To be fed up with 'expats'...

[EveWasFramed72]

I am an American, living here in England with my British husband and children (who have both nationalities, but have only lived in England). I've been here for 4 years, and when we were first here, I was miserable;I was at home full time with a new baby, then preganant running after a toddler, basically no close friends, etc. I pulled myself up by the bootstraps and got myself a life: went to uni, got a job, driving licence and created a life for myself outside of my husband. Now, I love our life here, I have loads of friends, a job I like, etc.

But...I am part of a group of American women living in the UK, some of whom have been here longer than me, married to British men. They won't drive, work, survive without several care packages of food from home(because they can't possibly eat what's on offer in England), basically, they sit around and moan about England, and how much better EVERYTHING is at home.

Now, I love my home country, and I do get homesick sometimes, but I just find myself fed up with these women who have given up on life because they are living abroad (and didn't they REALISE that marrying someone from another country means living in said country at some point???). When they aren't moaning, I do enjoy them...it IS nice to have home connections, but this attitude of deliberately NOT acclimating drives me nuts , and I feel like they make the rest of us who enjoy life in England look bad!!!

Rant over...I know, you're going to tell me to cut them off...and I have largely...just not completely.

I just want to know if this is 'typical' expat behaviour?????

Thanks Boff! Currently craving some Stollen from Dresden and Pulsnitzer Lebkuchen. [greedy pregnant woman emoticon]

Haven't read all the posts, but to the OP I order Tide from Germany, and will only feed my kids Jif peanut butter:) I have been here 10 years and yes it helps my being away from home and so be it and it doesn't hurt anyone[wink

Must add, that yet again it is another anti american bash but this time started by an AMERICAN!! What you voted for OBAMA?

Ok time to put the wine away:o

I only use Jif myself.

Luckily, there's an American guy who runs a deli here who's been here since the 1970s but he gets a lot of little bits like that in.

:)

If you liked Tide I'd suggest trying Daz. Not the same thing, though, I know.

Tide and Downy. I love them.

Is Skippy no good then? I've been making the dcs peanut butter and jelly sandwiches lately so they'll fit it but suspect I'm getting it wrong. [hsmile] Any tips?

I get just as when other expats ask me if I think it's weird here. Er no, just different, that's all, and all the better for it.

Skippy is ok...just not quite jif. Of course if jif isn't available, skippy is my back up:) Kids prefer Jif.

Expat will have to try the Daz! DH thinks I am nuts and encourages me to use bold as it is made my proctor and gamble, but it just isn't the same:-)

I had to backtrack there, as I thought you were feeding Jif cleaning fluid to your DC.

Today I am doing a very expat-wife thing, going to the Genevan American International Women's Club.

I joined not long after I arrived and tbh, I really enjoy it. There are many nationalities so always someone interesting to talk to. Today I am teaching English then going for lunch with my Photography group, then to an exhibition. Busy day. I also volunteer for the Club magazine, write articles and take photographs. Not to mention the Writer's Workshop.

The thought would not have crossed my mind in Germany, but then I was working then had small children at home. It was only when I moved here, could not work and realised I needed something to do - otherwise I would sit at home and MN all day.

This has been such an interesting thread, I had no idea we had so may expats.

What's funny is that I can't stand American peanut butter anymore...it's far too sweet...I've been converted to organic, no sugar added PB...I told you I was born in the wrong country! :)
I also love Daz...

Scout I, too, live in an area where there are no American type foreigners, and I get a kick out of the look on people's faces when I start speaking, and they've never met me. This is actually good for me...I'm not really all that comfortable in new social situations, so sometimes the different accent is an immediate ice breaker that I'm thankful for. Sometimes it gets old, and I long to be 'ordinary', but for the most part, people are lovely, and always have a great story...you know... "Oh! My sister's friend's cousin's niece lives in America!"

Skippy doesn't spread as well, IMO. I'm with ya, anamerican! I've been here nearly 10 years, too.

I use Tide when I'm at home as well. With Downy. I always think of bringing some back but I usually have too much baggage as it is because nearly all our clothes, for all 5 of us, are from there. I also raid Fiesta supermarket and bring back a bunch of Mexican spices and such.

I'd bring back the entire place if I could! :)

Daz is good, but it might not be if you have sensitive skin so keep that in mind if you normally use non-bio.

My sister uses Purex. I like that, too. It's got a nice, light scent.

If there is any inheritance left for me after my parents pass on, which will hopefully not be anytime soon as they both have longevity in their families, we'll move back.

