A Midwestern girl living in London

Thursday, 28 July 2011

The best of British food!

Saturday, 23 July 2011

What's it like to be American abroad?

an answer to the question what is it like being an american abroad

This is a great post by expat blogger Nicky Bryce-Sharron. She's from Ohio and now lives in Brighton. Awesomeville is a great blog and if you don't read it already add it to your blog roll! I had to share, because it captures the experience of being an expat so well. I can totally identify with her writing.

Washing up liquid or dish soap?

If you really miss the nice metal teeth, watch this video and you can see them tearing off a piece of foil! Heaven :) http://www.reynoldspkg.com/reynoldskitchens/en/product.asp?prod_id=1789

The other day I was on the American Expats in London Facebook page and saw a question asking if it was possible to buy Dawn dish soap (washing up liquid). I thought it was an interesting thing to want to buy over here, because in my opinion the dish soap you can get here is just as good.

Further into the thread someone asked what was up with "What's up with the lousy 'zip' lock bags?" and then this of course led into a bit of back and forth about the superiority of Ziploc baggies and our tin foil (Renyolds Wrap) that comes in a box with nice sharp teeth so you can easily tear it.

I was of coursed lured into the thread because I too stand behind the quality of American Ziploc baggies and whenever I go home I always buy a few boxes to bring back with me.

Naturally the thread turned to helpful people mentioning you can get American things at Costco and then of course someone mentioned that they missed Girl Scout cookies.

I digress......

The point is after adding my comment about the baggies, I took a moment to reflect on the original post about wanting to know where you can buy Dawn dish soap.

I thought to myself that of all the things to miss product wise a person feels that they need to have American dish soap? I also thought that it was pretty ridiculous and that they needed to toughen up and just get on with it. I thought this person isn't going to make it if they can't are so set in their ways about dish soap. I mean if Fairy liquid is good enough for the Queen, surely an expat can use it.

There are of course things that I miss, food and product wise. Food especially. Things like Spaghettio's with meatballs (Hoops just aren't the same), Velveeta mac and cheese, frozen pizza, certain kinds of canned soup. I do agree that the foil here is rubbish. However, I've had to face facts and the make the best of it.

After reading the thread I thought what an absolute waste of time to even be posting that question. Then 30 seconds later I felt that I had been a bit heartless and judgmental. Perhaps that dish soap had a special meaning to that person, or they just love washing dishes. I don't know and it doesn't matter. Although the fact that I felt so heartless and flippant about it signaled to me, that I was becoming more like a local and less like an expat.

The point is this, all us expats go through adjusting to life in our new country in our own ways.

The things I missed during my first two years here seem like a long time ago. You definitely get to the point where things just kind of click. You go to the grocery store and you don't wish you could buy certain America products. You'll find that one day you don't even notice everyone's accent and you find yourself getting the first round in. I'll bet there even comes a day when you don't even care what washing up liquid you use anymore....

Tuesday, 19 July 2011

Can Brits work in America?

This is Matthew, he is English!

//My good American friend Taylor Baldry sent my English husband this email. He was giving him some ideas for employment when we move to Minnesota.///

Dear Matthew,

I do miss a karaoke-ing-a-go-go. But it sounds like, from what I hear, that it won't be too long until we once again will be able to share a mic but this time in the Land of the Free.

Speaking of Cash, have you seen this video? It is a crowd-sourced animation where anyone can contribute a frame to the project:

http://www.thejohnnycashproject.com/#/explore/TopRated

Also speaking of cash, here are some ideas for your new job in America:

1. Fake tour guide. This is something that I always wanted to do - give people tours based that are based on make-believe. There actually is a business in Chicago that does this.

2. Hire an Englishmen. In China, a White man can make a fine living being rented out for parties, business openings and such as their presence supposedly adds a sense of sophistication, hipness and diversity. So in Minnesota, offer yourself up so people can hire you for various events to make them seem more witty or perhaps glum.

3. Start wind farms in the middle of one of Minnesota's many lakes. It's windy.

4. Become a street map seller. You know how in LA there are people that sell "Maps of the Stars" to tourists? Sure you do. Well team up with your wife, Rhea, to pinpoint interesting (or perhaps very uninteresting) places in Minneapolis. The maps could also be very personal - for example "this is where I threw-up on myself, this is where I found $5, this is where I was when my doctor called me to let me know that my gonorrhea results came back negative." etc.

5. Train conductor.

6. Become a butler. Check out this site on how to become, as the name suggests, a modern butler. They have some very educational videos on packing a suitcase.

Monday, 18 July 2011

Minnesota summer at the cabin

We haven't had much of a summer here in London, so I've been looking at lovely photos of other people's summers.There's nothing like going up north to the cabin during the summer in Minnesota. These photos, taken by Allison Vallant, really capture what it's like to go to the cabin. Allison and I went to MCAD together and she's a very talented lady. She majored in photography surprise surprise :) Her blog and Flickr site are gorgeous. Make sure to take a look. You will love it.