Everything is Different!
The language – I am having to spell my name and address several times to each person, as if they have never heard of these words before. I think it is just my accent, especially over the phone. And there are so many words that are different. It is much easier for us to understand the locals as we have so much American TV in the UK, but they have no idea of half the stuff we are talking about, and we often have to repeat ourselves or re-word things.Writing the date – they write the date the wrong way round – 13th April is written 4/13. Hence September 11th being called 9/11. I have so far not got used to that at all. After 30 odd years of writing it one way, it will take a lot of training to change it now.
The whole kitchen: washing machine – top-loading, with totally different dials to anything seen before. The detergent pours in with the clothes, there is no separate drawer for it; dishwasher – very antique looking, like the first ones we got in the UK, but at least easy to operate; kettle – not electric, have to boil on the hob; garbage disposal – great gadget, once we had a lesson on how to use it and found the switch for it that was hidden behind the microwave. We have been having fun experimenting with what it will take and how big the pieces can be. The oven is pretty normal and easy, apart from using the grill, which gets very hot very quickly – I burnt the toast the first time I used it, literally had flames leaping up!
The vacuum cleaner – again looks like an antique. Reminds me of the very upright, carpet sweeper type model my grandmother had when I was a kid, with a bag that runs the length of the handle, and no attachments or accessories at all. And this is not just an old one that we have been given, I saw an advert (commercial) on TV just the other day for one exactly like it!
Recycling – this is actually very good. There is a bin right outside our front door for all plastics, glass and cans, which can all be mixed together, and another one for paper and cardboard. So what with those and the garbage disposal for food, we have virtually no rubbish to put in the regular kitchen bin.
Television – Ok, this is not so different from what a lot of people have in the UK now, with satellite and cable, but I only ever had the 5 basic channels at my place, but now we have around 65 channels. And from what I can gather, this is only the basic package! Once we move into the next place, we can install cable which will give access to a whole load more channels. The one good thing about that will be that we will at least be able to see what is on. At the moment we have no way of knowing what the programme is, or how long it has been on, as there is no teletext or on-screen programme guide of any kind, so we just spend most of the time channel surfing, and never settling on anything for long.
Driving – on the right, and therefore wrong, side of the road. I can manage that one fairly well, as have driven loads in Europe. So far have only gone wrong once, and that was only in a car park so doesn’t really count. The biggest difference is that you can turn right (equivalent of turning left in UK) on a red light. I think I will probably need to be reminded of that one by the line of impatient drivers behind me sometimes!
Everything is so bloody far apart from everything else! – being a one-car family now, I have been walking anywhere I want to go. I don’t mind walking at all, and obviously only choose to go out on days when the weather is dry, but it takes so long to get anywhere. For example, I wanted to go to the Post Office the other day to buy stamps. I found out where the nearest branch was, then checked on the map. I figured it would be around a 40 minute walk each way, sticking mainly to the back roads as they are nicer to walk. But about 10 minutes into the journey, I discovered that one road on the map does not even exist, and that was quite an important one as it was supposed to take me across the railway line. Instead of the road, there was grass and a fence! I asked a local passer-by, and she directed me up the road to the train station where I could cross the tracks, but that extra bit took me further away, and so added about 20 minutes to my journey. So it took an hour to get to the Post Office! Obviously I was not going to trek all that way back, so I had to put up with walking along the very major road, 3 lanes in each direction, to walk the more direct route home. Even that took 45 minutes! In the UK, you could get to a Post Office from most places in around 15 minutes! Needless to say I am really looking forward to my bike arriving from the UK! That will open up a whole new geography for me.
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