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A Year In England
Jul. 6th, 2013 10:48 pmToday marks my year anniversary of arriving in England. I actually left America on July 5th, 2012, but that day was lost to travel, as my plane arrived early morning (UK time) on the 6th. Moving countries can really only be described as one of my defining events in life up to now. I can't really say that it was the best thing I've ever done, or the worst thing I've ever done. As with most major things, there have been ups and downs. I'd like to take a minute to reflect on the past year. I think I'll organize this by doing a brief timeline with reflection followed by bullet points of general reflection.
So, as I said, I arrived early-July to start my married life in England. David met me at the airport, and has been nearby ever since. It has been such a blessing, and a relief to be TOGETHER for all this time. No more skype-based relationship! Anyways, I digress... I moved in July after going through a process that literally took years of work. I had to get registered with the HPC and the RCSLT in order to work here. And then David and I needed to get a visa for me. There was also the work of mentally and emotionally preparing myself for the move. All things considered, I think I did a fairly good job. There have been no surprises about life in England, though I'm certainly still learning about life here all the time (especially work-related stuff). The first thing I noticed was the big drop in temperature! It was about 100F in the midwest for a couple of weeks that summer, at it was about 60 degrees in London. Quite a shock to the system! Dave took me to our new flat- 51 Southerngate Way in New Cross. It's a cute little flat... relatively nice and in a cute neighbourhood. For me though, it's very very very small. I've never actually lived in a 1-bedroom apartment before, and this is small even for a 1-bedroom. However, we did have a loft for storage, and that makes a big difference.
July and August were exciting months. My stuff arrived from America, and it was nice to unpack all of the boxes and see familiar things. In hindsight- I think I should have gotten rid of more stuff- especially books and DVDs. I really don't read enough books or watch enough DVDs to make the price of that service worth it. Live and learn I guess. It's still nice to have them. David was working during up till the 2 week shut down at the end of August, so I was on my own to unpack and fill out job applications. I tried to do 1-2 applications a day, and spent the rest of my time "nesting". London was buzzing with the 2012 Olympics! It became such a positive and exciting place to be living! We managed to get to the village and to a couple of events (handball and wheelchair basketball) and really made the most of it. Sometime in there we went to Newcastle Upon Tyne for Dave's grandmother's funeral, and we went to Towersey Folk Festival in late August. I had an interview set up for early September. It was all a bit go-go-go during that time, and I wasn't too worried about finding work yet, though I was spending a lot of time on applications by August.
September and October were a bit of a crash. I was now putting considerable effort into finding a job in London, and it was like shouting in an empty room. I wasn't even getting interviews- hell, I wasn't even getting letters saying "no thanks", or "we received your application". It was very frustrating. This was also about the time when the wedding drama started. It became obvious (in the form of unpleasant e-mails) that not everyone was happy with how we were approaching the wedding. It was made clear that we aren't allowed to call it a wedding- because we were already married. And in general, we are still dealing with that. Again- hind sight, we should have invited immediate family to Indiana and just had the little ceremony there and called it a day. But NOOOO I wanted to have a "real" wedding. Stupid Amber.
November and December were another monster entirely. The super happy good news was that I found a job! I worked very very hard to get this particular job, and I'm well chuffed that I got it! However, within a few weeks it became apparent that this was not going to be an easy job. PHS is not a nice place to work. I spent November and December being chastised for my "American rudeness" and being treated like a student by my supervisor. I was thrown into a teaching position (largely reading teacher) and was scheduled into classtimes in a way that made it impossible to prepare or execute any therapy sessions for my students (though there is no therapy room, so I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised). Working there was a huge challenge. I was working harder, more hours, and with more adversity than I ever did back at Brown County Schools, and for a fraction of the salary, and with a HORRIBLE commute to boot! I'm not the only one who feels this way about my current school though... they failed their Ofsted inspection right before I started (it was actually done right before my interview day), and since I've started working there we've had about 7 (out of a staff of 25) people leave. They have a sink or swim Ofsted visit scheduled for this upcoming October- so we'll see if the school even stays open...
Christmas was nice. It was David's and my first Christmas together. We got a tree and decorated everything up nice. I missed seeing my family, but I've gotten used to being away for Christmas, so it wasn't too bad. And I always enjoy going to David's family's house for the holidays.
