That was then, this is now

As I mentioned in my pilot post, I am not new to the UK. I previously lived here from December 25, 1998 to April 8, 2000. A year and a bit really. And as you can tell from those dates, I hightailed it back to the good ole USA as quickly as I could get my British husband his greencard!

I missed everything about American life ... the malls, the round-the-clock shopping convenience, Target, my family and friends, Hostess cupcakes, American tv shows, knowing what my friends and family back home were talking about in regards to current events, American accents ... all of it! I was a very homesick girl.

Fast forward 10 years and here I am back in a place that was a great place to visit (and I loved visiting as often as possible!) but a place where I didn't want to live. Oh the irony that I have returned! But it's different this time. I actually enjoy living here. There! I said it! Everything that I once upon a time despised about the English way of life I now love now that I'm older and more mature. Who wants to make runs to Target at 10pm? At 10pm the only place I want to be is in my bed watching tv. I am no longer bothered by the fact that most stores close by 6pm because I have no desire in my old age to leave my house after dinner.

And speaking of tv, I'm spoiled for choice in American programming! Friends, Scrubs, Two and a Half Men, Everybody Loves Raymond, Sex and the City are run ad nauseum over here just as they are in America! I even have the E! channel on my cable menu! And all of the American primetime tv shows that are broadcast here so that when my friends back home are discussing the latest Dancing With the Stars or American Idol results I know what' going on! Sweet!

Much to my surprise, England has become very Americanized in the past 10 years. Guess what we now have in recent years? Malls! Not just any malls, but Westfield malls made from the same American designs complete with food courts. Let me tell you, I may not have been so quick to return home to the USA if they had these structures last century! We still don't have round-the-clock shopping here, but the big grocery stores have come around to the notion that not everyone can get what they need by 6pm and are now open 24-hours a day with the exception of Sundays when they are only open 10am-4pm due to strict Sunday trading laws. So now I only have to be super diligent about planning ahead for Sundays.

And thanks to the advances in social networking on the internet, I have been able to meet local Americans living in my neck of the woods. Again, if this had existed 10 years ago, I may have never left the UK. Hell! I didn't even have to go on the internet to meet a fellow ex-pat. One night at work an American girl heard I was American as well and asked me if she could give me her business card so that we could meet up sometime. A few weeks later when we got together for a drink at a local pub, we discovered that we lived on the same street. What are the chances? This place is crawling with Americans as I'm discovering with each passing day.

And thanks to the advances in social networking on the internet specifically Facebook, I am able to keep up daily with my friends and family back home. It doesn't make me miss them any less, but it makes the missing them bearable because I feel connected to them at any given time. And Skype! OMG, Skype! This is stuff that we used to fantasize about what would happen in the future. Ladies and gentlemen, the future is here NOW! The world is a smaller place than it used to be which is a blessing to us ex-pats!

But the UK is still lacking in one department. I still desperately miss Target and all it's Target goodness including Hostess cupcakes! But I don't have money to spend there anyway, so really it's not so bad and something to look forward to when I plan trips back home. At least that's what I tell myself to make me feel better.

So a lot has happened in the past 10 years. Not only have I aged and matured (I've got a few gray hairs to prove that!) but it seems that England has as well. And that is what has made my relationship with her workable this time around.

Cheers!
Amy x