Adjusting to life in the states.

[vicks5721 18]

Thank you I am so happy here and I know it will never fade away.. true love and being where you feel you belong makes for feeling content. I do miss family in England sometimes but I know we will go visit when we can and they will come visit us. There is no reason to be negative.. living positively truly happy is my motto. Anyway what does heresy mean?

[Ketsuban 1,034]

I can't remember if I said it elsewhere, but I'm from Old Coulsdon (which is in South London) and moved to Parma, OH.

OMG right, I ordered two tubs of Bird's custard a couple of weeks ago. They arrived 2 days ago, and one of them had basically exploded everywhere. USPS had to put the box in a carrier bag and I bet it ended up on their conveyor belts and whatnot. The company said they will send a replacement. I think the one that burst had no foil seal for some reason, because it was nowhere to be found in the box.

Thankfully the jar of piccalilli I ordered from another seller did not explode, because they had heard of this nifty invention called "bubble wrap".

I'm slowly starting to adjust, though I still feel reluctant to go out alone. I think it's because our neighbours have fights in the stairwell and it puts me off, but also because I have no car. However, that is going to change soon! I'm going to get my learner's permit and start being a real grown adult with a car!

The permit department in the DMV was closed today, but we'll be back on Wednesday. Hubby is going to teach me how to drive and I'm going to wreck his car with my superior ability of not knowing how to bloody drive.

Still craving sausages and Hovis bread. And pork pies. And scotch eggs.

Edited April 14, 2015 by Ketsuban

[Hotter Otter 1,211]

I'm from Exeter (Devon) and I've moved to Boston.

I think I'm slowly getting there with adjusting, I'm starting to get used to how things work here and feeling less like an idiot every time I try to do something. The winter we just had was the most brutal winter I could have imagined and I wanted to be back in rainy England instead of under 100 inches of snow. Homesickness is nasty but bearable most of the time, especially when there are import shops around.

I think the hardest part has been having no friends or family here and having to start from the beginning, that's what I'm going to try and tackle this spring/summer (well the friends part, bit early to increase my family ). Does any one have any tips about how they have made friends since the move?

[chrismorrison 96]

Kas has already started looking at expat meetups and found a car lovers group that he wants to check out.

Have you tried that?

[CheekyMonkeys154 27]

This thread is cracking me up! haha

[wbeem 568]

This thread is cracking me up! haha

It's brilliant! About a week ago I was catching up on the last few pages and was laughing so hard I'm surprised nobody came in to point at me and say, "Fookinell, Lukatar! That girl needs a moofin." It's good to be able to laugh in among all this waiting and paperwork

[CheekyMonkeys154 27]

Hahaha the funniest thing this makes me think of is the movie the football factory. Neil had me watch that and the things they said were cracking me up and for like a week after we watched it I walked around and was like oi! You Muggin me off?!? Haha now imagine a southern American girl trying to say that and not sound ridiculous Hahaha it doesn't work lol

[wbeem 568]

Hahaha the funniest thing this makes me think of is the movie the football factory. Neil had me watch that and the things they said were cracking me up and for like a week after we watched it I walked around and was like oi! You Muggin me off?!? Haha now imagine a southern American girl trying to say that and not sound ridiculous Hahaha it doesn't work lol

Also, it disappeared after a couple of years, but do you remember "Minging" being used as part of everyday slang for a few years?

Edit: My phone just autocorrected slang to slag 3 times before I got it to take the correct word I wanted. This is fun. I should pop in here more often.

[CheekyMonkeys154 27]

hahahahaha slag. I think that and knickers are my two favorite words. Every time I open my FB page one of his family member's who is a teen, is always calling her friends a slag. lol Ya'lls words seem to sound so much better than ours. Though there are a couple that he laughs at me about. Like one day I said, you know I was plum over it! He said uh did you just plum me? hahahahaha It's so funny how we all talk so alike but so different. For laughs we bought one of those UK to US dictionary things. And some of the words in there crack me up, he's like I've never heard anyone ever say that. haha AT least this thread allows us to laugh and pass our waiting time.

