Bricks through windows

Listening to expats speaking at a Democrats Abroad meeting last night, I was struck by how hard it is for Americans to adjust to life in England. I think we assume because we have a language in common (sort of), that'll we'll just slip in and be fine but it doesn't really happen. I've been over here for 18 years, and I still make terrible gaffes due to cultural differences. People cut me some slack though -- they'll say, "Oh she's American," as if that explains everything. :)

The expats I was with last night are all trying to understand the differences and appreciate them and grow as people, but yesterday in the American expats group on the Internet, there was more whining and blaming of England for all their troubles.

One woman's mother-in-law had a brick thrown through her window (she lives on a council estate, the US equivalent of projects), and the poster says this would never happen in the US, or if it did, the police would be out and something would be done about it. Another incident that angered the poster was that her car broke down on the motorway, and people drove past and made fun of them. This would never happen in the US, she assures us.

I was speaking to a friend of mine about the ranting posts these women are putting in the expats conference that is supposed to be helping people who want to move to the UK or are already here, and she pointed out that the people in this online group are poorer than they would be in the US, and therefore can't live in as a nice an area. She asked, "Do they think bricks are being thrown through the windows in Mayfair or Belgravia?"

They are all heathens here

I belong to an American expats in the UK group on the Internet. Usually discussions are confined to where to find Aunt Jemima's pancake syrup in the UK or what does 21 Celsius translate to in Farenheit (so the person can figure out what temperature it is as they only give it in metric amounts on the radio).

But last week a woman from California put a note in the conference to ask how people really felt about living in the UK as she was a bit apprehensive about her upcoming move, and a firestorm of emotion erupted.

Women began to write long messages about how much they hate it here. They listed in detail what they hated: the weather, high prices, unfriendly people, hooligans, crime, neighbors letting kids trample all over their flowerbeds, etc. As I read these lists, I was surprised at the vehemence of the writers' emotions. One woman would set off another who came out of the woodwork to list all she hates and on and on. Finally someone entered the single comment that people who live here are "heathens."

The poor woman who entered the original query must be shaking in her boots at the thought of moving here. When another poster asked others to calm down and list some positives about living in England, she was shouted down with cries of, "I'm just being honest! Do you not like honesty? How do you know what I've experienced?"

It's all such naked emotion; I never expected to see such raw stuff on a Monday morning. I think if they want to be honest in there, they should rename the conference from American Expats in the UK to Let me Count the Ways that I Hate England.