Expats - What Has Changed? What Won't Change?

[NotQuiteCockney]

As an expat (Canadian in the UK), I'm very aware of what I've changed. I now say "mum". I like queueing. I use lots of British constructions. My accent has even drifted a bit (although only DH can tell. Other people say my accent is still quite strong).

But - I will not drink tea. I will not listen to the Archers. I think that doing either of these would mean I have "gone native", and it would be time to go home.

Do any other expats (to anywhere, from anywhere) have similar lists?

Lots of people came from HK, didn't they?

Oh, I do miss proper Chinese food. And pizza by the slice. I'm really suffering from my "time to go home" thing - it's been over a year.

Marmite and Bovril - definitely not. Branston pickle - love it!

What's a Nainamo bar?

Every so often, I decide I need to make Nanaimo bars, but all the recipes call for instant vanilla pudding powder, which a) I don't have and b) I don't want.

tex111, it's like ... hmmm. A brownie, but creamy. Very nice. Not cakey at all.

There's pizza by the slice in Costco, NQC! And it's tasty as well!

Used to have a recipe for them somewhere... pudding-free. (never heard of pudding in Nanaimo bars - sounds yuck).

They have costco here?

I don't drive, so all these giant stores kinda don't exist for me.

Oh, and now when I look, I find one that involves custard powder instead. I don't know why that's less gross, but it is.

my list is all the things, esp. language things, that have become americanised since I moved here (13 years ago):

People now say "sick" when they used to say "ill".
Boots is now a "store", not a "shop".
Savory biscuits are now "crackers"

lots and lots of other language things I don't necessarily notice because we don't have a tv, but dh tells me that they used to be americanisms & now "everybody" says them, so I assume it's from watching US tv programmes.

I have gone native in so many ways they're not worth listing, although I do get fed up with the British love of whinging, "just get on with it and sort the problem out, don't keep moaning & moaning, won't you?!"
Costs £240 to become a POM & I just can't justify it.

There's a Costco around here! Unfortunately, it doesn't stock Teddy Grahams, Goldfish, Stouffer's frozen lasagne, tatter tots, Double Stuff Oreos, York Peppermint patties, or Morningstar Farms veggie burgers. BUT there are Peppridge Farm Cookies and Glide dental floss.

There's a bus that goes to ours, but it's a PITA whilst buying in bulk so we drive there.

Oh, and my mom buys me a subscription to Oprah's 'O' magazine for Mother's Day every year. I love all the adverts! Especially the ones for drugs, but then they don't tell you what the hell the drug is meant to treat, just 'see your doctor'. Oh, right, so the insurance can deny my f*ing claim!

I thought a "cool store" would be like a cool room for storing things?

And I'm used to brits saying "biscuits" for both sweet and savoury biscuits. Which is confusing, frankly - we say "crackers" for savoury and "cookies" for sweet.

But then, I don't mind americanisms here, generally.

things i would never like is vinegar on chips or milk in tea. i will not put chocolate in the fridge.
i am called 'mum', 'mummy', 'mama'. depends on how dd feels
i find myself correcting everyone's english. this rubbed off to dd. "it's 'dancing', not 'dancingk'" she shouts at nat from boogiebeebies.

I read the New Yorker religiously, have a subscription. But I only started after I had DS1, as I felt so out of touch with the world.

The drug ads are very strange. Our friend who works at the New Yorker can't really defend it from my charge that it's for old people when there's an ad for Viagra on the cover!

Abercrombie & Fitch is a 'cool store' for teens. Nordstrom's is a 'cool store' for makeup, shoes and clothes addicts.

have a look at this

Oh, fair enough, dinosaur.

I don't mind vinegar on chips. But then (white) vinegar on chips is normal in Canada. Ditto milk in tea.

oops. contains custard powder.

Custard powder is less gross.

Of course, I could just use custard, I guess. I've just not bought it, on the principle I should make it, but I've not done that either. Yet.

Mmmm, custard! Over sticky toffee pud, on a cold winter's night . . . scrummy.

$520, Z - article in Guardian today by that mad Lionel woman - what a coincidence!

Agree with dino about crackers - Jacob's Cream Crackers have existed for decades and they are the original savouries - well, those and Ritz which are also called crackers, aren't they? "Biscuits" have always been sweet.

I do like it, I just ... the recipes go on and on about curdling and stirring, and I hate stirring.

I have made baked custard, but it wasn't sweet enough. DS1 even said "never make this again, mummy". And he's used to my not-very-sweet deserts.

I do make clafouti sometimes, though, with reasonable success, which is baked custard with fruit.

On the subject of crackers, when we were living in the States DH's mum kept talking about the 'Christmas crackers' she was sending us. I was expecting something along the lines of a Ritz. Obviouslt not that at all.