One time you felt like an 'outsider' in the UK

good taste kizmet!

i'm going through www.oldenglishcrackers.com

they are even having a sale on wedding crackers now until april!  i figure any extra i have we'll use for holidays until they're gone!

i always feel like an outsider in England.  :-/ every day, i am reminded of how pathetically American i am.  

i wouldn't feel so weird if i had a few of my friends from back home here with me.  i feel so alone sometimes.  (i miss them all so much.)  i miss "inside jokes" and silly conversations about familiar, American things.   here... like if i say "that dress is so Brady Bunch" no one has a clue...  stuff like that.  i really hate NOT being "in the know".  i feel so stupid a lot in England... like i have no clue what people are talking about, etc.   (i hate that.)  then you get the person (usually my husband) who is kind enough to explain it to you, but by then, the joke has worn off, and it loses its funniness or whatever, and you feel like a big dork / outsider.

i never "dreamed" of coming to this country before i met my husband.  i really didn't know much about England until i got here, and i still feel like i don't know sh**.  i just wanted to be with the man i love, who happened to live here.  sometimes i wonder if i will ever feel at home here...  like i belong...  :'(

_{(sorry to be so depressing-sounding, btw... :-/)}
btw, thanks againto everyone that posts here at UK Yankee.  this site really helps me understand where i am, and i am so thankful for all of the support that i recieve here.  its nice to know that i am not the only one that has feelings of being an outsider.  x o x o

awww shoot Angel.  Does this help... consider it this way for now at least. You know more about living in England and inside jokes than I do!  I could see us now sitting in a pub.  Surrounded by people telling jokes and talking about current events.  Guess who would look the most lost then?  Yup me.  LOL  But do I mind?  Heck no, my friend Angel will tell me all about it so that NEXT time this stuff comes up I'll be laughing right along with everyone else.  

Chin up Angel.

awww shoot Angel.  Does this help... consider it this way for now at least. You know more about living in England and inside jokes than I do!  I could see us now sitting in a pub.  Surrounded by people telling jokes and talking about current events.  Guess who would look the most lost then?  Yup me.  LOL  But do I mind?  Heck no, my friend Angel will tell me all about it so that NEXT time this stuff comes up I'll be laughing right along with everyone else.  

Chin up Angel.

thanx, Kizmet.
sorry, i am just having a bad day/week/month or whatever...  i can't believe that i have been here 8 months almost, and i still feel like i just got here...

Lots of    [smiley=hug.gif]Angel as Kiz said chin up  

Yeah, Angel, don't let it get you down. It took me over a year to finally grasp the names of popular celebrities, politicians, etc that would come up in conversation.

Now I figure I know as much as I need to get by...I know who Jordan is, I know who Richard & Judy are, I know who Posh & Becks are (unfortunately   ) and the list goes on. It's just getting to know this country's useless information and add it to the likes of the useless Brady Bunch type knowledge.  Which will make you twice as smart as the average UK citizen who only knows UK useless knowledge!

Plus it helps that I'm finally gaining my self-confidence back and realise it's okay if I don't know what's going on and also realise that most of the time I just don't care.  

It'll get better...eventually. Promise.  

Now I figure I know as much as I need to get by...I know who Jordan is, I know who Richard & Judy are, I know who Posh & Becks are (unfortunately   )

 The really weird thing is when people who are primarily UK celebrities, start making a name for themselves back here in the states.  People here start making a big deal of them (ie, Kylie Minogue, Posh & Becks, etc.) and I snigger to myself thinking they're only just learning something I've (and the whole of the UK) known for years now.  Americans haven't caught on to Jordan yet though.  I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

I know it sounds dorky.  But, the only way to conquer not knowing who people are is to find out.  Watch tv, read the papers, watch those compilation shows, ask questions.  Approach it like you would a class-find out everything, research, and pay attention.  You don't actually have to watch 'Last of the Summer Wine' or 'Dad's Army' re-runs, but just know what they are about.  I'm not saying become a complete couch potato and watch nothing but day-time tv, But  don't let your eyes glaze over when ever someone is talking about someone you've never heard of.  You can learn this stuff.  

Angel see what you started.  I was reading Lynne's post and realized I had not a clue who she was talking about.  So I guess I see what you mean.  But now after seeing that at least I have seen the names and I will be more aware the next time they are mentioned.  I'll glean more info eventually.   Again I agree with Lynne that once you get the hang of it - imagine it Angel you'll know twice as much as the average UK citizen.  Then how smug will you be! lol

Remember Angel even though it might not always seem like it - you are learning and processing new things every single day.  That probably hasn't happened since you were a toddler.  

The ONLY way I could be on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" is if it was a couples thing and my husband was with me. He'd get us through the £100-£1000 questions...whereas I usually don't have a clue!

A common comment on that show: "The question is only hard if you don't know the answer." Quite true in our cases here as well. We don't know all the answers...but it does come.

When I moved here I felt I'd suddenly lost my complete mind, as though I'd developed Alzheimer's overnight. Gads, what bad timing! Here I was getting married to the man of my dreams and I come down with Alzheimer's! Six years on and I'm realizing that it's coming back to me. Or rather, my head can only fit in so much, deal with this situation one little thing at a time to avoid completely losing it. Once sorted, go on to the next. It's all baby steps. And I'm still crawling a bit, but it does get easier.

I'm even starting to be able to answer some of the £100 questions.

Thing is I often feel the same way as you do Angel here in the USA.  I never saw an episode of the Brady Bunch until I was in High School.  I still do not watch Friends and hardly know much about popular culture.   I do learn it though from the TV from listening to others conversations about it.  There is nothing wrong with not getting it and certainly lots of other interesting things to talk about.  You can however learn it by reading the tons of magazines like Hello and watching the TV and listening and asking questions.  

What everyone has to remember is that being an "insider" takes time and lots of it. It also takes a lot of effort.  You just have to be patient and work at it and don't let those negative people get you down.  Fitting in is even hard here in the USA and trust me I have lived here for over 3 years in Georgia and still feel like I don't belong. A lot of it is me though and I know that.  

I know it sounds dorky.  But, the only way to conquer not knowing who people are is to find out.  Watch tv, read the papers, watch those compilation shows, ask questions.    

Read HEAT.

It's the biggest piece of rubbish you'll ever set eyes on but it's oozing with british celebs. It's how I learned who's who in the UK.

Read HEAT.

It's the biggest piece of rubbish you'll ever set eyes on but it's oozing with british celebs. It's how I learned who's who in the UK.

I read Closer!  

well, to be honest, i really don't give a crap about the celeb gossip stuff.    i will never buy those mags, because in all honesty, they bore me silly.  it's just understanding jokes that refer to pop culture and those "you had to be there" references that is difficult...  more like understanding the "English ways" and such, you know?

or like when an American-accented person asks a question, their voice goes up at the end of the sentence.  but, when English people ask questions... their voice goes up in the middle, so it sounds like a statement to me sometimes.   so, sometimes i feel like they are trying to tell me something, but they are actually expecting an answer.  so i have to go "wha?" and make them repeat what they said so i can pay attention.  it makes me feel all stupid.   i mean, it's not like they are speaking a different language, just a funny dialect.  (and i am slow, i guess )

No you are not!  I was watching "Lost in the Midlands" over the weekend with my husband and I swear 25% of the movie I was lost on the wording and accents.