Challenges of speaking a different language- English that is...

Brett and I were keen to move to London due to the big city life, close proximity to mainland Europe and most of all... that they speak the same language as us! Or so we thought....

95% of our languages are the same, however there have been a few instances where both parties are waving the white flag of defeat because neither of us can understand each other.

The other day, I tried to ask for salmon on my salad- the waitress and I went back and forth three times before we realized we were having communication problems, at which point I did my best Queen Elizabeth II impersonation, stuck my nose up and prestigiously pronounced "salmon" the way a Brit would.  The link below has both the UK and the US versions of this word. Same thing for tomato and zed (for the letter z). Don't even get me started on the pronunciation for zebra.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/salmon
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/zebra?q=zebra

Our vowels are harsher than the British, therefore our speech at times can be unrecognizable, especially when speaking to people where English is their second language and they learned British English. Similar to Americans learning Latin American Spanish verse Spanish Spanish.

Growing up in America, I always had these preconceived ideas of what the English were like. Most of these notions came, I'm sure, from Mary Poppins. Before moving over here, I didn't believe the Brits would say things like: "... skip to the loo", "Jolly good", "Top of the morning", "Bloody hell", "Cheerio", ect. ect. ect. Because it was so stereotypical English! But guys, I have heard them all! And every time I hear someone use the term "Blimey!", I get overjoyed thinking that Austin Powers was an accurate reflection of the English.

If you recall, I worked at a butcher shop temporarily before finding my permanent job in the city. And due to the grotesque nature of the business, I was sometimes shocked by what I saw in the butcher shop. Do you know what phrases this well educated and sophisticated American (gag) taught these English blokes? "Oh. My. God" and "Holy crap". It's like when the English first encountered the Native Americans and blessed them with smallpox. To this day, when I walk into the butcher shop, the guys greet me with a cheerful "Oh my God, it's Mary! Holy crap!"

I created a quiz on Sporcle (a quiz and trivia website- or what I like to call, senior year of college) to demonstrate some of the differences I experience between UK English and US English on a daily basis. Have a go at it if you are bored, and let me know how you did! The link is attached below.

Link below:
Can you pick the US equivalent to the UK word? - Sporcle Games & Trivia



Cheers/ Ta- Mary

Chelsea Football Game

Back to my awesome weekend with my brother in town...

Saturday evening, we went to a Chelsea Football game! Tickets to these games typically sell for 2-3x the face value of the tickets. Thankfully, my friend from the butcher shop, Andrew, is a die-hard Chelsea fan, and offered to find us tickets at face value. The seats were amazing, almost center field and about 20 rows up.

We watched Chelsea vs. Stoke City, and Chelsea won 3-0. It was a pretty exciting game which lead to Brett and I closely following Chelsea throughout the champions league playoffs, which they unfortunately ended up losing to Madrid in the quarterfinals.

THINGS I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT FOOTBALL BEFORE THIS GAME:

1. Don't EVER call it soccer in front of a Chelsea fan... Allen learned this really quick after he accidentally said soccer, he was interrupted by our friend Andrew with a few choice words.

(Squint much?)

2. No drinking inside the arena. Due to the intense rivalry in football (soccer), stadiums only sell alcohol to fans, 10 minutes before the game and at intermission, in an attempt to keep the crowd at bay. And you can't buy 2 beers to drink throughout each half, no drinks are allowed inside the arena, therefore you have to finish them before you go in. They really limit your ability to get wasted at the game, which was a huge disappointment for me, as the main reason I attend sporting events in the States is so that I can drink outside. Baseball is so slow, I would fall asleep without a beer and some nachos to keep myself entertained.

3. Due to #1, everyone drinks at a bar beforehand, to pre-game. Now this is not unusual to any sporting event in the States, but what was interesting was that in another attempt to keep fighting at a minimal, a lot of bars will only allow Chelsea fans to enter. Additionally, the bar we went to only allowed people who knew the owner to come in. But thankfully our trusted companion, Andrew, came through for us again and we were allowed in this particular bar.

In order to better capture the intense rivalries between these football teams, let me tell you one encounter Andrew has had while being a Chelsea fan. He said that one time he was leaving a Chelsea football game, and someone had made a shiv out of the metal end of an umbrella and stabbed him in the shoulder over an argument after the game. 

4. They had some crazy chants like the one below:

Video of a goal being scored:

 

Hope everyone had a lovely day! In two weeks Brett's parent's will be here!

 

Cheers! Mary



Catching up and Happy New Year!

Wow, so much has happened since the last time I posted. I wanted to catch everyone up with what we have been up to these last few months.

