When I started this blog, we’d just moved from Seattle to Copenhagen and I wrote a lot about our everyday life there – navigating through a new city, the funny Danish language and how the kids were reacting to the change. Then 3 years later, we moved to England and I wrote a little bit about that transition. But mainly, since moving to the UK, this has turned into more of a travel blog than a this-is-what-it’s-like-to-live-abroad-blog. I think there are a few reasons for this:
- Compared to where we are from, England isn’t as culturally different as Copenhagen was.
- I have less time for blogging nowadays and enjoy capturing memories (in words and photos) from our travels, so I tend to prioritise this if I’m going to devote time to sit in front of the computer.
- I use Instagram for daily snippets of life around here.
- Perhaps most importantly…we might have reached the point where life abroad has just become…life.
Sure, I could fill pages with quirky things about living on what I consider to be a small island with a big attitude. Five years in, and Brett and I still comment on new British’isms we might have heard that day, or the incredible knack for being either overly polite or shockingly passive aggressive over here. Insults can be hurled at you with love or mate thrown in at the end for added affection.
And don’t get me started on analysing the progression of our kids’ accents. One of them recently said that some boys in her school asked her to prove she was American by speaking in an American accent (which she reserves for when she’s at home). When she did, there was a mixed reaction, including some who said they didn’t believe she was American!
Then there’s driving, which we don’t need to do too much of, thanks to living in a walkable area and having access to public transportation. But we do take pride in being fully ambidextrous drivers now, navigating the streets of suburban London with relative ease. Although there are occasional cases of road-rage here, I will be forever impressed by the patience and restraint of most drivers, considering what they deal with on a daily basis on these ancient, narrow roads.
I like living in England. Perhaps the above description doesn’t reflect that, but I do. I posted this picture on Instagram this week and thought a bit about what I would miss about England if we left. Turns out, there would be quite a few things.
Lately, we have questioned the integrity of this country, wondering why we are here or how long we’ll stay (namely for one reason starting with “b” and ending with “exit”), but for the most part, it’s a pretty decent place to live.
The girls will be at the same secondary school next year and we are finally beginning to get our heads around the British school system. We poured over GCSE options last week, and it will be full steam ahead for them in year 7 and 9 next autumn.
As winter turns to spring, I’ve enjoyed long walks, snapping pictures of places I pass on a regular basis, reflecting on the fact that we’ve been here almost 5 years. That’s longer than any area we’ve lived since we were married 17 years ago.
Spring showed up a little early this year and although I’ve obsessed over cherry blossoms in the past, this year it was the magnolia trees that have captured my attention. I hope the very cold days are behind us and before we know it, we’ll have wisteria hysteria going wild on the streets of London. You know…never a dull moment.