Do you EVER stop comparing?

  Comparing is just another way of learning,as long as it doesnt become a moaning session 

Rhia!!!!! You're here!!!!!

Welcome back!  Welcome home!

Howard

Ta Howbo glad to be here back and here in UK finally 

With me, I wasn't so much comparing as I was learning. But it seemed I was comparing, which looked like I was complaining...and that was no where near it.

You see, for me it was more like I was talking out loud. "Okay, here they drive on the left and in the US they drive on the right". And then to myself I'd do a mental listing-making, "Okay, got it, must remember for next time."

I didn't understand just how much it appeared I was kncocking everything here until people around me reacted more and more as though I was insulting them. So, instead of making the comparisons with them, I brought my comments here and it helped talking them over with people who knew exactly what I was talking about.

I suppose some of this learning was a frustration..."Why don't you do it like this? It makes so much more sense!" But, after a while, in settling into the routine, not only did I learn the little things, but I also understood that Brits don't do things a certain way because sometimes the American ways don't make sense for the culture and surrounds.

After a while it sunk in. Also too, things became routine and the learning curve wasn't so sharp any more. Now it's not so much a country difference than a personal difference. "This is the way I like to do things." And for that stuff, being in England is great because I feel here you can make a difference. See, my own personal life goal is to live a life that my epitaph would read "The world was a better place because she was in it." And I like to think I've added to our little town.

You do. Well almost. We've been here for going on 14 years now. Instead of comparing things here now, when we go back to the states I compare how different everything is THERE.  I swear everytime we step off the plane it is total culture shock!

Rosie

See.. maybe I feel like I'm complaining about it, because Sean's been back and forth enough times now to really be able to separate the differences.  It takes no adjustment for him.  Maybe that's also because he's a man.. and men might not notice the details as much??  He is entirely used to how things are done in both places, and can move between the two flawlessly.  No complaints from him, nothing he misses from the opposite country to which he's in. 

He knows by now that I'm not necessarily complaining, just noting the differences.  I just worry that, like LisaE.. others might take it the wrong way.  It's not so much a criticism as it is an observation.

Men adjust more easily only because they don't typically have an eye for details. Not a put-down; it's just human nature. Women notice things.

Case in point: men ask "Honey, have you seen my ______?" because women tend to recall where things were last put.