From Anglophile to Expat

One girl's journey from loving a country to living there. With marriage, in-laws, and puddle jumping in between.

Timeline

Met Online: 11/98
Met in Person: 02/2000
Engaged: 6/28/03
Married: 06/10/06
Submitted VAF2 Application Online: 7/18/06
Sent Supporting Documents to NY: 7/19/06
Documents Received in NY: 7/20/06
Email Notification of Documents Received and Processing: 7/26/06
Received Visa Approval Email Notification 7/27/06

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From Anglophile to Expat

Sunday, September 10, 2006

I've been here for 3 weeks now. Here's a list of the most recent things that annoy me about being an American Expat in England:

1) People asking me why I moved here from Florida, and calling me stupid for doing so. Sorry, but those individual's only (if that) experience of Florida is a holiday in the sun for a fortnight. I lived there for 19 years, so I believe I have the upper ground on my judgement of the state. And, as a relatively intellegent person (university educated and all that) I think I can make my own decision on where I want live.

2) People asking me what I think of England. Every single person thinks they're the first to ask this very original question. After they discover I've been here at least ten times previously, they realize they are less innovated than they thought.

3) Rude shop assistants. I was given the evil eye at WH Smith's last week, I'm still not entirely sure why.

4) "American food." HP, the company that makes brown sauce has an "American sauce" which seems to be a combination of Ketchup and BBQ sauce. I'm not entirely sure what it could be used for, and I'm not curious enough to buy it. I love when things are called "American" when they bear only a slight resemblance to those things actually in America. MIL and I found Lipton Ice Tea at Sainsbury's right? I got it home and it takes like lemon water (apparently its pretty much diet ice tea so maybe thats why).

5) Calling things by their brand names or by color. The usual culprated that everyone knows: a vaccuum is a hoover, tape is sello tape etc. But Ketchup is red sauce...and people use it as a substitute for tomato sauce on spaghetti (WTF?)

6) Colo(u)rs in general: What I call mauve (pronounced MO-ve here) isn't a dark pink, but rather, a light purple. A beige color that I call universally "tan" is "coffee" and tan means brown.

7) Wimpy Burger: Its one of the few actual British fast food chains. Its not very good, and is the first example I found that british food is actually plain.

8) People telling me how I should look for a job. (This is by people who a) don't have jobs usually or b) haven't had to look for a job in 20 years).

Posted by Juls

(0) comments Friday, August 11, 2006

Just My Luck

I was originally going to fly to London yesterday, but when booking my ticket I realized 1) it was probably too soon to book that date and 2) STA travel was being a pain and their website wasn't working and 3) I wanted the extra week to pack. I can only imagine what chaos it would have been traveling yesterday, but thankfully I didn't have to. I am, however, traveling a week from today. Actually this time next week I'll be (hopefully) on the plane and bound for London Gatwick (ah once again I'm glad I never fly into Heathrow!) So, because of new regulations I've been repacking my suitcases, well, that and because I have WAY TOO MUCH STUFF. I'm bringing an extra bag (yup paying the excess baggage fee of ::gulp: around $100) and at least one of my other bags are over the 50 lb. limit (thank you airlines for LOWERING the limit in April!) so I'll be paying the "I'm too important to listen to the rules" fee of $35 on each case I'm thinking. This moving stuff is getting expensive.

Because I'm travelling from the US to London I will be able to bring a carry-on (thank god). Of course, unlike my usual carry-on, this one won't be weighed down with water (I usually bring 3 bottles of water, at least). Oh, and my body spray and tooth paste will of course have to be packed in the checked baggage. Thank the lord for Oral-B Brush-Ups! Oh, yeah, and supporting documents that enable me to get my visa will be in there too (because I'm paranoid about getting past UK Immigration) even though I have entry clearence.

Now if only I could get the energy to clean...oh well, I still have a week...right?!

Posted by Juls

(0) comments