room addressed to me stated loud and clear, "You're not from here, are you?" He was an elderly dude and others enjoyed silence. Needless to say, I did not register there...I merely left.
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Somehow, even in my hometown, I'm always told or asked: "You're not from here, are you?" Anywhere, I've travelled to, until recently, I heard that moniker.

Always made me wonder where I belonged... Thankfully, now I'm part of my village, yeah! 😆😆😆
 
fuzzybuddy said:
What was the friendliest place, the unfriendliest place, and the strangest place I lived in. That's easy, New York City. "Strange" does not begin to describe NYC. Where else do the homeless march in parades? Where else does the "Five Families" do not refer to the socially elite? NYC has the tallest buildings, and the biggest rats. It can be unfriendly, you can be alone in a crowd of thousands. And it's the friendliest, everybody gets thrown together, so we're all in the same boat.
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Just like London....
 
jujube said:
As far as friendliest....it would have to be when we were living in Yalova, Turkiye in the late 60s and early 70s.

At that time, everyone, and I mean everyone, loved Americans. We were treated like friends everywhere we went, even the big cities.

Unfriendliest? Paris, hands down. The rest of France was fine.
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yep ..Turkey was always friendly...still are to us when we go... and without doubt our next door neighbours the Parisians are the most rude and unfriendly...
 

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