I have lived here for X & I still have trouble with...

Well I apparently still have trouble figuring out how long I have lived here. 

It will be 6 years in September.  This time. 

I did live in Scotland for two years before this though.

I've been here about 5 years and still have trouble with some of the things already mentioned, like musical terminology, driving (won't even attempt it, I am petrified of the idea), still sometimes look down the street the wrong way while waiting for a bus, still go to the wrong side of the car sometimes (and hubby always says, "So do you want to drive, then?"). 

Also kilograms (I understand them intellectually, but it's abstract.  If someone said, "That weighs 10 pounds" I could 'picture' what that would feel like to lift.  If they said the same thing but in kilograms I wouldn't be able to imagine the weight.  Stones is another weird one, I always have to convert that to pounds to understand it.  It seems a rather primitive way to weigh things / people (sounds rather primitive, too--very Flintstone-ian).

Was here for 3 years- moved back- now am back again and still can't pull into a parking bay straight.

That's ok.. neither can the natives. I've never seen such horrible parking skills in my life

Edited to clarify.

I have been here for 4 years now and I still go to the wrong side of the car if I am not thinking properly. The other week we had a man show up to deliver our skip and I had to go out and move the car (we were keeping a space for it out front). There had been a freak snow overnight (of course ), the baby was crying, etc. and I was a bit stressed. I ran out into the street and right around the the wrong side of the car where I exasperatedly said "You're not in America anymore!" And the man across the street who was out clearing his car snorted at me! The nerve!

I pretend that I was looking for something over on that side.. or needed to go around to put my handbag on the seat before getting in.. Ya know, I meant to do that!  LOL

I do the car thing as well and I am the only one who drives.

DW is exactly like that almost 4 years on. She drove on her own when she could still drive on her US licence, she made a big thing of passing her UK test, took her 3 attempts but she was determined not to be beaten. Yet now she won't get behind the wheel...even when I was away on business and left car at home she took the train to work instead.

You must be a little more patient than my husband (who is lovely but reminds me - why did we pay all that money for your driving lessons, to get your licence etc again?)...  I do drive little bits here & there but very sporadically - we both take public transport into city centre for work, and we live on a street where we can walk & get most of the things we need for day-to-day life (plus being in town for work).  I have gone weeks & months without needing to drive!

It's only really a problem more when we're going on a longer distance journey & maybe I'm feeling nervous or not quite up to it that day...  For instance, I have driven the majority of the way back from Norwich to Leeds before (from in-laws) & was fine with that as it's a route we've gone many times over the years.  When we went to Dorset recently, I drove a little leg in the middle - into/through Bristol city centre (which was a little tricky) & then into bleeping Somerset where they don't seem to mark their laybys with any signage (so you don't know you've got one until you've past it) - at which point, I was starting to lose my rag.  On the way home from Dorset, I started driving from Birmingham - traffic was very heavy & I just had a panic attack & full meltdown in heavy, motorway traffic...no good.  Had to pull over with not having even driven 10 miles, I don't think. Pulled into Services, shaking & swearing, then cried.

But my hubby needs a break on these long drives & I need my confidence back - because I had tons of confidence driving when I was in the US.  So the latest thing we're going to try is that anytime we need to go somewhere local - it's going to be me in the driver's seat, not him -- until I start to get my confidence back.  Like this Saturday, we need to go pick up a piece for the kitchen faucet (which is broken - the hot tap turn-thing) from a plumbing supply in an unfamiliar part of town...  And I've told me he needs to be with me at least once until I find my way to places such as shopping malls, Ikea, Costco, etc (places he hates to go), then as I get more comfortable with that, I can do the errands there or shopping where I want without feeling limited.  And learning how to get to friends' houses more in different parts of the city by car, and things like that.  And I'd like to go out for the day somewhere (on a Fri or Mon) with Andee & MLG to somewhere like Fountains Abbey & I'm pretty sure I could do that okay, because I've driven there before.

So it's a programme of setting little mostly fun driving tasks.  Maybe something that would help your wife too, TykeMan?

Friends tell me to just be a little old lady driver if I need to be, get in the slow lane, deep breaths, and take my time.  I get overly rattled by tailgaters here - never used to in the US, where more likely than not I'd hold my own with road rage & flip 'em the bird or something, lol!  (In fact, DH is awed by my driving skill when I'm driving in the US.)  I think it's just with everything being wrong way round, nothing is instinctive, and I get this rising feeling of panic that if something goes wrong I'm going to freeze & not know what to do since I don't have the instinct for it (or use the wrong instinct!).  I can drive manual, but I think our next car will be automatic which may help - one less thing to faff about with inside the car & can focus more all the other driving stuff.  I find driving here a lot more mentally taxing.

