People said to me before I came to England, "Well, this should be easier than working in Brazil or Nicaragua, it's the same culture, and they speak the same language!". I would say they were correct only so far as the language. No. I totally disagree, actually. The English are about as far from Americans culturally as pygmies. Okay, okay, I am exagerating, but I'm trying to make a point here. I have compiled a list of differences, some more obvious than others:
1. First, let's hit the language myth on the head. We do not speak the same language. After four centuries of incubation on the American continent, we have developed a completely distinct one. Do I illustrate my point by telling you that I understood NO ONE my first three days here? I then slowly began to connect sounds to letters--a strange 'A' sound was actually a long 'O', etcetera. And the words for things--a 'jumper' is a 'sweater'. And the accents. You would think that television and movies and other globalizations of media would make the striking schism between our respective Englishes much smoother, but I am here to tell you that it backfired. What you will encounter among the young and hip here (and not just in London) is a strange accent, or rather, intonation of words. It is like an American Valley Girl accent superimposed on an upper-middle-class Posh Londoner accent, with strange, drawn out, whiny monosyllables at the end of every sentence or question.
2. Parsnips. Buttered parsnips. Honeyed parsnips. In the U.S. parsnips are a mythical vegetable, something you read about in required Victorian Literature classes in college. Here, they are a way of life. They are everywhere. (And they are yummy.)
3. Communication. Body language. To say it simply, Americans express everything, either verbally, or nonverbally by acting out. The English simply put on a stone face (oh, wait, they always have on a stone face...), and wait for you to figure out that you have done something inappropriate or displeasing. So, being an American, it takes me a while to figure it out.
4. Meeting people. While I was in London, Felicity and I conducted many experiments in many a pub over many a night, in which we would try to make eye contact with attractive men (attractive to us). The responses were interesting: About a third looked directly away to the side (we call that the "Right-glance"), a third looked straight up (the "Up-glance"), and the other third looked up, then to the side, and then to an unidentified point in front of them (the "Triangle"). Needless to say, our success rate at actually meeting people was 0%, since none of them would look at us. That is, if you don't count the outlyers, who were two elderly and drunk men named Graham and Mike, but they don't count. They were so drunk they started performing the experiment as well! We also repeated the experiment every time we had to walk across London Bridge. Same results except that more than half did the "Triangle" (probably because if they looked to the side, they would have to look at someone else crossing the bridge!).
But don't get the impression that I am not enjoying myself or meeting interesting people here. I am. And I am.
Cheers!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Saturday, January 12, 2008
On Dropping the Ball and Globehopping...
Hey,
So, I did drop the ball after that last, brief posting on 80s Night in Campinas, Brazil. The problem was that once I found out that I had to leave Brazil 2 WEEKS early, I became a bit depressed, and was too busy trying to finish up my research project, say goodbye to everyone, and being stressed out about my UK visa application. For those of you who do not know, you cannot apply for a UK visa from outside your country of residence, which was why I had to leave Brazil early--to rush back to Kansas, send in my application, supporting documents, and passport to the Consulate in Chicago, and--wait. So the waiting, coupled with some uncertainties about the ever-changing UK visa rules, had me a little stressed out. The good news, was that the visa arrived the day before my flight was scheduled. All's well that ends well, no?
The unplanned 2 weeks of waiting in Lawrence, KS turned out to be fabulous, as I got to spend lots of time seeing people, hanging out, and doing the pre-Christmas thing. I really enjoyed all the parties and other events that I got to attend and help out at. I love Lawrence, and those two weeks reminded me of why--good people, good projects, good ideas, and good parties.