We visited Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, in early December. A town that at it's center is a medieval castle built atop a huge hill formed by volcanic activity. The views from the castle allowed a 360 degree view of the surrounding lands and the Southern shore of the Firth or Fourth. Aside from touring the city, we spent a lot of our time in the pubs, drinking the local cask ales and whiskys, listening to folk music accompanied by none other than bagpipes. 

The following weekend, we rented a car with our American friends and took a day trip to tour the English countryside. This included Salisbury, Stonehenge and the city of Bath, named after the Roman bath houses that are still functioning today. We also caught a glimpse of one of the original copies of the Magna Carta.

We were lucky enough to be able to fly back home to Cincinnati for Christmas and New Year, but not lucky enough for our travel plans to go perfect. Our commute to Cincinnati from London took over 24 hours. And for our return flight, due to the polar vortex and the immense amount of snow hitting the States, we encountered three cancelled flights and arrived in London three days after we intended. But it was worth it to be able to see our family and friends during the Christmas season.

So with the new year upon us, I can't wait for all our adventures to start! Here is just some of the traveling we have booked for the year! Cheers to 2014, can it really get any better?!

February: Skiing in the French Alps, Meribel, France

April: Celebrating Easter week in Seville and Malaga, Spain

Late May: A week long trip with Brett's parents traveling to Paris and the French Riviera

June: Weekend in Amsterdam with our friends from Cincinnati

August: Ireland/ Scotland

September: Octoberfest, Munich

November: "ORLANDDOOOO, my favorite place... Sea World and Disney and Putt Put Golfing!". Our best friends are getting marrieddd!!

But with all this travel booked, it has lead to my New Year's resolutions:

1. Find a job to help pay for all this travel

2. Post more frequently on my blog

3. Go to church more often (this is a reoccurring resolution)

If you want to check out all the pictures I have taken so far, click on the slideshow on the on the side of my blog for a link to my public Picasa web albums.

Cheers!

Mary

Visas Approved

We received notification this morning that our Visa applications have been approved! Brett said he had to submit over 60 pages for our applications and spent nearly 10 hours putting the package together. Everything from pay stubs to marriage license to copies of our college degrees. Now I just need to finish my resume and start looking for jobs in London- anyone looking for a financial analyst?!

We packed up most of our unnecessary kitchen items and sent them home to Cincinnati with Brett's sister during her visit last weekend. The last time I posted I had mentioned that we had to find a one month sublease and move into a new apartment through the end of September. Thankfully we found a pretty cheap apartment, discounted by a woman who had recently purchased a house and was looking for someone to cover the remainder of her lease. 

We will save $500 in rent at the new place, which will virtually pay for our movers. We currently live on the fourth floor of a building with no elevator. It took an hour to get our couch up the stairs, hopefully these movers will be more efficient!

Last week was very reminiscent of fall, cool mornings, warm afternoons and sleeping with the windows open.  I'm beginning to get pretty sad that I won't be here to enjoy the beautiful fall weather. I love lazy October Sundays spent watching football on the couch as the cool breeze blows through the window. Curled up with a blanket and a craft beer doing more sleeping than actually watching the games. I love the orange, red and yellow trees, and every year pick a new favorite tree that I admire and take way to many pictures. They probably have trees in London too, and instead of football they have futbol, but what about my pumpkin spiced lattes or lets not forget thanksgiving!!

Thankfully some of our best friends (he plays professional volleyball and she makes the best crepes in the world) live in Belgium and are only a short train ride away for when we need a taste of home. Or maybe just an excuse to make a pecan pie or sweet potato casserole.

Also, I wonder if our train conductors will be as pleasant as they are in Chicago. I was typing this post while riding the train into work and the train conductor told me he loved me! Well in he actually came on the speakers and said, "Have a wonderful day, I love you too", but I took it personally!

I have a lot of anxiety building in life right now, but am trying to just tackle each item one at a time. Some people like to run, work out or maybe even drink (eek) in order to reduce their anxiety, but for me, cooking is my therapy. Last night my mind was running at 100 mph (or should I say kph) and I just needed to relax and stop thinking about things I have no control over. So with an empty apartment, I spent the next hour and a half making a delicious chicken pot pie, equipped with a homemade cheesy biscuit crust. It was the perfect way to settle my nerves.

What is your favorite fall activity?

What do you do to reduce stress in your life?!

<3 Mary

Packing our bags

This past weekend, Brett and I started packing our belongings into boxes. We were very meticulous about labeling and categorizing items: boxes that go in storage, boxes with stuff to go to London and giveaways/ charity. 

