Tag Archives: where in the world

Where in the World is..?

By gennifaiy{C}

While many call ReVo their online home, our residents are actually found all over the world! Earlier this year, mouth{JT} had the great idea of helping us become even closer through a virtual tour of the ReVo globe. In this installment of Where in the World, gennifairy introduces us to her patch of the map.

So, where in the world was gennifairy born and raised? Well, you could say it is a few inches north of Hell: Sunny Florida. Or, as most people who live here and don’t like the sweltering heat that swarms over you once you open the door say: South Florida. I was born in West Palm Beach, but raised in Ft. Lauderdale. You know what the difference is between those two cities? Nothing.

South Florida is hot, humid, and rainy. We have nothing but mosquitoes day in and day out. For us, a cool day is in the eighties – but that’s if it hasn’t been raining. If it has, the humidity knocks that up to the thousandth degree.

Traffic in Florida is insane. I-95 (the main highway that runs north and south through the state) is under constant construction. I could always tell when I was getting close to West Palm, because that’s where the construction and backed-up traffic begins. Most people think West Palm Beach is a beautiful, lush, palm tree-studded vacation paradise. False! The “Palm Beaches” are, yes, but that’s where people with money go. West Palm Beach is the stereotypical ugly, poor, black sheep. I mean, sure, Florida is known for orange juice, palm trees, and being not only the third most-populated state in the country but the second ranked for tourism, but do you really know Florida?

Florida is a great place to have a vacation, for sure. We have Orlando, which has Disney World, Universal Studios, Wet n’ Wild, Sea World, Medieval Times, and a ton of other attractions. I personally love going during the off season – after everyone else has gone home – so that I can enjoy them with less people bothering me. And if you love beaches, we have a ton of those, too. Our entire coast is made up of nothing but beaches, but depending on where you go, you can have nice, beautiful beaches with soft white sand – Coco Beach, for example – or disgusting beaches with hard sand that feels like glass cutting you in places you didn’t know sand could fit into!

Where I live now is more rivers than beaches. (I know, Florida has rivers? It’s thrown me off since I moved here, but we do!) Rivers are better than those over-populated beaches with screaming kids and weird bathing suits any day of the week, though.

We also have the Florida Keys, which I hear are fantastic places to go and experience! I have never been myself, but I have plenty of friends and family that have. It’s a beautiful oasis, and is a cheaper way to experience the Caribbean without leaving the States (or so I have been told). You can rent houses or hotels, and you have three main islands to choose from. The best part is you don’t have to boat or fly to get there – there is a long expanse of highway that stretches over miles of ocean, taking you straight from Miami to the Keys.

The big thing that Floridians don’t tell you is – we have bugs. Mutant bugs that escaped from a lab somewhere from Africa and made it to us, where they thrive in the tropical weather. We have palmetto bugs, which is the nice, polite Southern way of saying “flying roaches”. Yes, you heard that right. They spread their black wings, make a horrible noise, and fly at you. They’re huge, too, and they hunger for your soul. I swear it! We also have alligators, but anyone could tell you that – look in any backstreet canal and you have a chance to see one swimming through, with its black-hearted soul in its eyes as it looks to eat whatever it can get into next.

I no longer live in West Palm Beach. I moved north and switched to the West Coast, and it’s like night and day. Outside of the insane traffic in Gainesville, it’s more like the country here then I realized Florida has. I just recently found out we even have a small protected land that has wild horses still in it! Yeah, in Florida! I was shocked as you are. The only thing I thought Florida had was the Everglades, which I have been to. They have airboats, trails, and the like. The Everglades are as hot and humid as the rest of Florida, and the bugs and snakes get to me. People, ignorantly, have released snakes there that are not native to Florida, and every year they have hunting season to kill some of them due to them being an invasive species.

So Florida can be a beautiful place. It’s absolutely amazing to visit and explore. We have many historical locations, beaches, and fantastically fun, tourist-y areas for people of all ages and temperaments. Would I recommend moving here? Absolutely not. Not unless you enjoy living in mini-Africa, or really enjoy heat. I mean, it hit 97 degrees today. Most people think, “That’s not that bad, Genni.” But when you have a humidty index of over 45%? 97 quickly turns close to 128364357-degrees in hell. Also? Why would anyone want to live in the flattest state in the entire US of A? I mean, if you hate snow and winter that much and are over the age of 55, I get it, but otherwise? Nah, bro. Just don’t!

Where in the World is..?