January came, and with it the never ending illnesses. I was sick sick sick sick! I'd spend about 3 weeks sick, be healthy for 5 days, and then get sick for a few more weeks. Between January and May I was given something like 6 rounds of antibiotics. I went to school sick quite a lot, but even so I've racked up 17 sick days since November! At one point I was off for a solid 2 weeks with "proper flu" and a lung infection. I thought I as going to die... I've had more trouble with my lungs and lung infections for every sickness, and I've very rarely had the full use of my voice. I've never in my life had so many serious illnesses in so short a time span. I have to say- there were quite a few times in this period of time where I'd break down sobbing wanting to go home.
Though, between the sicknesses we managed to have some good times. We had a really nice trip to Scotland during the Easter holidays, and we've had a few visitors.
I think things have started looking up since May. We've made some new friends. A girl named Rachel is quickly becoming a good friend in London. She is also from California, and is living here (hopefully permanently) on an entrepreneur's visa. Meeting her was very lucky and quite random! She was a girl David met waiting for the bus after a salsa event once (which she really doesn't dance), and they happened to facebook friend each other. That was a few years ago. And we had just gotten a new melodeon and David saw her post about needing musicians to play for her Morris Dance thing- so we volunteered, and really hit it off! Funny how things happen.
Anyways- May and June I've been mostly healthy. I've had some allergies, and I had a really bad cold for about 2 days- BUT it was just a cold and left my lungs alone, which is a big victory for me! I had some interview for a new job, but no luck. Things might be looking up for next year at work though... who knows. I'll keep an eye out for quirky open windows though...
Things were just settling down. The weather had finally given us some sunshine (after 10 months of winter!) and our social life was starting to kick off- with the end of the school year approaching... and we got an e-mail from our landlady telling us she wanted to move back in in 4 weeks, and to please vacate :P So late June was taken up with intensely stressful flat hunting. We found a place in Wimbledon which is a slight improvement in area and flat- though it's still a small 1-bedroom, with a fridge smaller than what I had in my dorm room! But we'll live. I'm excited about other aspects of it. There's a nook I can finally have my own desk in! And we just spent a HUGE amount of money on a new bed, so I should have a happier back. We're now in the process of packing ALL of the things, and will be moving next weekend. The school year will be over in 3 weeks. I've been audited by the HCPC, which is just in line with my current luck. At least I know I've done all my CPD, it's just a pain to fill out all the paper work and write a couple of essays about it... And our "wedding" will be in October. I'm interested to see what the next year will bring...
General reflections of life in England:
- I am first and foremost an American to everyone I meet. Even after a while, it is still the defining feature of me as a person. Amber the American
- Really short days in the winter are really hard for me. I don't like sunset at 4:00
- The constant unrelenting cold and lack of sunshine really really get to me after a while
- I really miss having a drier for my clothes. Hanging up clothes takes forever for them to dry (especially in such a dark, damp, cold environment), and they take up a huge amount of space for such a very tiny flat. So laundry often doesn't get done... which is a big problem
- Tourist stick out like a sore thumb, and can be really annoying when I'm trying to get somewhere... also, I hate it when people think I'm a tourist because of my accent
- I still sound VERY much like an American to everyone I meet here, though I think my accent has softened some. It's a bit chaotic... because there are so many different accents in England, and they are all over the place in London. I think my vocabulary and spelling have mostly adjusted though.
- I still like to follow American recipes and have a really hard time with English (metric) measurements- especially Celsius
- People drink a lot more here, and I have to admit I've been drinking a lot more frequently (though not huge in amount) since moving here
- Don't take the last biscuit
- Always offer to make people tea
- Always offer to buy a round for everyone
- It's very hard to learn a new sign system. I have to learn English Makaton signs for work, and I hate them
- I HATE singing the alphabet song with "zed" at the end
- Netflix here sucks, there is no Pandora, there is no Hulu, and none of the stations will let you watch stuff on their websites
- It's really hard to get stuff. Like, almost anything you can think of, it's harder to get here. Americans take the materials available to them for granted
- I hardly ever eat out, because it's just not very convenient
- Don't like the diet meals here...
- Life without a car is hard
- Public transport is quite unpleasant when you aren't experiencing it on holiday. I can't stand my daily commute
- Stand on the right people!
- The beer and cider are SO much better here!