I went through my closet and took out everything I don't plan to take to London. This was such a liberating feeling, guys! I have been holding onto clothes that are either too young, out of style or just not in good shape for way too long. I think it was because I didn't just want to throw these clothes away, because a lot of them are still nice, and I never forced to sit down and identify the stuff I wouldn't wear again. So I have a gigantic box filled with stuff I'm going to give my sister, or else donate. 

We have another box that we are going to put in storage that is filled with mementos, cards and what Brett likes to call "clutter” that I won't let him throw away. But we have determined that the only things we will be bringing to London are our clothes and a box of kitchen stuff (pans, pots, my Boos Block cutting board, knives). 

Brett has platinum status on American Airlines; therefore we both get two check bags, plus our carry-on for free. We received a relocation bonus, to be used for relocation costs, but we are hoping to save most of that due to me not having a job right when we get there. We thought about shipping a couple of boxes and found out that it would cost $500 to ship two 16x16 boxes less than 30 lbs.!! 

Based on this information we have come to terms with the fact that we are going to have to consolidate our worldly belongings to four checked bags.  Also we are coming home in December to celebrate one of my best friend's weddings, so we will be able to take a couple extra bags with us then (summer clothes, a few pairs of Levis to sell on the black market- apparently a $35 pair of Levis sells for like $100 over there). 

Another item complicating our move is that our families live in Cincinnati while we live in Chicago. Here are a few things that make this complicated:

1. Our lease in Chicago ended July 31st and we are currently working out a deal with our landlord, hoping that he will let us stay in our apartment until September 30th. It is apparently much harder to find tenants to rent Oct 1st than Sept 1st, so our landlord is tempted to kick us out end of August, meaning that we would have to find 1 month of temporary housing! That would also mean that we would have to move everything TWICE! If we lived in the same city as our parents, we could easily move in with them for a few months.

2. We have to figure out a way to get all our stuff to Cincinnati and organize it. We are taking some stuff home this weekend, and Brett's sister is coming up next weekend to take stuff home, but once we get the stuff to Cincinnati, we have to set up a triage center with categories so that things don't get lost/ forgotten!

Phew! Moving to another country is crazy!

But thankfully I will be able to spend this weekend with my family and best friends! You know that girl getting married in December? Her shower is this weekend, and I have been crafting all week preparing for it!

<3 Mary

Accepting our Offer

pic: Taking Fountain

So we officially received and accepted our offer today! Our official move date is October 13th! So I believe our first contact regarding moving to London was back in April. So it has taken about three months from the inception of the idea, to receiving an official offer to move. I can't believe it only took three months, because believe me, it has felt like 6 months! We would go through month long periods without any updates to the process of the possibility.

Having an official move date helps with so much. Being able to start selling things, packing and ability for me to start looking for a job. I am currently a financial analyst at a large insurance company in Chicago, and have prior experience as an external auditor. My husband is in a similar field and will be doing healthcare transaction services with KPMG. Fortunately because we are married, I will receive a spousal visa. This is helpful because one of the largest challenges in obtaining a job as an expat is obtaining a visa.

Brett and I plan to be in London for at least two years with the eventual plans to return to the United States. We are so excited to be able to share this experience with one another. I think this will be a great opportunity to develop and strengthen our marriage, as I am sure there will be many obstacles that we will encounter during our move.

So I'm going to go off track here for a second- but I can't help think how lucky and blessed I really am. I haven't been very active in my religion recently but the other night I felt compelled to just take a minute and thank God for everything he has blessed me with. In high school I never would have dreamed that my life would play out the way it has. I feel like Charlotte from SATC movie where she is scared that something bad is going to happen to her because her life is so perfect. Now, I wouldn't say that my life is perfect, but it's perfect enough for me!

As we prepare to leave and begin to tell people we are moving, I am starting to get a little choked up. Since Brett and I live in Chicago, I was wondering how many more times my parents would see me if I lived in the States as opposed to when I move abroad. I counted that my parents on average see me 8 times a year with us living in Chicago, and when we move to London, it will only be 2-3 (Christmas, parents visit, maybe one more trip home).

So that was a little upsetting to think about. Like my extremely wise Grandmother said to me "People don't live and die in Cincinnati anymore, and you have to take advantage of these opportunities while you have the chance". She is pretty much the most amazing person I've ever met, and I will miss her beyond words. She doesn't have internet in her house, so my Mom will have to figure out a way for her to Skype with me.

That's it for today. Going to try and enjoy this weekend in Chicago as I won't have too many left!

Thanks so much for reading!

<3 Mary