I arrived in London on the 15th of December. I know, it is now the 12th of January, so what exactly did I do for an entire month? Basically, turistiar around London and vicinity with Felicity, my dear, dear friend from Nicaragua, who has recently moved back to England and is trying to (re) start a life here (which, I have to say, is not easy in this country)--we spent many moments together reminiscing and reflecting on what it means to live in a country like Nicaragua, a magical and harsh place, where you feel part of a struggle, at least, but lose something of your identity and (female) dignity in the process; what it means to re-patriate yourself afterwards, after leaving loved ones and relationships behind. I am convinced that we (or at least I) never get over this; it is always present in your life, always there as some unresolveable thing in your soul. So we talked a lot about these things as we visited some great sites in London, like Brick Lane (curry central), Soho, Trafalgar Square, London Bridge, the Tate (complete with crack), and others. I like London--it is a nice place to visit, but I would not want to live there.
I feel incredibly privileged to have had the opportunity to spend a traditional 3-day Christmas with Felicity´s entire family at her aunt´s house in Croydon, a suburb of London. How do I describe it? Let's see: basically, imagine 17 people staying together in one (large) house, eating together, playing group games, and opening presents for three days, and there you basically have it. English Christmas. I was much impressed by the lack of blowups. Really impressed.
Thomas Overly, friend and compañero from Kansas, jetted over from Copenhagen via Germany, and spent New Years with us. I am sooo happy he did! We had a great time, and he really added a different perspective to the pub nights that Felicity and I had already made tradition.
I then moved to Exeter on the 2nd of January, and have been here since then. I am renting a room in a house a little outside of town, but it is a 10-minute train ride. I will talk more about that, as well as post some pictures, later this week.
For now, Happy January!
So, I did drop the ball after that last, brief posting on 80s Night in Campinas, Brazil. The problem was that once I found out that I had to leave Brazil 2 WEEKS early, I became a bit depressed, and was too busy trying to finish up my research project, say goodbye to everyone, and being stressed out about my UK visa application. For those of you who do not know, you cannot apply for a UK visa from outside your country of residence, which was why I had to leave Brazil early--to rush back to Kansas, send in my application, supporting documents, and passport to the Consulate in Chicago, and--wait. So the waiting, coupled with some uncertainties about the ever-changing UK visa rules, had me a little stressed out. The good news, was that the visa arrived the day before my flight was scheduled. All's well that ends well, no?
The unplanned 2 weeks of waiting in Lawrence, KS turned out to be fabulous, as I got to spend lots of time seeing people, hanging out, and doing the pre-Christmas thing. I really enjoyed all the parties and other events that I got to attend and help out at. I love Lawrence, and those two weeks reminded me of why--good people, good projects, good ideas, and good parties.
I arrived in London on the 15th of December. I know, it is now the 12th of January, so what exactly did I do for an entire month? Basically, turistiar around London and vicinity with Felicity, my dear, dear friend from Nicaragua, who has recently moved back to England and is trying to (re) start a life here (which, I have to say, is not easy in this country)--we spent many moments together reminiscing and reflecting on what it means to live in a country like Nicaragua, a magical and harsh place, where you feel part of a struggle, at least, but lose something of your identity and (female) dignity in the process; what it means to re-patriate yourself afterwards, after leaving loved ones and relationships behind. I am convinced that we (or at least I) never get over this; it is always present in your life, always there as some unresolveable thing in your soul. So we talked a lot about these things as we visited some great sites in London, like Brick Lane (curry central), Soho, Trafalgar Square, London Bridge, the Tate (complete with crack), and others. I like London--it is a nice place to visit, but I would not want to live there.
I feel incredibly privileged to have had the opportunity to spend a traditional 3-day Christmas with Felicity´s entire family at her aunt´s house in Croydon, a suburb of London. How do I describe it? Let's see: basically, imagine 17 people staying together in one (large) house, eating together, playing group games, and opening presents for three days, and there you basically have it. English Christmas. I was much impressed by the lack of blowups. Really impressed.
Thomas Overly, friend and compañero from Kansas, jetted over from Copenhagen via Germany, and spent New Years with us. I am sooo happy he did! We had a great time, and he really added a different perspective to the pub nights that Felicity and I had already made tradition.
I then moved to Exeter on the 2nd of January, and have been here since then. I am renting a room in a house a little outside of town, but it is a 10-minute train ride. I will talk more about that, as well as post some pictures, later this week.
For now, Happy January!
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