- English people are really snobby about hating "American" foods that I didn't even realise were American! Especially our thing for salty-sweet. They think that's SOOO weird! (IE: PB&J, chocolate covered pretzels, etc.)
- Breakfast cereal selection is very limited. Have a scotch egg instead!
- Even though it's in all the media- people here know very little about life in America (meanings of our words or how schools are run, etc.)
- Schools are STRANGE here! you start "Kindergarten" (called reception here) at age 4. Then you are done with mandatory school at 16 and go to college for 2 years. Then you go to University at 18. They also have to take tests and apply to their secondary schools and colleges, so the pressure is high to get into a good school.
- London fashions are crazy
- Afterwork drinks with colleagues is an important part of your job whether you work in an office or a school
- I've finally got a good grasp of English humour, and enjoy listening to radio shows and watching English TV
- Patriotism here is a very sensitive topic and largely discouraged. You aren't allowed to fly a St George flag without planning permission and you really don't see very many Union Jacks at all. I think there is a general sense of cultural shame for the empire days. But again, I can't be sure, as it's very subtle and largely not talked about.
- Very few kids here will get speech therapy for articulation problems
- The NHS is great... but far from perfect
- I pay ALL the taxes now... I'd say over 30% of my income goes to taxes
- It's very hard to keep in touch with people in the states. The time difference is a problem, and very few people seem to be willing to use Skype or google chat. I've only had video calls from 2 friends in the whole year I've been here (my fault as much as anyone else's)
- Marriage is awesome. David is everything I knew he would be and more as a husband!
- Mould grows EVERYWHERE
- English university is pretty bare bones, they get a lot of their training after school in early work placements
- It often feels like living in England is living with less and living without. Everything is more expensive, and quality is often worse, and payscales are lower. But perhaps it's just me being fussy...
- No need to run an AC (nowhere even has one) because it doesn't get too hot
- Europe is close, but there's never any time or money to go and see it (though, we did get to go to Scotland, which was amazing!)
- Pubs are great fun. I love pub culture
- Pub quizzes are fun- but I never know any of the answers!
- In general, life goes on. As much as I miss home, I can't actually imagine where I'd want to go. I'm very happy to be here with David.
- I think most of my fusses are to do with city living rather than England living. I have a feeling that I'll be much happier once we're out of London...
I'm sure there's more... but this is enough for now... 1 year of England. 1 whole year without setting foot on American soil. Life is interesting!
So, as I said, I arrived early-July to start my married life in England. David met me at the airport, and has been nearby ever since. It has been such a blessing, and a relief to be TOGETHER for all this time. No more skype-based relationship! Anyways, I digress... I moved in July after going through a process that literally took years of work. I had to get registered with the HPC and the RCSLT in order to work here. And then David and I needed to get a visa for me. There was also the work of mentally and emotionally preparing myself for the move. All things considered, I think I did a fairly good job. There have been no surprises about life in England, though I'm certainly still learning about life here all the time (especially work-related stuff). The first thing I noticed was the big drop in temperature! It was about 100F in the midwest for a couple of weeks that summer, at it was about 60 degrees in London. Quite a shock to the system! Dave took me to our new flat- 51 Southerngate Way in New Cross. It's a cute little flat... relatively nice and in a cute neighbourhood. For me though, it's very very very small. I've never actually lived in a 1-bedroom apartment before, and this is small even for a 1-bedroom. However, we did have a loft for storage, and that makes a big difference.
July and August were exciting months. My stuff arrived from America, and it was nice to unpack all of the boxes and see familiar things. In hindsight- I think I should have gotten rid of more stuff- especially books and DVDs. I really don't read enough books or watch enough DVDs to make the price of that service worth it. Live and learn I guess. It's still nice to have them. David was working during up till the 2 week shut down at the end of August, so I was on my own to unpack and fill out job applications. I tried to do 1-2 applications a day, and spent the rest of my time "nesting". London was buzzing with the 2012 Olympics! It became such a positive and exciting place to be living! We managed to get to the village and to a couple of events (handball and wheelchair basketball) and really made the most of it. Sometime in there we went to Newcastle Upon Tyne for Dave's grandmother's funeral, and we went to Towersey Folk Festival in late August. I had an interview set up for early September. It was all a bit go-go-go during that time, and I wasn't too worried about finding work yet, though I was spending a lot of time on applications by August.
