"I'm not in Kansas anymore"

Having to wait until a Saturday in order to call home and get someone on the phone & not an answering machine (due to being at work)...

I don't think it was any one thing, just the total of all the little things...lightbulbs that don't screw in, flipping a switch to get power to the socket, the pull rope in the toilet, even the way the toilet flushes. (You really have to put your shoulder into it don't ya!) No round doorknobs, no doorknobs at all on the outside of the houses (in London at least...) and of course, the frustration of finding a place to dry my hair since there were no outlets in the bathroom. Same as everyone else, I guess. And this was just the first day! Ha!

OK -- I'll play nice (instead of just providing the comic relief but I am a native Kansan )... There are lots of things really -- many times just walking down the street, hearing people talk and not hearing *anyone* who speaks in a way with which I'm familiar...sometimes it's wonderful & sometimes I find myself so homesick just to hear a familiar accent.  Weird huh.

No, it's not weird! This is why I am always watching american shows on the telly!! It's a way to bring home here......kinda...if that makes any sense.

LOL I'll look out for your explanation!

Here you go folks: 

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=17576

It was a while ago for me, but I do remember one thing clearly....

Listening to the radio in the car and not understanding a word the announcer was saying...and he was speaking ENGLISH!!!

On a side note: I love the socket switches!  Must be my type A personality -  if it's not in use it's off - I love that!! 

On a side note: I love the socket switches! 

If you forget to turn off the switch though, you'll come back in the morning and find that thousands of electrons have escaped overnight and made a big mess on the carpet!   

Traffic lights that stay green for cars unless a pedestrian presses a button, instead of traffic lights that automatically change at timed intervals.

Upside-down light switches.

Women wearing tank tops, shorts and sandals when it's 60 degrees Fahrenheit outside.

If you forget to turn off the switch though, you'll come back in the morning and find that thousands of electrons have escaped overnight and made a big mess on the carpet!   

Oh great!! Now I am going to have to check all the sockets!  Nothing worse than escaped electrons on the carpet!! 

Of course it does give the dust mites something to play with! 

When I go to the supermarket, and I have to study each aisle to find out what's really in it, because the brands, logos, and packaging are all different.

Having to actually travel more than a couple of blocks to get what I need  Being from a huge metropolitan area, this was a bit new for me, but it gives me more exercise at least!

And the very obvious thing that made me feel like I "wasn't in Kansas anymore"... the strong Glaswegians accents lol I have to say I felt like people were talking in foreign tongues when I first visited last year.

Having to actually travel more than a couple of blocks to get what I need  Being from a huge metropolitan area, this was a bit new for me, but it gives me more exercise at least!

 

Same here.

OK, I just remembered the moment!  I knew it was there somewhere.

It was only a couple of weeks after we moved to England as newlyweds.  My husband was travelling and my MIL was driving me around to look at places for us to rent until we found something to buy.

Every place we looked at, she would explain to me "Tony would like this."  or  "Tony would not be happy with that."

It started getting on my nerves and then during the conversation in the car afterwards, she was summarizing all the places and which ones she thought we should or shouldn't rent, justifying her decisions because  "I know what my son likes."

At that precise moment, I thought "What the hell have I done?"

Basically the same as a lot of people here. No doorknobs on the frontdoors. The pull cord for lightswitches. The showers here as well. My first time here I had to call Dale into the bathroom and ask him how the shower worked.. Also some houses have those cards for gas and electric, I was so surprised by that lol.
 I''ll go in town and hear the word Oi! about a hundred times
 I've never seen so much "blackcurrent" and "prawn cocktail" flavored items before I came here, as a matter of fact I havent even heard of them before I came here.
 A lot of food items that I miss aren't here,like hershey chocolate,jolly ranchers, mountain dew, philly cheese steaks and etc (hey,I'm pregnant you know food is going to come into the post at some point )

Trying to get a takeaway Chinese meal at 3pm! I found it very strange that most the takeaway joints are only open during peak hours.