I am in love with Instagram and London

So I've got a new website that is all about photos. It's how I see London. Nothing to read, just lovely pictures. 

www.rheainlondon.com

Living in London blogs

photo by birdAve


Being an expat is not always easy.

I think I must be going through some new phase of expat adjustment which has been set off by the fact that this October I will eligible to apply for a UK passport. It seems like a long way off, but times flies and it will be here before I know it. I was looking at the calendar the other and it just hit me that in October I will have lived here in the UK for four years.

That's a long time. 

It feels like a long time and yet at the same time feels like nothing. When I think about what I've done and experienced in that time I just can't believe how much I've been through. Time is another thing that has been playing on my mind, but I'll leave that for another blog post. 

When Matthew and I got together we agreed that we didn't know where we wanted to end up. We're both easy going and have a flair for adventure. We've talked about working and living somewhere other than the UK or America. We are both open to seeing where things will take us. 

However, I did tell Matthew that I wanted him to live in Minneapolis with me for a least a year. I wanted him to experience life in the States and I wanted to be able to share my family, friends and special places with him. Matthew has of course agreed. He's been to Minneapolis with me three times and has always enjoyed it and my family and friends really like him. I've never taken him during the winter......but I think he'll learn to love it. 

The thing is.......well.....I've been more aware of time lately. Life is short and you've got to experience as much as you can. I've been beginning to think a lot about our future and what we're going to be doing where. I've been thinking about when we might head to America.

Of course, this opens a whole can of worms. Sure I am homesick, not as much as I was when I first started living here, but I've definitely adjusted to life here. 

I've also been worried about how I am going to feel when I move back to the States. I've read on other blogs and have heard from other expats that it can be a very emotional experience. I am not so worried about Matthew adjusting, but how I'll adjust. Which sounds a bit selfish :)

I worry that it won't feel like home anymore, that it will just feel different. What if it's not as wonderful as I remembered? What if people have changed? Places have changed? What if I've changed so much that I feel like I don't fit in? Will it be weird? Will I be able to find a job? Will Matthew be able to find a job? Can I get used to driving on the left side of the road? Will American people seem strange? What will it be like not having 25 days paid vacation? Will I miss the NHS? Will I be able to pick up where I left off with my friends or will we have grown apart?

We'll have to get Matthew a green card in order to work and every time I go the U.S. citizenship and immigrations services website I get a headache. Getting Matthew a green card is going to involve forms, paperwork, time and money.

Lots of questions on my mind.

I think the biggest fear is that it won't feel the same or be as good as I remember. 

Of course it won't feel the same, it has been four years and I've changed. 

It's just one of those things. When you marry someone from another country, where you live is an issue that you get to deal with. It's exciting too, don't get me wrong. 


Living abroad changes you, there's just no two ways about. I feel like I am so different to the person I was before I moved here. I feel like the way I see the world and life has changed and of course it's a good think, but it feels strange. A good strange.


I thought I'd link to this article, which explains about repatriation. The UK-Yankee website also have a great forum about it as well. We will see how it goes. Lots to think about.

Many expatriates, living in far-flung corners of the globe, long for home. Paralyzed by culture shock and reeling from homesickness, they imagine how wonderful it would be to return to the familiar comforts of the life they once had. Even those who have adjusted well to the host culture and are happy with expatriate life assume that repatriation will be a breeze.

Read more at Suite101: Reverse Culture Shock Makes Repatriating Stressful for Expats http://www.suite101.com/content/reverse-culture-shock-makes-repatriating-stressful-for-expats-a228754#ixzz1Hpciis9X

Street preachers in Brixton

photo from Urban 75's blog.
I usually see this guy every morning outside of Brixton tube.

I was walking to Boots this evening to pick up some cold medicine and Kleenex and right outside the shop was a street preacher or god bother. He had a megaphone in addition to a boom box playing some kind of religious music. 

Now what I want to know is what do people who are Christian and love Jesus think of these "street peachers"? 

Do they think, "Wow, this is brilliant! I feel so happy they are spreading the word of the Lord and Amen to everyone" or do they find it annoying and strange.

I am not a religious person, so I find these people to be a bit weird. Mainly because they are so loud. Either with the megaphone or just basically shouting at people. It's the last thing that I want to hear when I am walking to the tube to get to work or heading home after work to be shouted at about how wicked people are and eternal damnation.

Check out Urban 75's Brixton Blog and you'll find some great photos of our street evangelists. It's also a great blog about Brixton.

Water for Elephants

Today I saw a person reading a John Grisham on the tube. I didn't happen to catch the title, but I did see the his name large and impressively positioned on the cover.

It was really a blast from the past. I vividly remember when John Grisham's were all the rage. It seems like such a long time ago and very American. There the kind of books that you find when you rent a cabin up North in the book case next to all the boardgames. I have nothing against John Grisham as an author, mainly because I've never read any of his books. I think I saw one of his movies....the one with Matt Damon portraying a Southern lawyer, but the memory is hazy. Those books were definitely a trend and I felt a tad bit nostalgic seeing it.

