I'm driving down the road today and realize that I've been back in the US five months now, after four months of being there. What made me think of this? Strangely, I was thinking about how long it would have been had I stayed the two months longer that I was supposed to stay there. I would have only been back here three months then. All relevant information, no?
I was thinking about some of the difference I found between a country divided by a common language (that's what they say right?) and truthfully, I think any American that had never been to the UK before would have been thrown through a bit of a loop at the differences between the two countries. My daughter and I were talking about my trip there as a teenager, and how some things confused me. The one thing that always humors her is how I complained that, in Italy, they served us weeds for salad. My mother tried convincing me that they were in fact different kinds of lettuces in the world and these were simply one of those cases. Being an arrogant teenager, I refused to consider the fact that they were in fact lettuce, and insisted for many years to come that we were fed weeds. Victoria seems to find this funny. I suppose it's a good thing I've been feeding her "weeds" all along and this didn't upset her on our trip there. Crisis averted. Whew.
We stayed in Wales for three of our four months and had some differences there. I think Americans would be shocked at the freezer space (or lack of) since we are so used to buying large quantities and freezing things. This became apparent when we were there for (American) Thanksgiving and couldn't buy a turkey until a day or so before due lack of space in the freezer. We ended up buying a turkey breast. It was only three of us for this occasion so wasn't that big of a deal. (If you remember, my friend Kerry came to visit and to experience American Thanksgiving foods. Keep in mind, the freezer in Wales was tiny - and we usually stocked bagged ice and ice cream in it.
Speaking of freezer space, that is another thing Americans would be confused about. Where's the ice? I personally do not know anyone in the UK who has an ice maker in their freezer - where I don't know anyone in the US without one! As rare as freezer space was for us, this particular one in Wales held two bags of ice and we bought accordingly. But when we'd go out to restaurants, we'd have to specify that we'd like ice in our beverage. Americans reading this will gasp and find that inconceivable.
Also, beverages did not come with refills. In America, you finish your drink and they come along with either a pitcher of tea or another full glass of soda or whatever you are drinking (and by soda I mean Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, 7up, Mountian Dew, etc etc etc.). This simply does not occur in the UK. If you want more of your beverage of choice, be prepared to pay for a second glass. Of course this excludes adult beverages in both countries.
Restaurants are far different in the UK. The first thing you will notice is the lack of drive through windows. In the US, most places have a drive-though window. In Wales, while there, the only drive through windows we could find were at McDonalds. Thank goodness because the drivers window on the borrowed car I was driving (thanks again Sian and Ian for the car! and very sorry about the accident!) did not go down, which would have made drive through windows a royal pain in the butt. Since we rarely go through them here in the US, it wasn't that much of a loss to us. With that said, most restaurants around us were actually pubs. Small, usually more dark than light, carpet on the floors, and a bar where you went and ordered any food you'd like and pay for it upfront. In America, we call them bars and we go to them to drink and socialize but rarely eat anything more than bar food (potato chips, nachos, buffalo wings, etc). Very few restaurants we went to actually had waitresses. The Wyndstay Pizzeria in Machynlleth had waitresses though, which was one of our favorite places. Pricey for pizza (if we are talking American prices) but this was in the UK and all food there was considerably higher. But we didn't eat our too often. Not only did the price affect us but the amount of service we ever received frustrated us to no end. I emailed back a list of all the American restaurants we wanted to eat at upon our arrival. I don't think I cooked for the first two weeks! Seemed we were constantly in awe of how much ice our glass had at all times! ;)
Oh that reminds me - tips! We rarely had to tip there. Staff makes a decent salary and people don't have to tip as much. Compared to the US, where waiters and waitresses only make minimum wage or less, and they make the most of their money in tips. The opposite is true in the UK. They all were shocked when I tipped. Go figure.
Food usually tasted different even when we tried to make things we had here in the US. For instance, we made tacos. Close but very different. Hamburgers were tastier there though. And bacon? Nope. Even their "streaky" bacon (which is supposed to be close to our bacon) wasn't it. Their bacon is more like what we know as Canadian bacon. Probably much healthier. Good but not what we know bacon to be.
We could discuss driving on the opposite side of the road but we won't. Let's just say it's a HUGE adjustment.
People looking at you like you just slapped them. Seriously! Mostly up in Scotland people either looked at me funny or just ignored me after they heard my accent. Mostly though, people were curious about why I was there. I'm sure most Americans don't just choose to go to Mid Wales for three months. I'm not sure if Welsh or British or Scottish people find American accents sexy at all, but I know that in America, women melt over British accents.
There's a million other things to discuss but will hold on to them for now.
Love ~ Peace ~ Happiness
Marianne