We can't afford property here. It doesn't make sense to convert anything that's left to dollars as it still wouldn't be enough to buy a shoebox here.

I was born exactly where I was meant to be, and though I wouldn't like to live there, being a person of liberal views I prefer Austin to Houston, I also spent 8 years in Colorado before moving here, I feel lucky to have been brought up where I was.

I agree, anamerican, if people want their little creature comforts, it doesn't harm anyone, really.

My heart rises when I'm in a shop and see something like Celestial Seasonings tea or Cholula hot sauce :).

You see I thought Skippy was the Bush Kangeroo from the 1970s kids TV series, and I thought you were being either very rude or very macabre.

Sorry Boff! I don't know much about peanut butter as I was always a sunpat crunchy on toast with lashings of butter for a hangover kind of girl (pre-dcs!) [hgrin] I would be so excited to go to a German supermarket and buy lots of cold cuts and decent yoghurt, though!

I want the Alpenmark yoghurt and their unsalted butter on a big fat Pretzel NOW

A lovely slice of Mischbrot with butter and Lyoner mit Champignon would go down a treat!

What is Lyoner?

Sliced processed pink sausage stuff. Quite soft and possibly a bit like luncheon meat, but much nicer than I am describing it. Looks a bit like Billy Bear which I wouldn't touch with a barge pole! [hgrin]

I have to say, most Wurst is probably full of additives. But nice!

Smoked ham is my favourite.
Cheese wise I am a bit of a Tilsiter fan, and I do like a good gherkin.

You can tell it's that time of day ...

Our other ritual as a family was watching a decent dubbed Krimi on TV in the evening whilst having our fruit.

Why are German apples and oranges about ten times the size of UK ones? I have always wondered that.

American apples are enormous too, but I like a little Cox's Orange Pippin - you don't get bored of it before you've finished eating it!

Yeah, I've been getting honeycrisp apples here (in Minnesota) the size of a baby's head, no lie. Delicious and with a spoonful of Jif peanut butter it's a meal in itself. :)

When I lived in the USA, I knew a crowd of ex-pat English women who refused to socialise with Americans and spent much of their time at 'coffee mornings' moaning about the USA, about how much better everything was in England and having enormous boxes sent from home with Hoola Hoops, Cadbury's chocolate, Christmas puddings etc. Seems ex-pats are the same whichever nationality they are :) ( must admit to having Calpol sent out as DCs wouldn't touch the American equivalent for some reason).

The American equivalent is made of cinnamon or clove oil iirc and it burns. Calpol I could drink...

Wait, what? Isn't Calpol the same as Tylenol?

Well I guess you might just as well ask why if their wives are so obviously unhappy are the husbands not planning on moving to the States? It's possible to be really unhappy and feel totally out of place on moving a few miles, so why not on moving continents?

It's one of those interesting things about culture shock, that you really don't expect it on moving to a country that on the face of it has a very similar culture, but sometimes I think that makes it worse. Partly because you really feel that you shouldn't feel so stupidly upset about little things, and partly because you feel you should be fitting in so much better.

I certainly felt more dislocated in NYC, which in a lot of ways was really not that different from London than I do now in a small town in Canada. Some of that is because I've never lived in a small town before, so I've nothing to compare it too. But mostly I think it's because although there are things I miss it's easy to focus on the new different things (plus BC is in a lot of ways quite English, and being a very young town most people I know are as much an incomer as I am).

I also wonder whether it is easier if you are both going through it together. My sister who has moved with her Australian husband to Melbourne is much more homesick than I've ever been and sees much more all she has given up (she was very happy in the UK, did not want to move but I think felt she should after hearing her dh moan about London for the last 10 years). But going home for her might well mean breaking her family apart, so it's not really an option right now. Oh and she is the most positive, outgoing and inclined toward community activity/working hard to make friends person I know. But I don't know how much she moans!

CheerfulYank, only in as far as they are both paracetamol/acetaminophen products. If you are drinking your medicine it's all about the flavouring Actually things like medicines being totally different was one of the things that threw me, along with the food shopping. I'm a cook from scratch girl, but there are still lots of differences - all the joints of meat have different names, milk has a different fat content and tastes different, yogurts are not just made of milk + bacteria, creams are totally different, lots of almost but not quite the same things. Plus different things being cheap/expensive. Moving up to BC supermarkets are much more UK like than in NYC and it felt oddly comforting.