Tuesday, May 7, 2013
You're not in Manchester any more.
Rule number one: There is no Brit Club.
These are just my infrequent and not too serious observations of the expats I see all around me.
When I first came to the US Brits seemed more few and far between and in the helter skelter of Manhattan it was easier to be unaware of them. Since moving to the suburbs however its very noticeable that there is a community and a network of the sons and daughters of Albion with further connections to those of Scottish,Welsh and even Irish origins.
At first it seemed that the Club was divided in two. The just arriveds and the long time been heres.
The new folks are also divided into two.One thinks that everything here is weird and not in nice way.
In other words,the whiners. `Oh the telly's crap here innit? Nothing on. And the food is different.
You can't get things at the supermarket like you can at home.The tea is awful innit?. And they don't know how to make beer do they? And the weather's too hot,too cold,too different' The whiners are very vocal. They were obviously kidnapped by sailors and pressed into overseas service.After they came to in their rent assisted accommodation the first thing they did was talk about going home. And they've been talking about nothing else ever since. And then there are the settlers. These are the people who can't believe their good luck at being in a bigger house driving a bigger car earning bigger money and they love it. They have an immediate affinity to American culture and sports and feel less and less
connected to the UK every day.
This blog will profile a few of these two types that I've come across in my time here. I put myself in neither category so I can feel free to poke fun at them both.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)

No comments:
Post a Comment