♫Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother’s♫….. Wait, let’s try this again.
♫Over the river and through the woods to Dara’s house we go.♫ Yep, that sounds about right. Seriously, you have to cross over the Susquehanna River and drive through the woods to get to my house, an area my parents call the “boondocks” or “boonies” for short.
boondocks /bōōnꞏdäks/ (n): rough, remote, or isolated country
Apparently, this informal North American slang originated from the word bundok in Tagalog, meaning mountain. Tagalog is the primary language of the Philippines.
Boondocks is used to refer to the middle of nowhere, where there are more cows than people. Did you know that our government has 15 official definitions of what rural is? They are all different, but I would say #4 and #5 are pretty accurate.
I used this term to refer to my college town, Shippensburg, PA. How typical of a small town, with –burg at the end. I went to Shippensburg University, and it was definitely not at all like where I grew up. There was field after field after field of cows, old people who had been living there for decades, and then, college students.
It really is silly how with something you don’t understand or is not common to you, this thing becomes weird and sadly enough, most of the time, negative.
Ignorance, we all have it.
If someone would have told me five years ago that I would be living in rural America, my response would have been,
A: “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” B. “No way. I would never live in a place like that.” C. “Yeah, okay. I don’t think so.”
My husband (then boyfriend) wanted to buy a house in Pennsylvania close to his job in Maryland because it was cheaper in many ways. I was to move in with him upon my return from my Peace Corps service, something I was very excited about, especially since we had been apart for most of the 26 months I lived in Ethiopia.
In the final months leading up to my arrival home, my now husband purchased a beautiful rancher in a quaint town in York County, much less crowded than the suburbs of Delaware County where I was born and raised. Most of my college friends’ hometowns were in York County and the surrounding counties because they were close to Shippensburg. I remember always thinking, “Huh. You’re from where? I’ve never heard of it,” and then in my head thinking,
- “What the —-?”
- “Why would anyone choose to live there?”
- “Where in the world is that?”
Now, I proudly live in one of these towns, and happily plan to until I die.
After growing up in the suburbs and living in the city, moving to a rural area was oddly comforting to me and I couldn’t pinpoint why.
Farm after farm after farm of free roaming horses, sheep, cows, and donkeys! A corn field is attached to our backyard and across the street from us, which used to host one lonely white farmhouse, until it was torn down. Swaying green and gold fields, hills and valleys, as far as my eyes can see, remind me of the countryside in Africa. We have our own garden. My lovely neighbors, sisters with a chicken coop, sell me eggs, two things that comfort me after missing fresh eggs and homegrown vegetables at the Saturday market in Ethiopia.
I have sunflowers.
From my front porch or my backyard I can watch the sunrise, and even on foggy mornings, the sunrise still looks splendid.
Right before sunset
Even before it rains it’s picturesque. I love thunderstorms here. 
Very quickly I noticed the similarities of where I served in rural Africa with my new home in rural America, and I think this was the reason why the initial shock of adjustment wasn’t there.
There were….other adjustments, but again, oddly enough, reminded me of where I lived during my Peace Corps service. Let’s just say that rural areas are not known for their diversity and open-mindedness, and this was definitely the hardest adjustment.
Just like big cities and small towns in America, this is the same all over the world. Being the only American in a rural town abroad does not boast much diversity and welcomes a lot of attention, questions, and pre-judged stereotypes.
Of course if you go to big cities anywhere in the world, there will be people from all over the world living in them, which are more open to acceptance and understanding.
I am still the same person I was in the suburbs and the city.
Especially in a time of a pandemic, I have a newfound appreciation for the space that a rural area gives me. I am fully aware of how lucky I am that I can just walk outside without coming into contact with another human for sometimes miles.
As for me, I have become completely content and borderline obsessed with my small town that no one has ever heard of and taking pictures of my wonderful views.
And yes, my town has –town at the end of its name. Cliché, huh?
It also has less than 2,500 residents.
And, yes, there is a field in my backyard that alternates between soybean and corn every year. Go ahead, laugh, joke’s on you.
