My view of Britain and British culture

It has been three months now since I arrived here, so I have enough content for this blog but I have a feeling that as time passes I will have more and more to write on this topic!

On this theme some of the first things that foreigners associate with Britain are red phone boxes, double deckers, Shakespeare, tea, politeness… On the way here I read that in Britain you get the feeling that you have come to a land of fairytales and now I understand what this writer was speaking about. You only need to look at the names of towns, roads, streets and pubs such as: Crown road, Strawberry Hill, The Crown pub, the Royal Mail, the Royal Academy, King’s Lynn, Queens Park Rangers… Here the Queen still awards knighthoods and you see people with titles like Sir or Lord.

During our first two days in London we were given an introduction to British culture by people from the Church Mission Society. Our accommodation in the Indian YMCA didn’t help this cause much! But anyway I admit, sadly, that some of the stereotypes which they talked about are true:

TEA
Wherever you go you will be provided with a cup of tea and a biscuit. This I can easily cope with because I have always enjoyed drinking tea… but the biscuits are starting to worry me since I notice that my hips are becoming wider! There is another thing; you never notice much difference between tea and coffee. Something often goes wrong, the tea is too strong or the coffee is too weak, or both!

POLITENESS
I still struggle with this. British people often think me rude because I am direct and often say things without wrapping them up carefully first. But the trouble is that even if I want to talk like this I just don’t know how to!

All these unnecessary words like “Sorry!” and “Thank you!” and questions like “How are you?” without meaning it, but just because they don’t know what else to say, can sometimes be very annoying. Can’t they just be quiet instead?!

HUMOUR
British people often overestimate their sense of humour. I can’t remember how many times I have heard “We have a dry humour, you will not understand.” Maybe this works for Americans, but don’t worry it is not so good!
Recently I went to a comedy night but I didn’t laugh a lot because they were either speaking too fast or I didn’t know enough about British history and current affairs. I am getting there - someday maybe I will do stand up! :)

COLDNESS
In the wider world British are known as a cold nation. They will often call total strangers “Love” or “Darling” but on the other hand be quite cold to their families, partners and friends. What a contradiction!!! But I should also say that church people are a little bit warmer, although still not enough!

FOOD
How creative is it to have fish and chips or sausages and mash for your national dish? But at least they have a big choice of other cuisine! Jamie Oliver is my favourite chef and for me the second best dessert in the world is British trifle (the first is tiramisu!).

Soon after I came I needed to charge my mobile phone and then I realised that they have one more pin than everybody else in the world. Why! Aren’t two enough? It is enough for us! Or is this just to make life more difficult for us foreigners? Anyway, my creative Norwegian friend Torgeir had the idea of putting a key in the third hole in the socket. It really works but it doesn’t seem a good permanent solution (I hope you see why) so Annette bought an adapter for me!

The good thing about all this is that, with time, you learn that there is Britain and the rest of the world. You get used to the left side of the road being the right and learn that Scotland Yard is not a playground but where detectives hang out and that fireworks are amazing. British people are very busy so you have to start making appointments well in advance. There are no toothpicks in restaurants or in peoples’ houses so after having a meal you must learn to smile carefully.

Having said all this it is not so bad here!

Inside story

The easiest way for you to get to know me better is through the books and movies I like.

I used to be a great film fan and many of my foreign friends are amazed that I learnt my English just by watching movies. However, this was a “double edged sword”. My first intention was not to learn the language; I just enjoyed staring at the screen more than everything else. Now I see how much time I wasted. I didn’t have time for my friends as there was always some movie to watch. I missed out on a lot of nice things; birthdays, enjoying the world around me just because I chose to live through Hollywood productions. The only good that came of this was that I learnt to speak English! Believe me you could learn any language this way, but is it worth it?

Anyway, I still like movies and have my favourites.

The number one is definitely One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). As you can see it is a very old story but one for all time. It is happening today also. Jack Nicholson gives a good performance, there are dramatic, serious, sad and comic moments and it is about relationships and hope. It’s definitely worth seeing if you haven’t!

Number 2 goes to Shawshank Redemption! It is a remarkable story about great human values such as friendship, honesty, patience… Patience is the one that struck me most! It is well known that we always desire things or characteristics we don’t have. Obviously I consider myself an impatient person but I would like to be able to say the opposite in future. I recently saw it again and although this was about the tenth time I saw some different things in it. It reminded me of things that I like but have forgotten or just don’t have time to do. I speak about art, literature, music, enjoying beautiful nature. I realize how busy I had become.

Speaking about which, there is a book that I have started reading again – the Bible. It is one of my bright spots and I am proud of this. I like especially the story about Joseph. I admire how he is able to forgive even after all the bad things that his brothers did to him. I find it very hard to do this. Many times I think that I have forgiven, but I never forget. Can I really call this forgiveness?!
When I was young I used to think that I would call my son Joseph.

As for books I like reality or comedy, the same as with movies. And as a real literature lover my favourite is Russian realism, but having said that one of my favourite novels is Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. It is one of the books that you read in one breath. It is set in a medieval convent at the time of the inquisition. It describes very well the thinking and living conditions of people of that period.

So much for now! I hope that I have managed to make you interested!

Welcome back!

Yes, I know, I haven't writen for a while! Why is that? Well, I still don’t have photo camera and I didn’t want to make a boring blog with just writing. So, finally I got some photos from friends and lucky you can see and read what’s been happening in my life over the last couple of weeks!

Weekend in Kent

What to say then like all my British friends - "It was lovely!"

The theme of weekend was “Walking in Our Identity”. We were a group of about thirty Christians in our twenties, more or less(u can see us in the photos below). And I think this was the right topic for us because we are still at an age when we are learning and seeking the truth about ourselves. Especially today it is very easy to follow the wrong values, when we are living in a time of freedom in everything with too many choices and fake realities that come through movies, music and other commercial pressures. It is easy to forget who we are and what we are meant to do.



I think the weekend was very fruitful! We had the opportunity to examine ourselves and remind ourselves that we are here by purpose and that Our Father is looking after us and speaking to us. We just need to listen with an open heart. Some of us heard God for the first time and for those it was a remarkable experience. I need to be honest and say that I didn’t hear anything and I felt a bit left out. But as I think more about this maybe I am being too hard on myself. As I work through this I am sure that I will also be able to hear from God.

Of course it was not all so serious, we had time for fun: tennis, walking, going to the beach, chatting, generally getting to know each other better. With this kind of stuff I enjoy fellowship very much. Learning how to share space with others, tolerance or just doing something together.

All this is Annalise in her mood! Hyperactive Welsh girl! It is very good that she works as a primary school teacher because you need lots of energy there.

The boys are playing tennis or trying to play. Torgeirs first time, but they said that he was good!

Sunday morning at the beach! Weather was great, we are padaling, playing rugby, throwing the Frisbee, enjoying the sun…


We had a really good time and I would highly recommend this to everyone who has the opportunity to go!