September and October were a bit of a crash. I was now putting considerable effort into finding a job in London, and it was like shouting in an empty room. I wasn't even getting interviews- hell, I wasn't even getting letters saying "no thanks", or "we received your application". It was very frustrating. This was also about the time when the wedding drama started. It became obvious (in the form of unpleasant e-mails) that not everyone was happy with how we were approaching the wedding. It was made clear that we aren't allowed to call it a wedding- because we were already married. And in general, we are still dealing with that. Again- hind sight, we should have invited immediate family to Indiana and just had the little ceremony there and called it a day. But NOOOO I wanted to have a "real" wedding. Stupid Amber.
November and December were another monster entirely. The super happy good news was that I found a job! I worked very very hard to get this particular job, and I'm well chuffed that I got it! However, within a few weeks it became apparent that this was not going to be an easy job. PHS is not a nice place to work. I spent November and December being chastised for my "American rudeness" and being treated like a student by my supervisor. I was thrown into a teaching position (largely reading teacher) and was scheduled into classtimes in a way that made it impossible to prepare or execute any therapy sessions for my students (though there is no therapy room, so I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised). Working there was a huge challenge. I was working harder, more hours, and with more adversity than I ever did back at Brown County Schools, and for a fraction of the salary, and with a HORRIBLE commute to boot! I'm not the only one who feels this way about my current school though... they failed their Ofsted inspection right before I started (it was actually done right before my interview day), and since I've started working there we've had about 7 (out of a staff of 25) people leave. They have a sink or swim Ofsted visit scheduled for this upcoming October- so we'll see if the school even stays open...
Christmas was nice. It was David's and my first Christmas together. We got a tree and decorated everything up nice. I missed seeing my family, but I've gotten used to being away for Christmas, so it wasn't too bad. And I always enjoy going to David's family's house for the holidays.
January came, and with it the never ending illnesses. I was sick sick sick sick! I'd spend about 3 weeks sick, be healthy for 5 days, and then get sick for a few more weeks. Between January and May I was given something like 6 rounds of antibiotics. I went to school sick quite a lot, but even so I've racked up 17 sick days since November! At one point I was off for a solid 2 weeks with "proper flu" and a lung infection. I thought I as going to die... I've had more trouble with my lungs and lung infections for every sickness, and I've very rarely had the full use of my voice. I've never in my life had so many serious illnesses in so short a time span. I have to say- there were quite a few times in this period of time where I'd break down sobbing wanting to go home.
Though, between the sicknesses we managed to have some good times. We had a really nice trip to Scotland during the Easter holidays, and we've had a few visitors.
I think things have started looking up since May. We've made some new friends. A girl named Rachel is quickly becoming a good friend in London. She is also from California, and is living here (hopefully permanently) on an entrepreneur's visa. Meeting her was very lucky and quite random! She was a girl David met waiting for the bus after a salsa event once (which she really doesn't dance), and they happened to facebook friend each other. That was a few years ago. And we had just gotten a new melodeon and David saw her post about needing musicians to play for her Morris Dance thing- so we volunteered, and really hit it off! Funny how things happen.
Anyways- May and June I've been mostly healthy. I've had some allergies, and I had a really bad cold for about 2 days- BUT it was just a cold and left my lungs alone, which is a big victory for me! I had some interview for a new job, but no luck. Things might be looking up for next year at work though... who knows. I'll keep an eye out for quirky open windows though...
Things were just settling down. The weather had finally given us some sunshine (after 10 months of winter!) and our social life was starting to kick off- with the end of the school year approaching... and we got an e-mail from our landlady telling us she wanted to move back in in 4 weeks, and to please vacate :P So late June was taken up with intensely stressful flat hunting. We found a place in Wimbledon which is a slight improvement in area and flat- though it's still a small 1-bedroom, with a fridge smaller than what I had in my dorm room! But we'll live. I'm excited about other aspects of it. There's a nook I can finally have my own desk in! And we just spent a HUGE amount of money on a new bed, so I should have a happier back. We're now in the process of packing ALL of the things, and will be moving next weekend. The school year will be over in 3 weeks. I've been audited by the HCPC, which is just in line with my current luck. At least I know I've done all my CPD, it's just a pain to fill out all the paper work and write a couple of essays about it... And our "wedding" will be in October. I'm interested to see what the next year will bring...
