An Englishiversary: Reflections On....

Happy English-iversary to us!!! One year ago today we flew over from the States, completely unsure of what was in store. We had no friends, no money, nowhere to live, and only one of us was gainfully employed. It was a scary flight and an even scarier cab ride. One of our biggest fears was how we would get through the first few months financially. The cab driver who took us to the temporary housing we were staying at, when he found out Nick is a civil engineer, started laughing. ‘I make more than you!’ he said. ‘I hope you’re not planning on buying a house here, because you’ll NEVER be able to afford it!’ striking fear and dread into our nervous hearts!

We’ve come a long way from those first few cold, grey weeks of apartment-hunting and the growing pains of learning the ropes. In fact, there are days where we feel right at home here, happy and comfortable and content, and a little bit like we’ve been here all along. Then there are the days that we feel we’re back at square one, raging against the poor business hours, poor customer service, and poor weather, and spend the evening eating pancakes or BBQ and listening to country music.

We’ve been so busy with guests, though, that most days we just carry on with life, and don’t think too much about what country we’re in. We’ve done very little reflection on the journey, on what’s different or similar, and how we’re changing. The one-year mark seems like the perfect time to really reflect on the journey, while we can still remember what it’s like to be American. (just kidding – I’m sure we would still bleed red white and blue. Except that’s also the colors of the Union Jack, so it wouldn’t mean much!) I'm hoping to write a few posts on food, language and travel for starters, so stay posted.

Update: As a sign of just how far we've come, we actually celebrated the 'englishiversary' at work today! We had a proper 'English cream tea' with scones, jam and cream. After telling some real horror stories about my first four months (no friends, no job, no money, no reason to leave the flat for weeks at a time - I sounded like Debbie Downer!), I was told that I'd really earned the celebration! While we are enjoying our treat, someone asked me what the best and worst part of living here is. When I said the two best things were the work-life balance (ie number of holidays and number of hours worked per week), they were SHOCKED, because they see England as the hardest working country in Europe, and think they get a raw deal. I said the second best thing was the ability to travel to other countries so easily, and they found that funny: 'Oh yeah, because we go jetting across to the continent all the time!' Clearly not everyone has the same attitude to travel as us! They mostly agreed with me, though, when I said the worst thing was the cost of living, so at least we saw eye to eye on something.