I like watching the book reading trends on public transport. I have the habit of reading the same three books over and over again, so it's good to keep tabs on what's current. 

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series was very popular over the past year. I have to admit that at first I thought they were American and were about some kind of sci-fi cyber punk girl who liked to play dungeons and dragons. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they are Swedish and actually good books/movies. Consequently my sister in law is a big fan, but also likes sci-fi cyber punk girl books so maybe that's were I made the connection. 

Reading on the Underground

I am a pretty nosy person by nature, or I guess curious is a better word for it. Especially if someone sitting next to me is reading what looks like to be an interesting book. On the way home today a woman was reading Water for Elephants. I was drawn in by the lovely cover and managed to read a tiny bit by proxy.

Sneaking a read whilst sitting next to someone on the tube is an art. I have found that some people don't mind if you read along with them. I once had one person tune into the fact that I was doing this and waited to turn the page until they sensed I was ready. 

Other times you can tell that the person doesn't appreciate it. That's fine by me. I just reach into my bag and pull out one of my old standbys. 

Sometimes I enjoy when a person wants to share my reading material, but like I said there's an art to it. I can't stand it when someone starts leaning in too close or moves their lips when they read, but all in all I happy to share my reading materials with the fellow people of London.

Thinking about writing and writing aren't actually the same thing

I know it's a cardinal sin of blogging to write about a post apologizing for not blogging, but that's not what this post is going to be about. 

Although I only wrote one post during the month of February, but it's such a short month. That and the fact that I was looking for a new job because my company just decided that it wasn't going to exist any more meant that I was both stressed and busy.

I spend a far amount of time thinking about writing. Ideas for blog posts, ideas for short stories, ideas for books. The problem isn't coming up with topics to write about, it's just finding the time to write. I like how I phrased that just then. Makes it seem like I am just a super busy person who doesn't have the time to write, instead of making it seem like I am person who isn't as disciplined about her writing as she would like to be.

I should give myself more credit than that. I do manage to keep this blog updated. It's just that my nature to write has more to do with being in the mood to write. That's not a good habit to get into. If we did things only when we felt in the mood to do things we'd really be in trouble. 

One thing I've been thinking a lot about lately is what direction this blog is going to take or does it need a new direction? What do I want to write about? Should I be more focused on writing what it's like living here in London? 

The problem with shoulds

Should I write more about the culture, the differences between here and home, things I love about the UK, things I hate, should I be more positive sounding, should I try to communicate a more intimate side, what should my tone be? Should I move from Blogger to Wordpress? Should I care more about SEO and who reads my blog? 

Should I try to get brands to notice me? Should I have ads on my blogs? Should I go to more expat blogger MeetUps? Should I spend more time proofreading my posts? I am building enough links? Should I be scheduling my posts? 

Am I fool for posting four posts in one day? Should I be saving them up and spreading them out over the month to make up for the times I don't feel like writing? Have I lost my unique point of view because now I work in social media and someone from work could be reading my blog and judging me? Am I turning into an ego maniac because I am worried that people from work are reading my blog and judging me? Are my posts boring?

You get the picture. Too many shoulds and not enough time.

The kind of blogs I like

I like to read blogs about people's lives and the more personal the better. That's what I like. I follow up on tech/social media/creative blogs because that's what I am into for work, but the blogs I love most are about people's lives.

I don't follow a million blogs, but a few lovingly chosen few. I read blogs written by women who are American and live in the UK. I also read a few blogs by British women who live in America. 

One of my favourite personal blogs is No Sleep till Brixton, by Mary Ivers. Mary is a very talented and witty writer and I am very lucky to be able to call her my friend. Her observations on life are so brilliant that I wish she would quit her day job and become a full time writer. You would definitely want to read her books.

I also love the blog Weapons of Mass Distraction written by Sharyn Morrow. I first met Sharyn back in 2000 on the way to Iceland. She was a friend of my boyfriend at the time and we were on the same flight over. Sharyn is a fantastic writer and photographer. I like the way she blogs about the good times and the bad times in a way that is authentic and relate able. She lives in Minneapolis and I love living vicariously through her photos on Flickr.

My blog roll of favourites wouldn't be complete without mentioning Taylor Baldry's blog Gerpan. Taylor and I went to MCAD together and have been fast friends ever since. He's one of my favourite people in the entire world. He decided to take a hiatus from working in the world of marketing to teach English in Japan and has been there almost two years now. He's there now and writing about what it's like living through the tsunami, earthquake and radiation scare. What I love about Taylor is that he never looses his sense of humor. Please read his blog about his current situation in Japan.

Another favourite blog that I've been reading for years is the Candy Blog. A blog all about candy, what's not to love. I love the format, the way the author Cybele reviews the candy and her photos. It's wonderful and I highly recommend it. 

Anyway......I digress....

The main thing is that I've been struggling with how and what I want to write about mainly because I am worried about how I will be perceived. Which isn't the kind of blog writer I want to be. I am going to try to follow in the footsteps of Mary, Sharyn and Taylor and write from the heart. Here's to a new month full of exciting and real blog posts.....

Thanks for reading and for all your comments :)