August 2008
28 posts
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With a fork.
English people eat with their left hand.
This is tricky to explain in text, so bear with me. As a right-handed American, when I am presented with a steak, I put the fork in my left hand and the knife in my right, and do the cutting with my dominant hand. But AFTER I cut the meat, I will place my knife on the edge of my plate, put the fork back into my right hand and use that to eat.
An...
“Before leaving the US, take one last look at the sun. Burn into your memory. It...”
– saw it on an ex-pat forum and about wet myself laughing
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“In the US, when you bump into a person, you typically say, “excuse...”
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“Beware: Purple food items for sale in the UK are almost always black currant,...”
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Everything Must Go.
PROTIP: Shredding all of the paperwork you don’t need to bring with you to a new country (like, centuries old resumes, warranties for appliances that aren’t going along, phone lists from old jobs, love letters from old boyfriends, etc.) will provide you with lots of squooshy paper to pack the things that ARE going.
I desperately need a break from the stress of wedding stuff, so I...
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“to take the piss out of someone” = “busting someone’s balls”
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*whump*
That’s the sound of my head, hitting my desk at full speed following an insane few days of life planning.
First, wedding things. The minister finally called me back but couldn’t do the date we had planned on, and in the end, we ended up pushing the wedding five days SOONER than expected. That is, in two weeks. So uh… safe to say things are in high-gear around here. He got...
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Home Defense
Last night, someone walked right into our flat in England, where my boyfriend was sleeping, and took his wallet and iPod touch right off our kitchen table. When he woke up, the door was ajar and nobody was anywhere to be seen.
I don’t really have time to get into it right now, but I struggle right now with anger and vulnerability at moving to a country where you can’t own a gun and...
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It's hard to sleep without you here.
There’s a weird cycle that happens whenever I land in Chicago. It starts off with happiness at seeing my family, followed shortly by being annoyed at how spoiled america is and moves directly into wanting to throw away everything that’s been sitting around my house without me for months. Why do I have those things if I can get by without them?
Those first few days, I don’t...
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Plane Tickets
If you have loved ones overseas, it would behoove you to learn the fine art of booking a plane ticket and traveling by air. There are many methods to this madness, but you know you won if you got a cheap ticket, didn’t have to sit right between two people with gas the whole way there, and get your luggage back eventually.
I have low standards, I know, but I spent a childhood being towed...
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Things I HAVE missed about the US
Dryers (or tumble dryers, as the English call them)
Burritos
My dog
Water Pressure
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Things I have not missed about the US:
Processed Cheese
Mommy-Bloggers
Mosquitos
Tornadoes (We had one last night.)
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Let the games begin!
Disclaimer: I’m still learning about all of this. Please never take my word for anything, as I am frequently wrong. If you are attempting to get a visa, call your consulate, not my blog.
An American citizen may visit England for six months out of every twelve without getting a visa. (Well, technically, I think you’re on what’s called a tourist visa, but because we have...
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How we roll.
amiee: you sure you're ok with coming here to get married?
graham: yes
amiee: i mean you have to, obviously. but we could do it later on
amiee: like, you could just come hang out and we could get married at christmas
Graham: no baby
Graham: let's get married in september
amiee: ok
amiee: i will make us a basecamp page
amiee: and invite you
Graham: you are so romantic
amiee: I KNOW
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In the wee small hours of the morning...
It’s hard to be homesick. It’s especially hard to be homesick when you are surrounded by people who feel threatened or guilty that you’d rather be elsewhere. It’s very hard to say to my boyfriend that I am horribly homesick sometimes, because it just makes him feel like he’s splitting up my family and probably scares him that I might back out of this whole plan...