Last week I drove to our dental appointment, then stopped for a shop in Sainsburys...and was starting to feel confident with that driving & plus I find big Sainsburys to be a lot like an American supermarket & I was all 'yes! this feels like being back in the US again!' and after putting my shopping in the boot, I walked to the wrong side of the car to get in to drive home... 

I always say parking here is like trying to park on a postage stamp! 

(Sorry for the epic!  )

I have been here 2 3/4 years and I still struggle with the metric system. I just never had a desire to learn. I want pounds, ounces, cups half cups, etc.

I also have a hard time being a passenger in the front seat of a car. All my junk (steering wheel, brake pedal etc) belongs in that corner, and if the car is doing what I feel it shouldn't, I panic. I have no problem being a passenger in the States, so I can only guess it is the feeling that the person in that corner of the car should be able to do something.

Saying 'thank you' 500 times in a one or two minute (or less) transaction. Once or twice is enough, and beyond that it becomes a meaningless word to me. I would rather give (or hear) one sincere 'thank you', than say or hear it every step of the process so that it really just becomes habit to mindlessly say it.

I am sure there are more, so I will be back to this thread when I think of them.

Interesting thread!

I have been here 9 years and I can drive, park, use the money, even LIKE the metric system, and I've gotten used to crotchet, minim and semi-breve (But they suck) but I cannot get used to people "correcting" the way I say things.  And there are a lot of people who are surprised I am an American until I tell them.

Two examples in the last week- 
Me: Have you heard of this great app called Garahhhhge Band?
Brit:  Oh, you mean Gare-age Band?

Me: So, how is your daughter in France doing after the birth?
Brit:  Oh, you mean Frahhhhnce?

I actually completely blank them and pretend it never happens and continue to say things the way it comes naturally to me to say them.  I usually have a laugh with my husband about it at home.  But it does still irritate me sometimes. 

I still struggle with the houses here- there are loads I would love to live in but could never afford.  I always feel a bit down when coming back here from the US or Europe as the space seems so small and inefficient.  It will be a continuing frustration for me as I am simply not willing to spend more than a 1/4 of our income on housing.  Tension, tension....

I've lived here almost four years and I struggle with:

1) Crossing the street. I look the wrong way, it looks clear, I start walking. Pretty bad!
2) Accents. I need to read peoples' lips as they speak to understand them.
3) The customer service. I went out for a meal with friends from uni and we were at the place for maybe an hour and were asked to leave because we'd been there 'long enough'.  Also yesterday we bought an electronic device that didn't work and then went to return it to be told that because we've opened it and they can't put it back on the shelf to sell on again, we can't return it. It took me half an hour of bitchin' to get our money back.

Yes. Houses. All my friends at home have bought and here we sit in depressing rental land.

I'm not sure that what I have trouble with has anything to do with being here anymore, as I have problems on both sides of the Atlantic. 

Most things car related do confuse me, both from a passenger and driver point of view. Like what side of the car to get into. 

I would like more washing lines and less rain with more frequency to use said washing lines. 

As an experiment, I sat in the front when we grabbed a taxi with a friend last night. Because of the panic I'd feel the few times I tried when I first came over, it has been well over two years since I've been in the front. The experiment failed, and I had a small panic attack. He was up the tailpipe of the car in front of him, and I couldn't brake. That is fine in the States when I am a passenger, but I just can't do it where in the seat that my mind tells me is supposed to be the one with the steering wheel and brake.

I have been here 7.5 years and still can't get people to understand me when I same my street name on the phone--- broad can't really sound that different can it!?!?!?!? If I ask any of my work colleagues in person, they know what I am saying--but as soon as I have to say it to a stranger on the phone they have no clue!!

I'm coming up to 10 years and I get a lot of what you guys do. For some reason I can't say solicitor very well which is unfortunate because it's where I work and I often have to say it over the phone. It's become a joke at work.

And I hate that after all this time I still feel like a foreigner, especially recently when I discovered that the English don't know what mad libs or a dreidel is (which naturally doesn't come up in conversation). I just hate that I'm reminded of how different I am here and how I've been brought up differently. I think that's just a phase I'm going through.

Also, I still freak out that my toilet is going to overflow. It's been 10 years. I've not had a single overflow but I was so used to the terribly sensitive plumbing that I grew up with that I'm convinced every time I flush the freaking loo, it'll overflow.

Finally, with regards to the switches, my neighbour's microwave caught fire this past autumn. It wasn't in use at the time and it ended up burning her kitchen down. Thankfully everyone got out in time. The very hunky fireman that came over to my house following this told me to turn off my switches. I keep telling myself to do it but then I may miss out on the opportunity of seeing the hunky fireman again.

I keep telling myself to do it but then I may miss out on the opportunity of seeing the hunky fireman again.