[rob999 51]

hahahahaha slag. I think that and knickers are my two favorite words. Every time I open my FB page one of his family member's who is a teen, is always calling her friends a slag. lol Ya'lls words seem to sound so much better than ours. Though there are a couple that he laughs at me about. Like one day I said, you know I was plum over it! He said uh did you just plum me? hahahahaha It's so funny how we all talk so alike but so different. For laughs we bought one of those UK to US dictionary things. And some of the words in there crack me up, he's like I've never heard anyone ever say that. haha AT least this thread allows us to laugh and pass our waiting time.

I was on a train going to London going through Gravesend and Abbey Wood and there were a bunch of teens on the train, I don't think I understood anything these kids say anymore, to think I used to be like that makes me feel so old (and a bit eww). Americans found my accent apparently "cute", I sound like a breeding program gone wrong of Kent posh, chav, cockney and Essex, and I still get the "OMG you're English", yes I have regular tea and cakes with the Queen with greeting like "Alreeeet Darling Queen, How's it 'anging?".

Living in Scotland for last four years and having nothing but disgusted looks as I walk into a pub with trousers and not a skirt, I mean kilt kilt, I said it, I swear, please don't hurt me! It's going to be a change from living in an area that is totally ABE (Anyone-But-England) to the total opposite and "Ohhhh do you watch Downton Abbey?????", yes every Sunday whilst eating a manly sized tub of ice cream with sprinkles on top (my fiancee still is not happy that I won't watch it).

Disclaimer: I love my Scottish cousins and their passion (and kilts are very warm), I've had four years of great banter

[CheekyMonkeys154 27]

hahha ! I never understand all the Americans and their assumptions about you guys. But it's the same for us the other way round I guess. He always answers, ahh yes I walk around with my top hat and say cheerio guvna to everyone all the time! lol It aggravates him to death. But his family wanted to know if I was a redneck (mind you I was on skype when she barged in to ask and didn't know I heard her lol!) simply because i live in the south. haha People and assumptions while are mostly ridiculous sometime just crack me up.

The word that never goes away in this house though is innit. lol My fiance and my daughter have a cute little banter that goes on all the time. He says innit blah blah blah and she'll say yes isn't it. lol She always says isn't it back to him, even on fb or in text when he says it she always says it back. It's like a little game now. lol And all the kids at school are like OMG he's English! lol!

[wbeem 568]

Living in Scotland for last four years and having nothing but disgusted looks as I walk into a pub with trousers and not a skirt, I mean kilt kilt, I said it, I swear, please don't hurt me! It's going to be a change from living in an area that is totally ABE (Anyone-But-England) to the total opposite and "Ohhhh do you watch Downton Abbey?????", yes every Sunday whilst eating a manly sized tub of ice cream with sprinkles on top (my fiancee still is not happy that I won't watch it).

Disclaimer: I love my Scottish cousins and their passion (and kilts are very warm), I've had four years of great banter

I have the opposite to you with my accent. I'm Scottish but have more of an English slant on my accent.

A few of William's favorites of mine are:

"OMG I'm going to lose my rag!"

Knickers (yes, we also love that one)

Tits-up (he can't understand how reference to something good can mean something negative

Posh git

[2ndMessiah 184]

Generally when in Roman.........

I suffered real anxiety when I had to talk to people beyond, hello and goodbye. I would let the wife act as a translator. English (well Northern Ireland) to American and back again.

I have made an effort to slow my speech down and were I can, use the American way of saying words and dropping slang. But what really helped was the realization that I am who I am. I speak the way I do. I have made enough accommodations in how I talk and it it the other persons problem if they cant understand me. I am a lot more comfortable in my skin now. I just hate drive thru's now.....

Oh and get used to people telling you they just love your accent. What accent?

[CheekyMonkeys154 27]

Yes yes! And right you should be comfortable with yourself. If they want to know what you say they will make the effort to listen. And who likes the drive thru lol and yes all the ladies swoon over the accent. I just smile at them like yup he's mine. Haha

[2ndMessiah 184]

Honestly I really also cant get around saying tomato as Tom- ay -toe. It sounds horrible coming out of my mouth. But I have discovered that the nice Indian people (I mean Bollywood, not native) who run the Subway near my work say it correctly even if it is tinted with an accent. Makes me happy.

Oh also if he brings a desktop PC with him. Buy him an American keyboard and change the preferences to American English. That will really mess with him.

Edited April 15, 2015 by 2ndMessiah