If you’d moved thousands of miles across the Pond in 1990 like I did, it wasn’t such a big deal. Television had given us details about many countries around the world so it was hardly an unknown quantity; even less so for me as I was moving to the USA. Although I now know the … Read more
As an expat, it’s all very funny when you have little children, born and raised where you weren’t. They often have a different accent from you, a slightly different vocabulary, and they invariably make fun of your pronunciation. As they get older, and closer to leaving the nest however, things take on a more serious … Read more
When I first moved to the States from England in 1990, people used to ask me what I missed or what I thought was really different. Yes, family and friends come top of my list every time, but even after twenty years, one of the biggest things I still miss is my frame of reference. … Read more
It’s strange moving from the UK to the US. It sort of looks the same, and in some of the older cities you feel you could almost be in England. The flora and fauna however, are a constant reminder that you’re in strange territory. Gardening is a different kettle of fish in the States – … Read more
When you move from one country to another, you sometimes have to unlearn subjects that you were quite happy with, such as education systems. I grew up with the UK system, which is so different from its American counterpart I have almost had to erase it from my memory to survive. They start school a … Read more
How long do you have to live in a country to feel like you know what on earth everyone’s talking about? In my case, there’s not even a second language involved as we’re all supposed to be speaking English. I’ve written at length about the vocabulary differences between British and American English, but in my … Read more
According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics, approximately 172,000 Brits left their homeland in 2008, with only half leaving for work reasons. The rest were accompanying someone, looking for work or just travelling around, presumably in search of a better life. It’s more difficult to get US figures, as the government measures immigration but … Read more
I live in a barrio in a little town in the middle of the Dominican Republic. A barrio is translated as a neighbourhood, or a suburb. However it is not quite wide tree lined roads with pretty detached houses and beautifully manicured lawns. Each town has several barrios, and they all have names, most of … Read more