General reflections of life in England:
- I am first and foremost an American to everyone I meet. Even after a while, it is still the defining feature of me as a person. Amber the American
- Really short days in the winter are really hard for me. I don't like sunset at 4:00
- The constant unrelenting cold and lack of sunshine really really get to me after a while
- I really miss having a drier for my clothes. Hanging up clothes takes forever for them to dry (especially in such a dark, damp, cold environment), and they take up a huge amount of space for such a very tiny flat. So laundry often doesn't get done... which is a big problem
- Tourist stick out like a sore thumb, and can be really annoying when I'm trying to get somewhere... also, I hate it when people think I'm a tourist because of my accent
- I still sound VERY much like an American to everyone I meet here, though I think my accent has softened some. It's a bit chaotic... because there are so many different accents in England, and they are all over the place in London. I think my vocabulary and spelling have mostly adjusted though.
- I still like to follow American recipes and have a really hard time with English (metric) measurements- especially Celsius
- People drink a lot more here, and I have to admit I've been drinking a lot more frequently (though not huge in amount) since moving here
- Don't take the last biscuit
- Always offer to make people tea
- Always offer to buy a round for everyone
- It's very hard to learn a new sign system. I have to learn English Makaton signs for work, and I hate them
- I HATE singing the alphabet song with "zed" at the end
- Netflix here sucks, there is no Pandora, there is no Hulu, and none of the stations will let you watch stuff on their websites
- It's really hard to get stuff. Like, almost anything you can think of, it's harder to get here. Americans take the materials available to them for granted
- I hardly ever eat out, because it's just not very convenient
- Don't like the diet meals here...
- Life without a car is hard
- Public transport is quite unpleasant when you aren't experiencing it on holiday. I can't stand my daily commute
- Stand on the right people!
- The beer and cider are SO much better here!
- English people are really snobby about hating "American" foods that I didn't even realise were American! Especially our thing for salty-sweet. They think that's SOOO weird! (IE: PB&J, chocolate covered pretzels, etc.)
- Breakfast cereal selection is very limited. Have a scotch egg instead!
- Even though it's in all the media- people here know very little about life in America (meanings of our words or how schools are run, etc.)
- Schools are STRANGE here! you start "Kindergarten" (called reception here) at age 4. Then you are done with mandatory school at 16 and go to college for 2 years. Then you go to University at 18. They also have to take tests and apply to their secondary schools and colleges, so the pressure is high to get into a good school.
- London fashions are crazy
- Afterwork drinks with colleagues is an important part of your job whether you work in an office or a school
- I've finally got a good grasp of English humour, and enjoy listening to radio shows and watching English TV
- Patriotism here is a very sensitive topic and largely discouraged. You aren't allowed to fly a St George flag without planning permission and you really don't see very many Union Jacks at all. I think there is a general sense of cultural shame for the empire days. But again, I can't be sure, as it's very subtle and largely not talked about.
- Very few kids here will get speech therapy for articulation problems
- The NHS is great... but far from perfect
- I pay ALL the taxes now... I'd say over 30% of my income goes to taxes
- It's very hard to keep in touch with people in the states. The time difference is a problem, and very few people seem to be willing to use Skype or google chat. I've only had video calls from 2 friends in the whole year I've been here (my fault as much as anyone else's)
- Marriage is awesome. David is everything I knew he would be and more as a husband!
- Mould grows EVERYWHERE
- English university is pretty bare bones, they get a lot of their training after school in early work placements
- It often feels like living in England is living with less and living without. Everything is more expensive, and quality is often worse, and payscales are lower. But perhaps it's just me being fussy...
- No need to run an AC (nowhere even has one) because it doesn't get too hot
- Europe is close, but there's never any time or money to go and see it (though, we did get to go to Scotland, which was amazing!)
- Pubs are great fun. I love pub culture
- Pub quizzes are fun- but I never know any of the answers!
- In general, life goes on. As much as I miss home, I can't actually imagine where I'd want to go. I'm very happy to be here with David.
- I think most of my fusses are to do with city living rather than England living. I have a feeling that I'll be much happier once we're out of London...
I'm sure there's more... but this is enough for now... 1 year of England. 1 whole year without setting foot on American soil. Life is interesting!
