Bob

blimey, your a bird?

anyway...yeah, up in maine, where we used to live, be t-shirts and shorts if it was 35F which was always amusing to watch.

Bob

smells in the summer though....but not as bad as venice i suppose...

another bloody yank

So your personal happiness depends on who happens to be sitting in the Oval Office? Somehow, I doubt that your feelings will change even if your choice wins the next election. But until then:

"Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can, and
the wisdom to know the difference."

-- Saint Francis of Assisi


It must really suck to be as miserable as you seem to be. Your gonna give yourself an ulcer. I find it telling that you found it necessary to rip apart a positive post in what was supposed to be a positive thread. Aren't there really plenty of negative threads for the people who feel as you do? You're not the only one, and I usually don't let this kind of thing get to me or I wouldn't stay(Yes, I know where the door is, thank you! ), but it seems that even the "positive" threads are taken over by those who aren't happy here, as if some people can't stand to see that others actually like some aspects of living here.

I hate to see people unhappy, I am truly sorry.

danfan

LOL yeah I'm a bird. My name is Danielle or Danie for short. My last name starts with fan, so danfan.

LOL t-shirts & shorts @ 35. My kids now think 30's is "just like a spring day Mom!"



ps. Is it just me or are the smiley's not working?

Tracym

Must be you.

And here I thought maybe you were a "fan" of a hubby named "Dan".

danfan

Us Brits have a way of mixng the bad with the good. Just the way we are, I think.

The way I see it, most of us - even if happy here - understand the negative aspects too.
I disgree & I think Elvira knows that most of us completely understand the homesickness & feeling like everything is completely crap at times, & that even the good things can become something to resent on the bad days.

For every negative thing, I try to balance with a positive but for every positive I read, I can also balance it with a downside. Yep - the cars are nice and big but they're all gas guzzlers. Yep, the houses are much bigger & there's more land, but they are built like crap.

I try not too do that too much but I do believe it's an innate British trait for most of us to do it. You might see it as raining on the happy parade. I think most of us understand it as part of the ups and downs of being an immigrant.

danfan

lol, nope. Could mean I'm a fan of me though! LOL

Tracym

There ya go! The self-helpers will love you.

And I'm sorry your smiley's ran away from home. I hope they come back soon.

danfan

Me too. I can't get the quick reply button to work either. wwaaahhhh!

Elvira

You are putting words in my mouth. My happiness does not depend on who sits in the WH but, as the mother of 3 sons of 'soldier age', I am deeply affected by the war. I cannot even begin to imagine how the parents of all those 'war casualties' must feel. Not to mention all the thousands of civilian dead.

And I wasn't aware that this was meant to be a positive thread. It is entitled 'Why did you decide to live in America'. The reasons for moving may have been positive, but you cannot disentangle the motive from the consequences. You have no idea what happened to my family since we moved here, so please do not judge.

As for serenity, if I did not have that, I would have gone nuts long ago. (NB Feel free to put me on 'ignore' if my posts bother you.)

Deedee13

nah nah nah . elvira are u poking ur tongue out LOL. U brought a subject up that i must say really does amaze me. When someone dies in Iraq and in Michigan we have had our fair share of them the past few months - the reaction in the press or from people in general is amazing. Your either for the war or ur against it. But I can remember being a squadie and when someone died it was oh my god, how awful, tragedy. Here I hear when someone dies so much Pride. I dont know if that is the way to describe it. The first time I encountered it I was gobsmacked. I wanted to shake someone and say but they are DEAD!!! But the parents were on tv sayng what a great person he was and he died doing what he loved. It just wasnt real for me. Or maybe I am not right i dont know. I dont believe in trashing the system but I just dont understand it sometimes. In atlanta airport people going up to squadies and shaking their hands. Reminds me a lot of the first world war and poetry from sigfried sasoon.

maybe someone should start a thread - positive things u would miss if u left america.

serenity - what is that. I like being nuts. trying a different pie today, banana cream pie. hehehee.

danfan

My husband is a veteran & always shakes the hand of any military person he meets & thanks them for their service. They do treat/ respect military personnel very differently here. When we were living in Newport News, surrounded by about 14 bases, there was a lot of hand shaking going on!

I think there are many reasons for the differences. Partly, we take our freedom etc for granted in UK, I think, rather than celebrate it openly as they do here. Partly saying a Pledge every morning since the age of pre-school also makes a difference to the outlook. There are many more reasons of course but I've stopped trying to figure it out.

jumping doris

We decided to live in the US because of a job for my OH. Job wise things haven't panned out exactly as we expected and that has left me feeling frustrated that we gave up so much to come here.

But the "biggie" for me is that I just don't feel at home here. I didn't realise how English and /or European I am. I feel more at home in France, Spain, Italy than here. I think Europeans have a different way of viewing things, a different way of living that just doesn't fit in with America.
I can't explain it, I didn't expect it but it impacts on my life here in a way I could never have imagined.
I knew I would feel homesick and to a degree when it hits I can rationalise it. But for me it's this other thing, this not belonging feeling.

TouristTrap

I think that's the one thing that most Brits don't expect. To feel like utter strangers here, an English speaking country. Most of it comes from the fact that you've watched US tv for so long, you think you know the culture.

You arrive to find an utterly different mindset - completely foreign to anything you were expecting.

As you said, Europeans tend to view things very differently.

Tracym

I am curious, whatever you can explain, of how the mindset differs so. I was trying to explain to my fiance how things can be backwards, and people different, in small towns. Not disparaging all small towns or people of course.

My grandparents were European (and I mean just came here, not the goofy 7 generations back I had a clan thing). Sometimes I felt like I was raised just a little different, but can't put my finger on it. I know in recent years, it seems it is harder to make real friends - people just seem to keep to their families more - in the past, friendships seemed more important to people. Now it seems like, you're a friend if you're handy, but if not - oh well.

I worry about my fiance feeling at home once he comes over.

Can anyone enlighten me as to the differences in mindset at all?