By Care

While many call ReVo their online home, our residents are actually found all over the world! Earlier this year, mouth{JT} had the great idea of helping us become even closer through a virtual tour of the ReVo globe. In this installment of Where in the World, Care introduces us to her patch of the map, a place known as:

Harrison, Michigan, United States of America

That’s the place that I call home. This very small town in northern lower Michigan has a population of maybe 2000 people. It’s one of those towns that if you don’t know where it is, then you might just miss it. It’s right off International Highway 127, with a Burger King and Quik Stop Gas Station that doubles as the only truck stop in the area. If you actually get off the highway and travel three more miles, you’ll make it into the middle of town – but if you blink, you’ll go right on by!

Harrison was named after president William Henry Harrison. It started a lumber town, then transitioned to a vacation getaway, and now it’s a place where people are raising their families. Normally, there isn’t much crime, but that’s not to say we don’t see a few things! Just recently, we had a few robberies, but the suspects were caught and taken to the Clare County Jail located in downtown Harrison.

Harrison’s major attraction, what brings in all the tourists, is “Twenty Lakes in Twenty Minutes”. There’s also a large amound of state land set aside for recreational sports. One of the biggest local events is the Clare County Fair, which is held in July and August, and in February, the Frostbie Open Golf Tournament is held on the largest lake in the area, Budd Lake. Other attractions include several historical buildings, like the Surrey House just off the main strip. It’s a relic of Harrison’s days as a lumber town. The Clare County Newspaper building is one of our oldest, dating back to 1898.

And that’s a little tour of the little town I call home!

Where in the World is…?

By mouth{JT}

The ReVo family is a diverse group of people, coming from all corners of the globe to this space we clall our online home, and so I thought to kick off an occasional article about the countries we are from, with my contribution being, obviously –

New Zealand

A small country by any standard, New Zealand (NZ for short) is the closest country to the South Pole, and so is not, as most consider it, tropical. It has a mild climate, very rarely exceeding 35 degrees Celsius anywhere. A nation of two islands roughly joined together, it’s approximately the same size as the UK, but it has a much lower population – currently running at around 4 million. There is still a lot of rural land, and with it, dairy farming. The currency is the New Zealand dollar, and English is the main language spoken.

Because of its remoteness, it wasn’t visited by Europeans until quite late, around 1642. Full British colonization took place in 1841, with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between the Maori and the English.

The Maori are the indigenous people, and their culture and look is somewhat akin to the Hawaiians, which they believe to be a “sister” tribe. Today, the Maori people have a significant amount of say about their country, but it wasn’t always so. Their culture and language were almost eradicated until, starting in the 1970s, a concentrated effort brought it back from the brink of extinction. Among the interesting customs still in use are the full tattooing of the chin on women, which has made a comeback in recent times, and the Haka, a traditional warrior war dance – though it’s now used only at sporting events and in social situations to welcome guests or honour people.

New Zealanders take great pride in their country, particularly their sporting prowess on the field in rugby and cricket, with swimming and netball coming closely behind. This pride also extends to the fact that New Zealand is a very “green” country, conservation wise, and due to very strict import laws, has no fatally venomous creatures. Being a small country in the Pacific Ocean, you could be no more than a 10 minutes drive away from a major river or even the sea, and they would be some of the most beautiful waterways in the world.

New Zealand has many interesting geographical features, including active volcanoes, glaciers, rain forests, geysers, hot mud pools, and several impressive mountain ranges. Its remote location has allowed the evolution of quite a few animal species found nowhere else. The most famous is the Kiwi, its national bird, but there are also the paua, a delicious tasty shellfish; the tuatara, a small lizard unchanged since prehistoric times; several unique native birds; and a huge variety of flora. In the past, significant gold deposits have been found, which exploded into gold rush fevers. Greenstone, a type of jade which mostly all comes from a river in the South Island, is in great demand around the world for its colour and clarity. It is considered to be the property of the Maori in the area it comes from, and is viewed by them as having great spiritual power (mana).

New Zealand is seen as a great place to live by the surrounding smaller Pacific Islands, as it offers good welfare, health, and social help, and the immigration laws for those countries are more lax than for others. It is seen as a good place to invest in as well, and there is now many Asian immigrants that have come for that purpose.

New Zealanders of note include Edmund Hilary, who was the first to conquer Mount Everest; Ernest Rutherford, the first to split the atom; Nancy Wake, the most wanted woman by the Gestapo in World War II and the most highly decorated servicewoman by the Allies; Charles Upham, the most decorated soldier of World War II; and a slew of other firsts in the areas of culture, sports, and science. A lot is made of the “Kiwi Spirit” of these people – that is, you never, but never, give up; an attitude still found in most New Zealanders today.

Where in the World: Proudly brought to you by the letters N and Z and the number 4,000,000.