It's been over a year now since I moved to London. I have a few thoughts about the experience so far:
- I have definitely picked up some of the language used here. For example, I use "cheers" often instead of saying "good-bye" or "thanks." I also use "Hi-ya" instead of "hi" when greeting certain people - for some reason this happens mostly at a check-out counter of some sort.
- I can read articles in the papers and understand most of them, even when they are filled with UK slang and cultural references. I remember recently reading one particular article that I thought was hilarious. I started to post it to Facebook and then realized that most of my FB friends wouldn't understand it because it was filled with UK slang and cultural references.
- I am better at spelling words the UK way rather than the American way. All of the extra letters seem to make sense to me. I am going to be in real trouble when we get back to the US, as I have always been a little challenged in the spelling department.
- I can go for weeks without knowing too much of what goes on in the US. Not long ago, my mom made some comment about something that was happening in the US. I had no idea what she was talking about, so she had to explain it to me. On the other hand, I am getting a good foundation of knowledge about the workings of Parliament and who the players are in UK politics. I watched the recent UK election with great interest and am completely fascinated with how their system works. (PS - I think the US has a better system.)
- Cesar and I went to see "The Hurt Locker" recently. There is a scene at the end where the bomb tech guy is back at home in the States and is looking for cereal in a grocery store. The cereal aisle was huge with hundreds of boxes to choose from. Cesar and I laughed and laughed during that scene, each of us commenting about how much we missed the big US grocery stores with tons of choice. Although, there was a part of me that thought I might get overwhelmed with that much choice now. We may just freak out during our first grocery store experience once we repatriate.
- Speaking of repatriating, when we first moved here, we were very gung-ho to stay as long as possible. Now, I definitely see us returning at some point in the future. We are set to go back in March 2011, but may ask to extend for another year or two. We haven't quite decided yet. We'll see how things go over the next couple of months. It's a battle between missing some aspects of the US and liking the experience of living here.
- In the meantime, we are trying to travel as much as possible. I think I could never tire of travelling to new places. Our wish list of destinations is so long, it will take us a lifetime to complete. So far, we have a trip to Bath, England, planned for the long holiday weekend at the end of May and a trip to Italy in August. We are working on some more weekend trips to places in England and Wales, and are considering a trip to Ireland. I may also be heading to Barcelona for a few days in June, if some scheduling works out.
- Speaking of our August trip to Italy, it is going to be freakin' hot there. Here's a statement I thought I'd never make, yet have repeatedly lately: I can't wait for the hot weather! You know all of those stories you hear about England being cold, damp, and dark? Well, it is. (OK, so the summer is bright with the sun rising around 4 am and setting after 10 pm, but it is still cold and wet). I am so tired of being cold. It's mid-May and we're still wearing coats - coats, not jackets. Ah, to feel the warmth of the sun on my face again!
- Living in a different country and culture has its ups and downs. There are times we feel so far away from our friends and family and get a bit homesick. But, the homesickness invariably wanes and we get back to loving it here.
- Working here has been interesting. I am a member of the US tax desk, which means that I am here to provide US tax advice to clients who have operations (or want to) in the US. We often work in conjunction with the UK (or other European) client service teams to put together projects. For example, I just worked on a project with a team out of Amesterdam to put together a set of ideas to help a Dutch company finance its operations in the US. Trying to co-ordinate with the Ducth team and the US team to get the deliverable out the door was quite interesting - lots of calls, emails, draft versions, arguments back and forth, etc, ensued. We'd take something out of the deliverable; they'd put it back in. We'd find flaws in their ideas, and they'd find flaws in ours. Finally, after weeks of haggling back and forth, we all agreed on the final product. I am sure the client has no idea what it took to put that together, but I was exhausted by the end of it. I've also done several memos with UK teams. Their style of business writing is so different from ours. Any book or class on business writing in the US will tell you to use short, simple, declarative statements. The US legal environment also ensures that we cover our butts on pretty much everything, so everything is caveated to death. I once wrote a memo that pretty much said nothing useful in it because of all of the disclaimers and caveats in it. Not so in the UK. They love to write long, winding sentences and are bold enough in their claims to make statements like "If X transaction is undertaken, Y will happen." Will happen? That's crazy talk in the US. Things should happen or they are more likely than not to happen or there is a reasonable basis that you could argue that something may happen, but never, ever do we say something will happen. So, yes, it does get interesting here on the desk. Joint US-UK memos are always a good time.
I still highly recommend the expat experience to anyone who is interested in it. The opportunity to travel and learn about other cultures really can't be beat.
