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Best thing we ever did was buy my mother a dishwasher. She never used it but when we were visiting, not only did we use it but we put 'clean' stuff in as well.
Anyway, she lived till she was 88 so it can't be that bad for you.
Good for her!
But consuming traces of surfactants and other ingredients not meant to be ingested can't be good for you, either.
I survived dining on those un-rinsed dishes, but then again the food/tea did have a very slight soapy undertaste (to me). I said nothing of course, not wanting to appear ungracious. But I marveled afterward to my husband about this cultural difference.
My biggest problems would likely be driving on the wrong side of the road and the money. What the Hell are a "shilling", "quid" and a "guinea". And is a "gold guinea" worth more than a regular one?
My biggest problems would likely be driving on the wrong side of the road and the money. What the Hell are a "shilling", "quid" and a "guinea". And is a "gold guinea" worth more than a regular one?
If you get offered a gold guinea in change, I would take it. If you feel guilty about it then just offer five bob in exchange.
My biggest problems would likely be driving on the wrong side of the road and the money. What the Hell are a "shilling", "quid" and a "guinea". And is a "gold guinea" worth more than a regular one?
Back in those days I used to just hold out a handful of coins and say, "Take it." I think they were honest but I never knew. (Maybe I wasn't a whole shilling or whatever that saying is.)
I don't think owning a dishwasher is a cultural difference. I've owned them both in the the UK and here in the US and either way I prefer to wash by hand and I have also always rinsed with hot clean water.
Oh yes and tea towels!!! I've heard them called everything over here, dish towels, dish rags .... most of my collection came from my mothers house and they are most definitely tea towels.
Currency ... the UK no longer has shillings and guineas and the quid is now a coin unlike here in the US where you do still use a nickel and a dime which are disproportionate in size to their worth, now that confused me no end when I first moved here.
As was once said ... Two nations divided by a common language. Learn to embrace the differences, use your time living overseas as a living and learning experience.
Back in those days I used to just hold out a handful of coins and say, "Take it." I think they were honest but I never knew. (Maybe I wasn't a whole shilling or whatever that saying is.)
One of the good things about growing up with a complicated non-decimal currency - I was 16 when the switch over happened - and in a world bereft of electronic gizmos that do the work for you, is that you got really good at arithmetic.
Lots of English words that a native-level English-speaking American probably never heard of.
Perpetually "cool" weather all year, especially in the summer. Unless you grew up next to Canada, UK climate is colder than most of the US since it's so far up north.
I second these - they were the hardest part about adjusting for me. And it's not just the terminology differences, it's the different pop culture too. They have TV shows, musicians, and actors that Americans have never heard of so when people talked about them, I'd feel so lost sometimes. Food too can also be different at times but I found exploring that to be fun.
When they actually have a warm, sunny day, everyone talks about it as though it's unbelievable, because it's so rare. And by that, I mean consistently warm and sunny the whole day. You may see the sun periodically throughout the day but the weather is so changeable, it could turn to rain at any moment. At least, that's the way it was in Manchester where I lived. I remember one day, the weather went from rain to sun and back to rain again about 6 times. Apparently the weather is a little more mild in the south so maybe London isn't quite as bad.
I second these - they were the hardest part about adjusting for me. And it's not just the terminology differences, it's the different pop culture too. They have TV shows, musicians, and actors that Americans have never heard of so when people talked about them, I'd feel so lost sometimes. Food too can also be different at times but I found exploring that to be fun.
When they actually have a warm, sunny day, everyone talks about it as though it's unbelievable, because it's so rare. And by that, I mean consistently warm and sunny the whole day. You may see the sun periodically throughout the day but the weather is so changeable, it could turn to rain at any moment. At least, that's the way it was in Manchester where I lived. I remember one day, the weather went from rain to sun and back to rain again about 6 times. Apparently the weather is a little more mild in the south so maybe London isn't quite as bad.
I went to Uni in Manchester and, as the saying goes, it always rains in Manchester.
The damp climate is the reason the cotton industry was established there. The south and the east are generally a lot drier and sunnier.
That's the other one I forgot-- if you like American sports, maybe you can find a broadcast on TV, or most likely you'll use a streaming service. But because of the time difference, most live games are played deep in the middle of the night in UK/Europe. I used to live in Asia, and it was much more convenient to catch up with your American sports teams, because American games are broadcast in the late-morning to early afternoon.
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